The eighth installment of David Farland’s Runelords series opens with a sunrise at the ruins of Barrensfort, with Sir Borenson taking solace in watching his daughters. In the meantime, a new character, Crull-maldor, is able to use the mind of creatures such as crow to see things towards which she is otherwise blind. Rain labors amidst recent disaster, with wizardry sapping her family’s vitality, and Sir Borenson and his companions salvaging a shipwreck. Crull-maldor ultimately finds herself in the wyrmling’s citadel at the Fortress of the Northern Wastes, observing their actions.
The Borensons continue to get the ship, eventually termed the Borrowbird, free from being stuck, whilst they also throw freeloading squatters out of their camp. They eventually begin a voyage on the ship, with Draken taking occasional turns navigating it and encountering occasional stormy weather and wyrmling fleets. Draken questions his father Aaath Ulber about specific strategies in attacking the wyrmlings, with their empire in the balance towards the book’s end, and Myrrima thinking of herself as the Water Warrior. Wulfgaard also seeks his beloved, with tragedy in the final chapter as well.
All in all, I enjoyed this installment of the Runelords series, given plenty of fantastical action and creatures, and while the collection I had purchased on Amazon doesn’t mark both the beginning or the end of the series, I probably wouldn’t yearn to go through the books again, with this particular entry having a satisfactory ending on its own. There’s also occasional lack of clarity as to what species the various characters are, although I would imagine that the wyrmlings are dragon-like. Regardless of its flaws, I would recommend this book to those who thoroughly enjoyed its precursors.
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