The Scorched Earth (The Chaos Born)

I liked this book. I am a fan of epic fantasy novels, and this one was a good one as far as I am concerned. I started reading Book I of the series yesterday, and finished this book (Book II) this morning. Book I involved a bad guy named Daemron who some 700 years ago had been forced to escape the mortal world and hide behind a wall called The Legacy. That wall today is failing, and Daemron hopes to return to the mortal world and rule it as an immortal. Three gifted inhabitants of the mortal world stand in his way of helping The Legacy collapse: Cassandra, Keegan, and Scythe. Each uses a magical talisman to enhance their abilities to fight evil. Cassandra's tool is a crown, Keegan's tool is a ring, and Scythe's tool is a sword. The evil they fought involved the church, and two of Daemon's minions: Orath, and Raven.

Book II started up right where Book I left off. In fact, the transition was so seemless that it seemed as though the two books were really just one big long book. However, I liked Book II better than I liked Book I because it flowed easier for me. I was familiar with the plot and the characters for the most part by the time I started Book II, and I just read from start to finish without much difficulty. This was because the organization of Book II was very good compared to what I suffered through in Book I. We learn more about the sword in Book II. We meet four more of Daemron's minions: Draco, Gort, Erus, and Cerus, and met The Guardian who helped both Cassandra and Scythe, as well as the peoples of the Frozen East (land of the barbarian clans).

I won't say that I loved this book. It was not all that special since it is the middle book of a trilogy. But it caused me to keep turning the pages to see what would happen next. I found the better handle I had on the storyline early on, then the easier it was to predict what was going to happen next. The book was well organized and definitely was planned out before it had been written. I have to say that the warriors (Scythe and Norr) definitely steal the show in the book.