Seaborn Sentinel
By Brannon Hall.
Say what you will about the drow, the Klingons, and the Vorlon, but the alonn residing in the seawaters close to the city of Crown make a damned interesting alien "race." These amphibious humanoids act as the scouts and far-ranging guards of the area and D'yorn is one of them. Assigned to a remote outpost instead of Deep Harbor because of his lack of polity, despite an abundance of talent by the Council, he happens to be the first one to notice signs of a forthcoming threat. A threat to both Crown and his own underwater home. And he is one of the first to fall to it. Enter Kal his superior.
Hall's story here is done with pacing as well as Point-of-View characterization. He has a good knack for dialog which serves to keep the reader involved. The pacing and build up does not disappoint in the end. And the climax is off-set by a wonderful closing scene that will move you the reader. If there is a fault to this tale, it is a single scene concerning the council of the alonn, which could have been a serious exploration into what make this species alien to us humans turns out to be an argument against parilmentarian procedure and methodology. We've seen this presented in various other fantasy works to date, the Treants of Middle Earth comes glaringly to mind. What the readers don't get, as fantasy fans, is what makes the alonn "Alonn," if you catch my drift.
Still this work is a King Kong if you measure things from Godzilla down to a mere Smurf.
Tags: TheWanderingMen PerytonGamers SkeinOfShadows
