Sovereign (Keys of Powers) [Paperback]

In Sovereign, Simon Brown closes out his Keys of Power trilogy, and I have to say it is one of the most intense, absorbing fantasy series I have ever read, evolving from an entertaining but seemingly pedestrian fantasy adventure about an exiled prince into a shockingly dark tale that left me wondering up through the very last page just how things could possibly turn out in the end. In Inheritance, we first met young Prince Lynan, a youth looked down upon by his royal siblings and largely ignored by his mother the queen because he was the son of a commoner (albeit the greatest general Grenda Lear had ever produced). Framed for regicide, he fled the kingdom in the company of Kumul, his mentor and ex-captain of the palace guard; Ager, a crookbacked soldier who fought alongside Lynan's father in the Slaver War; and a young female magicker named Jenrosa Alucar - and the Key of Unity, one of the four Keys of Power that were distributed among Queen Usharna's four children at the time of her death.

Lynan was young and naïve, but he gradually grew into the true son of his father, a military leader determined to return to Grenda Lear and reclaim what had been stolen from him. Back home, his half-sister Areava, having succeeded to the throne after the murder of her older brother, committed herself to destroying the half-brother she believed guilty of the crime - never realizing that a most treacherous conspiracy involving a neighboring kingdom raged underneath her very nose. In the distant Oceans of Grass, Lynan united the nomadic Chetts and began a civil war that would eventually involve every province across the land of Theare. For the first half of the series, I worked under the assumption that every thing would work out in the end - Lynan was innocent of the crime that sent him into exile, after all. Then, in the latter half of Fire and Sword, Brown hit me with the literary equivalent of a one-two punch that left me reeling in absolute shock at the tragedy and horror unleashed upon all sides of this epic conflict.

Naturally, I could not wait to see how the storyline would evolve in this third and final novel of the trilogy. Even with my blinders now off, I really had no idea how this epic saga would end. Sovereign is filled with both the thrills and visceral horrors of battle. Bloodied by his first encounter with the army of Grenda Lear, Lynan and his Chett allies not only regroup, they expand their war plans diplomatically as well as militarily. Lynan himself is greatly changed, devolving into something both more than and less than human as the life-saving blood of a vicious wood vampire haunts and transforms him into a frightening spectre that fills his enemies - and eventually even his friends - with dread. The once-noble young hero becomes a bloodthirsty killer who displays no mercy to those who stand in his way. His closest friends and allies are powerless to contain him in his madness - not so long as he is prey to the torments of Silona the vampire.

One of the most compelling aspects of this story is the nebulous quality of good and evil on both sides of the conflict. One finds it hard to pull against Queen Areava and the noble prince Olio back in Grenda Lear, for they, like Lynan, are really just victims of the treachery that set the horrors of war in motion. Then there is Primate Powl, who attained his position by murdering the former primate. Despite the man's great sin, he becomes a tragic figure in these pages as he suffers the guilt of knowing he is not the religious leader he should be and searches earnestly for knowledge of his God. In the end, there are only a handful of truly guilty men, and the story finally comes full circle. As Lynan's army nears Kendra, the very capital of Grenda Lear, I honestly had no clue as to how Brown would resolve a story filled with so much pain and sorrow on all sides. Keys of Power is not just another fantasy series - far from it, with its incredibly complex characters, shocking plot twists, and powerfully emotional final showdown.

I only wish this series could have been expanded to some degree. Far too many fantasy series are stretched beyond their means over the course of multiple volumes, but the Keys of Power series only brushes the surface of several fascinating subplots, especially one concerning the true history of the land of Theare, and leaves the reader wanting more. I for one hope Simon Brown returns to Grenda Lear at some point, as I would love to see how a land so decimated by such a tragic and bloody war makes the difficult transition to the future.

Sovereign (2002) is the third Fantasy novel in the Keys of Power series, following Fire and Sword. The initial work in this sequence is Inheritance.

In the previous volume, Lynan has turned pale and is troubled by bright sunlight since drinking wood vampire blood. He is also troubled by dreams of Silona. He has recovered from his wounds, but he has also gained an enormous strength when aroused. The Chetts see him as the White Wolf returned and worship him as an avatar of the god.

After Ager demonstrates his proficiency with the sword before the chiefs, Lynan convinces most of the Chetts to let Kumul and Ager train them in new tactics. One disgruntled chief, together with his wife and son, ambush Ager and Gudon and die for their efforts. Then that clan sends a delegation to tell Ager that, since he has defeated the previous chief, he is now the new chief of the Ocean clan.

In this novel, Lynan Rosetheme is an outlaw prince of Grenda Lear. His brother the King was assassinated and he was blamed for the act. He fled with a few friends. Now he has an army to punish his sister and her betraying friends.

Areava Rosetheme is Lynan's elder sister and believes him to be the killer of their sibling. Now she is the Queen of Grenda Lear.

Olio Rosetheme is the last surviving legitimate prince of Grenda Lear. He used the Key of the Heart too much and now has reverted to the mind of a ten year old.

Kumul Alurn was a friend of Lynan. He had been the Constable of Grenda Lear, but fled Kendra with Lynan. He had been killed in the recent battle.

Ager is a friend of Lynan. He is a hunchback, but is still very good with a sword. He is even better as an instructor of soldierly skills.

Jenrosa is a friend of Lynan, a magicker and now is being called a Truespeaker. She had fled Kendra with Lynan. She had loved Kumul and misses him greatly.

