Brotherhood Of The Wolf by David Farland (Runelords: Book 2)

8/10

Brotherhood Of The Wolf is the second book in David Farland's Runelords series. The second of three books, the story continues on from The Sum of All Men and continues in Wizard Born.

The Sum of All Men was an excellent book, original, exciting and an extremely rewarding read. Brotherhood of the Wolf continues the story.

Gaborn, the newly crowned Earth King continues his battle against the Wolf Lord Raj Ahten but there is also the threat of the terrifying Reavers to deal with. The second installment in the Runelords series begins slowly and rather than having a "What has gone before..." chapter at the beginning of the book to recap the events in the first book there are constant references to the happening throughout the first half of the book. I felt that this did not help the book's narrative and if anything detracted from the flow of the story. The first half of this book did not read as well as The Sum of All Men and was slightly dissapointing.

An example of this recounting is:
Gaborn had led an 'army' from Castle Goverman to Longmot a week ago. The army had consisted of two hundred thousand cattle, driven by peasant men and women and children and a few ageing soldiers. The dust of their passage as the herd crossed the plains had ben (sic) ruse enough to dislodge the Wolf Lord Raj Ahten from his attack on Longmot.
Brotherhood of the Wolf: The Voices of Mice

The beginning of this book, although still good has a rushed feel to it. There are parts of the story that feel a bit contrived.

However, once the book is half way through the narrative really improves dramatically an pace quickens. The chapters, as in the first book, become shorter and more exciting, and the plots of the various characters all come together in a great battle. The Reavers play a much larger part in this book and their history and where the come from is described in greater detail (I still have difficulty actually forming a mental image of them though).

The battle at the end of the book is very well done as Gaborn's army is joined by Raj Ahten in battling the Reavers.
Gaborn finished drawing his rune of Earth-breaking, raised his fist and looked up.
All around him, reavers thundered forward in a terryfying wall of flesh, pounding into the ranks of his men, over-whelming them.
To his left a reaver smashed a fellow with a glory hammer. The body somersaulted in the air twice, arced towards him.
Celinor raised his shield, threw himself before Gaborn, but the force of both bodies slammed into Gaborn, smacking him to the ground.
Everything went black.
Brotherhood of the Wolf: Bone Hill

Please don't get the impression that I did not like this book, it is very good, just not as good as the first book. The second half of the book is very, very good though and I am greatly looking forward to reading the third installment in the series.

Praise for David Farland and The Brotherhood of the Wolf

“Highly recommended” STARLOG