What do You think about The Silver Hand (2006)?
This story is of the struggle of light against the darkness, a story of misused power, sovereignty and kingship. It could be confusing a times, all the talk of prophecies, and sovereignty that has been stolen, which is itself destroying the land. I liked this one better than the first, but at the beginning I got a bit annoyed that it was no longer from the point of view of Llew, but by the end I had changed my mind. Though by telling it from a blind characters point of view I thought S R Lawhead almost cheated.... because at random times the 'blind' one would be able to see through visions, and so most of the story happens at those times. Most of the description is then too or when others are describing what was happening to the blind character, who was not blind most of the time, or at least when anything important was happening. It is typical Lawhead description, which is great when it comes to the world, but there was a lot more violence in this book than the first. Sometimes he describes horrible things that happen to people too well. But the world he creates is so beautiful, and well developed. The bad guys in this book seem to enjoy hurting and shaming people as much as possible... all those horrible deaths.... the amount of people that die is realistic though.....I love how much of 'The Swift Sure Hand' there is in the book, but I occasionally felt like there was a little to much providence. I felt especially that the ending was pushing my suspension of disbelief just a bit to much. The story is engaging.... but... but I am finding it really hard to review.
—Clare Farrelly
The Silver Hand was a well executed middle trilogy book, which is difficult to do. The strongest book of the trilogy, it is fast paced from beginning to end. Told in first person, the main character switches to the lead Bard of Albion. This alleviated the problem of of the first book's whiny lead protagonist, Lewis, who was tough to identify with in Paradise Wars. In the Silver Hand, Tegid, the bard, and Lewis (now having earned a Celtic name of honor, Llew) try to foil Simon's devious plot to setup Meldryn, the dead king's arrogant son, as king of the clan. They are thwarted several times and end up maimed and on an arduous journey of escape. Meldryn and Simon begin a reign of terror to take over all the clans. In the end, Tegid and Llew unite the clan refugees of Albion. A wonderful blend of mysticism and partial reconstruction (a very PG reconstruction) of Celtic society.
—Vivian
Writing style is incredibly important to works of fiction; too many wordy expositions, or difficult language use can ruin immersion extremely quickly. As a result, when I come across an author who uses exposition to advance plot, skips the storyline ahead rapidly (years fade away without warning), and has an all-together pretentious use of the English language, I typically throw their books away without hesitation.Stephen R. Lawhead is an exception to that rule. The world that Lawhead builds is so expansive, imaginative, unique, and captivating that it propels the reader along in spite of his pretentious writing style. I found myself captivated by the story enough to overlook the way it was being told, and struggled through the book enough to enjoy it in spite of itself.Unlike the predecessor, this novel is told from the view of Tegid. And unlike the whiny, useless, sniveling excuse of a secondary character he was in The Paradise War, Tegid finds himself helping Llew lead his ragtag band of adventurers into rebellion and the establishment of a new kingdom. However, true to Lawhead's shortcomings, Tegid continues to speak in prophecy, riddles, and expository "songs" that leave the reader suddenly wondering how they ended up at Sunday Mass with grandma again. Tegid is just not a character that I find relateable, but as the Chief Bard of the land, maybe that speaks more to my predisposition against the keepers of folklore and religious teachings than the development of Tegid himself.What I can say with relative authority is that Tegid is seen as a much stronger and likeable character than he was in the first novel, and he actually exists for some reason other than to get on the readers' nerves and whine about every decision his charges make. Unfortunately, Llew seems to take on the role of apathetic supporting actor, and I found myself wondering why he existed at all, if not to be drug kicking and screaming into the fulfillment of some prophecy I skimmed over during a five page expositional essay.All of the complaints aside, I do have to reaffirm my enjoyment of Lawhead's Albion world. It's large and the conflicts seem real and relatable. I only wish the author could get out of his story's way.Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Google Plus
—Danial
