Invisible boundaries have isolated Cor's village for centuries. He accidentally finds a way out.
What he finds outside is a violent and blighted world in decline. He learns that the entire world has been fragmented by similar boundaries, which are leeching their power from life itself. Unless something is done about the boundaries, what's left of life will come to an end.
That heavy task falls on Cor's shoulders. Fortunately, he soon finds friends and fellow wanderers willing to share the load. Together, they venture across their small, fragmented world into the vast unknown beyond the boundaries.
What they find there threatens their world ... but also just might save it.
This epic fantasy is Book One of the Wanderers Cycle.
The element’s instructions are vague, so Cor heads into a Fragment that’s new to him, discovering the people’s somewhat strange ways, contending with orks (“like man minus manhood”) and their pony-sized boar-like peugs, and accumulating a party of heroic companions as he discovers a kingdom ruled by the tyrannical merchant Lothar, “the First Among Equals.” Lovers of fantasy that emphasizes journeys and friendships will appreciate the banter of Cor’s companions, though Vobh doesn’t skimp on action, from ork encounters to the exciting storming of Lothar’s palace, an extended setpiece offering a chance for a gray character—Celeste, Lothar’s orator—to demonstrate heroism.
Further adventures involve a trial, the possibility of flying an airship, and the scheming of a warlock. The novel’s episodic, something like an open-world fantasy game where players must explore and gather power before taking on the big goal. The novel's notably long, but Vobh’s brisk dialogue keeps the pages turning, as do flourishes both poetic (“a good five thousand guards, fresh from the Gurtag Jidh, are faring hither with all the haste their mangy mounts can muster”) and satiric: Lothar’s propagandistic newspaper bears the slogan “Civil Society Soon Succumbs in Silence.”
Takeaway: Epic fantasy in the classic mold, with action, satire, and a sense of poetry.
Comparable Titles: Raymond E. Feist, Tad Williams
Production grades
Cover: B
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: N/A
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A-
