Book Review: Unexpected Bargain

My rating: 5 fiery stars

because this sequel is even better than book 1!!



First Guardian Malandar Denarlin Cor’Esardan has set out on a quest. He travels through the Ostravahn Realm with the hope that he can locate the elusive Twins who are fated to operate the Artefact that can save the world of Dallancea from war and destruction. He must hurry and intercept the fated pair before the agents of chaos. Yet, lack of magic, delays, and a strange new personal affliction, repeatedly play havoc with his senses and purpose. And soon, it becomes obvious to Malandar that reaching his goal may require breaking a few of the Creator's laws. But that comes with a very high price and Malandar may not be quite prepared to pay it.
In failure lies madness and danger, and a weapon of such scope that it could potentially destroy Ostravah. But does the purpose justify the means?

Meanwhile, Princess Iambre has to make do without her trusted handmaiden and life-shield Solancei. Solancei's absence has her on edge and yet she doesn't shy away from pursuing the passion her life-shield would condemn: ensnaring her Lance-Captain, Bilandro Metavo in all the wrong ways.
What Iambre wants, Iambre gets! and yet, this time, the captain, once a thief and shady knife-fighter with little thought for consequence, manages to stand his ground and resist her. He is determined to honour the trust of the King whom he owes everything and safe-guard Iambre, not dishonour her. No mean feat when you've already fallen for a woman who's set on having her way. And Bilan has fallen hard!

Perhaps it helps a little that the place Iambre came to visit gives Bilan worse jitters than bedbugs. And with the life-shield missing, making sure his princess is safe comes before any other feeling the captain might harbor.
And still...
This was so wrong but yet so right! So, so right!

Solancei finds herself badly wounded, beaten and imprisoned, at the mercy of Simaro. And the flecking cheat jackal-fight opponent had come to heap insult to pain in the flesh! Oh-bloody-yay!

He is set on either killing her or making her talk. Something that Solancei can never allow. Except that her condition doesn't leave her a lot of room to wriggle.
The Gods seemed to have gone out of their ways to spill disaster into her life an obscene number of times already - mostly with narrow margins for recovery - and now...?
And now this! Flecking Simaro!
The only mercy is the fact that she had somehow, in a desperate moment, regained access to The State of Veranto. And that is the only think keeping her on her feet and giving her the courage to go on. To try and escape and get herself out of the mess she ended up in. But will her battered body allow it?
Forced to taste the metallic tang of fear she hadn't known in years and to face terror that makes her wonder if she hallucinates or sleepwalks, Solancei's struggle to escape will have her heart lurch on the heels of 'old death riding on the bones of chaos; as inevitable as her next breath, so it would claim her.'
Will she escape the trap alive?

If the first book felt a little slow paced at times, this one is action from cover to cover. It does cover a very short time-span, just a couple of days, so it's not fast-paced per se - but with detailed and vivid descriptions.
You will get to practically feel Solancei's pain with her; you'll see and smell the dungeon and shudder at her despair! Because yes! Everything is that masterfully described!
There is noting superfluous here. Everything has a meaning and a place. And you'll find yourself glued to the pages waiting to see what happens next.

Again, you will need to pay attention and neither skip nor skim, because there are little details and clues left everywhere for you to find.

Written in the same rich, lyric and elegant prose and from different POVs, this second installment in The Missing Shield series will give you the same incredibly vivid scenes. Not fight scenes this time, but scenes of passion, pain and feeling. That brilliant insight into the characters'mind that I was praising in book 1 is taken a notch higher here with not only Solancei, but also Iambre, Bilan and Malandar.
You will get to know them all better, even get to love or resent some of them.

The game-board is still being set but the players are already moving. And with the way this episode ends you'll want to jump straight into the sequel. I know I did!

The Missing Shield is a complex and multilayered first class high fantasy, with an impressive wordbuilding, rich portrayals of both world and characters, as well as a deep insight into the characters' thoughts, reasoning and motivations.
The prose, wordbuilding, action scenes, character buildup and feeling. Everything practically leaps of the page. You only have to pay attention, trust the author, lean back and let the story unfold.

This is a series for readers who love rich and vivid descriptions like those offered by Guy Gavriel Kay. It is for those who enjoy the intricacy of Steven Erikson and the elegant style of Janny Wurts.

If you are one of them, this is A MUST READ!

Check out this book and more of L.L. Thomsen here.