Korigan is the Queen of the Chett nomads. She grew to believe and like Lynan and has lend her Chetts to be Lynan's troops.

Eynon is a Chett and an opponent of Korigan as the ruler. So far, he has stayed out from the conflict with Areava.

Gudon is a Chett. He is also the leader of the Red Hands, Lynan's personal bodyguard.

Charion is the Queen of Hume, a border province of Grenda Lear. The kingdom had been conquered by Kendra long ago. Her capital is at Daavis.

Tomar is the King of Chandra, a province of Grenda Lear. The kingdom had been conquered by Kendra long ago.

Galen is the son of Duke Holo Ampra and commander of the Twenty Houses knights within Areava's army. He is fascinated by Charion.

Orkid Gravespear is chancellor of the kingdom of Grenda Lear. He is hiding his complicity in the death of the king.

Dejanus is now the constable of Grenda Lear. He is the man who killed the king.

Edaytor Fanhow is the Magicker Prelate for Grenda Lear. He worked closely with Olio to heal the injured from the fire.

Salokan is the King of Hakus, an independent kingdom to the north of Grenda Lear. His country had been the base for the slavers during the Slave War. His forces had recently lost to Lynan during the latest conflict.

Silona is a wood vampire. She and hundreds more existed in Theare prior to the coming of humans. The Chetts have killed all the other vampires, so only Silona is left.

In this story, since Lynan was dosed with Silona's blood, he keeps having dreams about the wood vampire. In his dreams, Silona claims that everything he does is for her sake. He often wakes screaming from the dreams. Korigan and most of the camp are used to these night frights.

Lynan also has had a much more sensitive senses since drinking Silona's blood. He smells a nearby army to the south and a retreating army to the north. He also hears horses approaching from the east.

Jenrosa is sitting by Kumul's grave and grieving for her lost lover. Lynan is watching her as Korigan joins him. They discuss Kumul and the various forces that he senses.

They speculate that the eastern force moving toward them is led by Eynon. Lynan sends scouts out to check all three forces and starts off toward the eastern riders with his Red Hands. The two forces meet at noon. Lynan and Eynon bring each other up to date and Eynon tells the prince that he is joining his army.

When they get back to Lynan's camp, Gudon sits at the back of the circle while Korigan and Eynon present differing strategies. Lynan listens to both and then asks Ager what he suggests. Ager asks what the White Wolf wants to do.

Lynan has an entirely different plan. He is going to lead his forces against Salokan, who is retreating back to Hakus. They head north that night.

The attack is a complete surprise. The Chetts scatter Salokan's army and capture Salokan. Lynan breaks the king as they travel toward Hakus.

Meanwhile, Charion is waiting for Lynan's army to appear. After three days, Galen declares that Lynan would have attacked them by now. They take their forces back to Daavis. The Twenty Houses heavy cavalry acts as the rear guard for Charion's troops.

Orkid is trying to interest the queen in ruling the kingdom. She just wants to grieve over her brother and her consort. Their deaths are too much for her.

Areava is also depressed over her brother Olio. Since he used the Key of Hearts to heal so many victims of the dockside fire, Olio has the mental age of a ten year old. She has tried to talk to him, but cannot get through to his adult mind.

Orkid asks Edaytor to stay with Olio for a while and study his mental state. Edaytor accompanies Olio in his walks and carefully discusses his thoughts. He tries to delicately steer him into thinking about the Key of the Heart.

This tale takes Lynan back to Hume to lay siege to Daavis. Dejanus is appointed head of the army gathering in Chandra. Lynan sends a letter to Tomar describing the conspiracy to kill his brother.

This is the final volume in this series. However, a new series -- The Chronicles of Kydan -- by this author starts with Empire's Daughter.

Recommended for Brown fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of royal intrigue, armed conflict, and a touch of magic. Read and enjoy!

-Arthur W. Jordin

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two novels in the Keys of Power series, "Inheritance" and "Fire and Sword". But Simon Brown apparently suffered something of a breakdown while rounding out the trilogy with "Sovereign". "Sovereign" is not a bad book so much as a very sloppy one. In the end I didn't feel like writing a negative review. I felt like marking up the book with a red pen and sending it back to Mr. Brown so that he could write a second draft.

For starters the book is rife with spelling and grammer errors. That may be a trivial complaint, but it's hard to get caught up in the story when you have to jump over sentences like:

"Eynon put his ear to the ground but was unable to here the approaching enemy."

Professional authors need professional editors, not just the MS Word spell checker. Moreover, the story is created in a sloppy way. Characters do things that don't make sense, huge stretches of time flow by with nothing happening, and there's no explanation for flawed strategic thinking from just about every side.

The book's biggest problem is the fighting. In fact that's almost the only problem, since the book barely contains anything other than fighting. This book has more raw carnage that anything I've ever read; it makes "Titus Andronicus" look pleasant by comparison. Moreover, the carnage is gratuitous, repetitive, predictable, and often flat-out dumb. For instance:

"The Chett front line crashed into the infantry, hacking off heads and limbs."

"The cavalry rode in among the front line, hacking off heads and limbs until the field was soaked with blood."

And so forth. In truth the entire trilogy was bloody, but "Inheritance" and "Fire and Sword" mixed the battles in with touching personal moments featuring all the main characters. In "Sovereign", the personal side is just plain gone, replaced by yet more lopped limbs and grotesque injuries. A book needs more than just bloodshed to succeed.