Raj Ahtan has fled from Gaborn Val Orden, the prophesied and ascendant Earth King. Tricked on the field of battle by a ruse, Ahtan is far from vanquished. Bolstered by the strength, speed, stamina, charisma, and beauty of thousands of men, he moves to strike at where Gaborn is weakest, to tear down the kingdoms of Rofehaven from within. But while Ahtan works to lure Gaborn into a trap, Gaborn realizes a greater enemy is threatening, and designs a plan that he hopes will ally Ahtan with him against this foe. Taking place over the course of just a few days, Brotherhood of the Wolf picks up right where The Sum of All Men left off without breaking stride. Gaborn is grappling with the ramifications of becoming the Earth King, as well as his marriage to Iome Sylvarresta, the daughter of the late King Jas Laren Sylvarresta. Determined not to use forcibles to increase his strength and power, Gaborn finds himself at an immediate disadvantage to Ahtan's super human abilities, not to mention vulnerable to any who does not share his qualms. It is an ongoing source of dissonance for Gaborn: he sees the slavery and debilitation caused when ever one man gives his abilities to another, but is faced with an enemy that is prepared to end not just humanity but all life on the earth. Should he accept the endowments of other men to become strong enough for the coming battle, or should he rely on his new found abilities as the Earth King? With the selection by the Earth, though, comes responsibility above those of other men, and Gaborn must weigh the future of all men as he makes his decisions.With how short a time as passes during the novel, events unfold at a breakneck pace. If only Farland would move his text as fast. Not atypical for an epic fantasy, Brotherhood clocks in at nearly 700 pages. Frequently I found myself wondering if a few of those pages weren't unnecessary to the story. The result is that Farland develops his characters more than might otherwise be possible in such a short period of time. The length of the novel lends itself to more viewpoints than a shorter story might allow, and shows the reader a broader vision of the events unfolding. While the story never drags--per se--a faster paced story might have spent less time with each view point.If The Sum of All Men was intended to introduce the main protagonist and antagonist of The Runelords series, then Brotherhood feels like a pulling back of the curtain. The threat to Rofehaven and the entire world is far greater than anything introduced in The Sum of All Men, and Farland takes advantage of the opportunity to hint at the scope of his series by introducing side plots, new abilities to what initially appeared to be small characters, and expanding his system of magic beyond the initial forcibles/endowments magic introduced in the first book.Picking up a thick novel is always a risky endeavor. The time investment is long, and the pay-off may be a long time in coming. In the end, Farland provides, however, delivering a denouement that satisfies his promises, if not perfectly, at least satisfactorily. It's a worthy successor to The Sum of All Men and continuation of The Runelords' series. I ran into Farland at the Salt Lake FanXperience in April and picked up Wizardborn from him there. I look forward to following where he takes Gaborn, Iome, Ahtan, and the rest of his growing cast next.
I marked the first four Rune Lords books back in the day--when I first got an account on Good Reads years ago. I've been re-reading (well, listening technically) to these books again recently. Starting with book one, The Sum of All Men, and now having finished volume ii The Brotherhood of the Wolf. Farland writes wonderful epic fantasy, although he deserves more credit than he's given for writing a dark and rather brutal world, more in-line with today's George R.R. Martin flavored fantasy than traditional epic fantasy. While Farland doesn't kill off as many apparently primary characters with the impunity that has made Martin famous/infamous, there is a deep bleakness to these first four books that certainly relentlessly challenges the more traditional flavor of epic fantasy. In this second book Farland continues to expand his cast, although the world doesn't expand much. Another telling way to identify contemporary fantasies is by their scope--are they primarily the story of an individual, or is it the story of a World (ala The Wheel of Time) as told from key individual perspectives? Farland definitely moves in the latter direction as is typical of epic fantasy--the plethora of viewpoint characters some major and of clear importance, others of importance only for the representative nature of their perspective, demonstrates this approach. And it works--for me at least. I absolutely love these first four volumes of Rune Lords...but I lost the series somewhere along the way. I decided to pick these up and re-read them to determine whether or not I wanted to dive back in--I do. They are easily as good as I remembered. A quick note on the audiobook--Blackstone audio is the producer, and they always put out a good product. This particular reader is not one of my favorites though. I know that fantasy is dramatic--it is often, in the hands of lesser writers, melodramatic--but this reader pushes too hard too often and too soon. Every event--whether the text calls for it or not--is read as a life and death all the drama I can bring moment. This is a bit of a turnoff for me as a listener as it overplays parts that are matter-of-fact if one is reading the text for him/her self, and it absolutely kills the dramatic moments, feeling almost as if the reader were mocking the text for taking itself too seriously. I eventually got used to the reader and was absorbed by the story, but it took conscious effort. Good readers make it effortless.
What do You think about Brotherhood Of The Wolf (2000)?
This book tired me a little. It is a compeling story, about caring characters, but it suffers from the typical illness of epic fantasy: nothing happens for 500 pages, until the bombastic, epic battle climax. Truly, this novel could be a couple of hundred pages leaner. Those are my only complaints, though. As a sequel to «The sum of all men», this volume lives up to its task. David Farland delivers a satisfying story and cleverly brings forth a host of new characters, and he gives life to each and everyone of those — to the point of their stories getting more interesting than the main characters at points. Again Farland infuses so much life, emotion, and drama to the saga of the runelords that the reader can easily catch himself fearing, loving and even weeping for his heroes. That's epic fantasy at its best. I liked the first volume of the series better, though, so I'm giving «The brotherhood of the wolf» three and not four stars. Let's see if the third volume, «Wizardborn», keeps the pace or turns it up a notch. One could only hope.
—Marcelo
I was disappointed by this book. I really don't have much inclination to read the rest of the series, but I've heard that those books are better than this one.Problems:Supervillain is too powerful. The good guys just have no chance, but they win anyways through a sort of deus ex machina that just left the whole story feeling very contrived.Borenson. Ugh. Best character, worst ending.Roland? Ummm. He just disappears for the last one hundred pages?Gaborn vs. Earth inconsistencies. The earth says n
—Matthew
If I could give this book a 7/10 I would but I'm rounding up since I think the lower rating is partly my fault. I didn't like this book as much as the first one, which I gave a 5/5, and I guess it's because the first one opened a whole new world for me and I feel this one just took longer to get anywhere. You know there's a final battle that's going to happen but you have to read through 400+ pages of people talking and plotting first and now that this world is open to me I was kind of bored at times. I'm also getting a little tired of reading about how many endowments everyone has but it's necessary to read otherwise some of the fights wouldn't make sense. Overall it is a good read and still as vivid as the first book but I just fell like it's more of lead up to book #3.
—Mark
