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The Bard's Tale: Naitachal #5
Escape from Roksamur
266 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 1997
171 people want to read
About the author
Mark Shepherd
38 books11 followersMark Shepherd was an American fantasy novelist and musician.
Born in 1961 in Tampa, Florida, during the 1990s Shepherd was a writing protégé and live-in personal secretary of author Mercedes Lackey and artist Larry Dixon at Highflight, their Tulsa, Oklahoma residence.
He co-authored two novels with Lackey, and composed music to accompany his later books. He has also written several short stories.
Shepherd's secretarial duties at Highflight were taken over by Englishman Paul Fisher in 2000.
He committed suicide by shooting himself on May 24, 2011.
Born in 1961 in Tampa, Florida, during the 1990s Shepherd was a writing protégé and live-in personal secretary of author Mercedes Lackey and artist Larry Dixon at Highflight, their Tulsa, Oklahoma residence.
He co-authored two novels with Lackey, and composed music to accompany his later books. He has also written several short stories.
Shepherd's secretarial duties at Highflight were taken over by Englishman Paul Fisher in 2000.
He committed suicide by shooting himself on May 24, 2011.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 16, 2021
Alaire and his apprentice return to Suinomen, this time without Naitachal, who is off being a Bard somewhere. Alaire's brother (King Derek) sends him back there as an ambassador (because that worked so well the last time) to find out what happened to the last ambassador - he was murdered. Another brother, Craig - a drunkard - accompanies them. During their journey by sea, they are shipwrecked, and all but Alaire, Craig and the apprentice (whose name I forget) are lost. They are helped by a giant psychic wingrat (!?!?!) and eventually make it to the capital. Alaire and King Kai are soon captured by evil Arachnians who pack them off to Roksamur, carried by enslaved wingrats.
The wingrat that helped them before returns to help them again, and they find out that Alaire is the 'Prophesied One' who will return the enslaved humans to the homeland and free the wingrats. Meanwhile, Craig is bespelled and throws his lot in with the evil invading Arachnians, and is fooled by Alaire's apprentice who amanged to avoid being kidnapped. For some reason he thinks its a good idea to send the apprentice back to King Derek, but the apprentice has already sent his psychic owl off, and Derek is already marching to the border with an army. (Yes, it's that ridiculous!)
Alaire and co set off a volcano on Roksamur, which destroys the island and return to Suinomen in time to meet his brother anf face the invaders. Luckily, Kai's old Spy/Weaponsmaster has been hiding in the castles secret walls, and has amassed a bunch of weapons with which he manages to open the castle gates to Kai and co before they have time to shell the walls - very conventient.
A good laugh and very fast paced. Just a crazy, unbelievable, yet very fun book.
The wingrat that helped them before returns to help them again, and they find out that Alaire is the 'Prophesied One' who will return the enslaved humans to the homeland and free the wingrats. Meanwhile, Craig is bespelled and throws his lot in with the evil invading Arachnians, and is fooled by Alaire's apprentice who amanged to avoid being kidnapped. For some reason he thinks its a good idea to send the apprentice back to King Derek, but the apprentice has already sent his psychic owl off, and Derek is already marching to the border with an army. (Yes, it's that ridiculous!)
Alaire and co set off a volcano on Roksamur, which destroys the island and return to Suinomen in time to meet his brother anf face the invaders. Luckily, Kai's old Spy/Weaponsmaster has been hiding in the castles secret walls, and has amassed a bunch of weapons with which he manages to open the castle gates to Kai and co before they have time to shell the walls - very conventient.
A good laugh and very fast paced. Just a crazy, unbelievable, yet very fun book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 5, 2011
This fantasy done lightly. I don't do D&D but it reads like a D&D tale. You have the classic archetypes: the wastrel, the bard, the apprentice, etc.
The reader is dropped off just as the adventure begins. There's no real character-building; the characters remain static. These are male adventure tales. The only females in the book are non-human.
I often confuse this series of books. The stories are similar and the book covers are, too. Fortunately, the series is easily bought at Half-Price Books so not much money is wasted when I accidentally buy the same book... again.
Best read by young adult males into D&D or when you need a light adventure without much plot or character building. (I'm sick and finding it hard to focus--perfect for this book.)
The reader is dropped off just as the adventure begins. There's no real character-building; the characters remain static. These are male adventure tales. The only females in the book are non-human.
I often confuse this series of books. The stories are similar and the book covers are, too. Fortunately, the series is easily bought at Half-Price Books so not much money is wasted when I accidentally buy the same book... again.
Best read by young adult males into D&D or when you need a light adventure without much plot or character building. (I'm sick and finding it hard to focus--perfect for this book.)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews