The Red Wolf Conspiracy, et al (Chathrand Voyage books 1-3)

1. The Red Wolf Conspiracy

2. The Ruling Sea

3. The River of Shadows

by Robert V.S. Redick

Amazon kept recommending The Red Wolf Conspiracy, since I like other new fantasy series so much. So, when my Vine offerings included The River of Shadows, I thought – what the heck. I’ll read the whole series. Amazon knows me, right?

Well, I kind of regret that. Especially since I mistakenly thought River of Shadows would be the last book, and I could complete the trilogy. It’s not – there’s another sequel planned.

Basically, The Red Wolf Conspiracy feels like a debut novel. The story seems interesting enough, and there are fun high fantasy elements like pixies, talking animals, a mad expansionist Empire, merfolk, and magic. But… I don’t know. The pacing is a little uneven.

The Ruling Sea feels a little forced, plot-wise. The hero and heroine spend most of the book senselessly pining for each other because the heroine has to pretend that she has feelings for another guy, in order to trap him and catch his boss, the Enemy. Only, she can’t tell her true love, our hero, because the Enemy can read the minds of the weak (our hero is weaker than our heroine). Seemed a little silly to me.

The River of Shadows starts off pretty interesting. By this time, in my opinion, Redick’s writing has improved. Things seem smoother and more natural. They’re trying to stop an evil sorcerer from plunging their nation into war and possibly destroying the world with an evil artifact. Only then, things start to get crazy. Turns out an ancient mage is living inside our heroine, fighting to get out and help. Our tough and stubborn heroine wants to keep her personality, not become a powerful reincarnation of the mage. Makes things tough on her budding relationship. Then, they land on the continent across the uncrossable sea, where 200 years have passed. Yup. They passed through a time-stopping magic storm on the way. Some hijinks occur here, misunderstandings, imprisonment, unexpected allies, risky escape. But then, they have to go quest after the evil sorcerer to stop his plans… and their quest takes them through every possible scary place on the continent. Scary forest, scary waterfall, scary temple where our hero has to undergo a Dream Ritual, and really really scary jungle. Eh. Again I felt the story was a bit forced. I wasn’t a big fan of this book, though I wanted to like it. I don’t even think I’ll read the fourth book when it releases, not even just to find out what happens.