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Young Lord of Khadora: Book
One of
Forgotten Legacy by Richard S. Tuttle
Commentary:
his is a fast-paced fantasy
tale. "Young Lord of Khadora" is filled with excellent
dialogue, exciting action, appealing suspense. The characters are
well developed. The author has a gift for fantasy writing. The
only drawback to the book was that the author chose to use a small
font, which many readers may find a little hard to read. Although
fantasy is not one of my favorite genres, this is a good story and
I highly recommend "Young Lord of Khadora" as an ideal
read for any fantasy lover.
Synopsis:
(May reveal much of the plot)
Marak is a Situ Clan soldier
in Khadora. His mother is a slave and Soil Mage-one. Khadoran law
does not allow Marak to speak to his mother. Because of this, he
hates Khadoran culture and despises slavery. Marak attempts to see
his mother but he is caught and brought before Lord Marshall
Grefon. Thinking his punishment to be slavery, Marak is surprised
when Grefon informs him of his recent promotion from Squad Leader
to Cortain. As Cortain, Marak has rights to visit his mother.
Marak's happiness is short-lived for the Lord of Fardale is killed
by the Chula, a cat-like people.
Marak is soon designated as Lord of Fardale and given the
responsibility of meeting grain contracts by harvest time. If the
contracts cannot be met, the plan is to blame Marak. But Once
Marak is at Fardale, he frees all slaves, assigns a new finance
manager and teaches Air, Sun, Soil and Water Mages to use magic as
weaponry. He cleverly and tactically makes peace with the
cat-people and gets Vows of Service from three neighboring clans.
Marak breaks from the Situ clan and forms his own clan in an
effort to change Khadoran ways. But, the other Lords will do
anything necessary to put an end to Marak's reign of power, even
if it means killing him, his mother and his entire Clan.
Marak is not the
usual clan soldier. His mother is a mage slave to the clan lord, as
such Marak is not allowed to even speak to her. His unknown father
is supposed to be dead. The fearsome Chula cat people have been
decimating the clan lord's slave lumbermen as they work to bring in
the quota of timber from the Stari Valley. Situ soldiers are sent to
protect the lumberman. As a warning to those waiting for the logs
Togi alone is left alive to carry back the shredded bodies.
Following the attack
Marak is sent on a fool's errand against the Chula. What sets Marak
apart from the other soldier slaves is his antipathy for Khadoran
civilization. In Khadoran civilization the mages are most always
slaves who mind fields, soldiers are taught to follow orders without
thought of consequence. The workers on the various clan estates are
treated much as are the actual slaves. The young soldier sets out to
effect near impossible changes by using his military deftness,
penetrating militant mind and even a little of his mother's powers.
Marak does not know
how the local population will relate to his innovative thoughts.
However he is determined to begin a reformation of the society into
which he has been born. It is not long before Marak faces the Chula,
the clan to which he belongs, rival clan lords and what seems to be
near impossible odds against success. Along his journey the young
soldier is astounded to learn his father is not dead, and his own
mantle as slave is not one he will always wear.
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