This is Mr. Batson's latest series, which of the ones I've read, (All but GHOST) is by far the best. It's my favorite fantasy series for sure. Yes, even above LotR. It's going to be seven books long, and the two publish so far have both been over 400 pages long. Unfortunately, I haven't read The Errant King yet. I'm waiting for Christmas.

Series Summary: A noble king discovers what happens when he leaves a door open for evil. The disastrous consequences impact generations, leaving the throne of Anglinore to a wicked despot, the kingdom in ruins, and Aravel's son Loch in exile. To throw down the vile new authority, Loch will need to find the fabled Halfainin and raise a new army from a world of reluctant citizens. Together with his archer friend Ariana, Loch will face adventures that span the world of Myriad, creatures that defy imagination, and choices great and terrible—all these recorded in The Dark Sea Annals.

Sword in the Stars: Haunted by memories of a violent past, Alastair Coldhollow wagers his life on the hope that a sword will appear in the stars and the foretold Halfainin, the Pathwalker, would come. Meanwhile, tensions simmer between Anglinore and the murderous Gorrack Nation, threatening war on a cataclysmic scale. The fate of all could rest on an abandoned child and the decisions of those who desperately seek to identify him. Sword in the Stars is the first release in The Dark Sea Annals series.

The Errant King: Deep in the caves of the distant Hinderlands, an ancient menace stirs. Townsfolk shudder at violent memories of The Red Queen and even dare to whisper the name Raudrim. At the same time, word comes to Alastair that Cythraul has at last resurfaced, seeking a devastating weapon in the ruins of Grayvalon. Blood-soaked clues lead Alastair into a confrontation from which only one warrior will return alive. Meanwhile in Anglinore, young Lochlan Stormgarden, the new High King of Myriad, leaves the pomp and politics of the throne once too often. While blending in with the people of his kingdom, Loch suddenly realizes that he's put them all at risk. The fate of his new found love Arianna, his best friend Telwyn, his family, and indeed the world of Myriad all depend on the decisions of the errant king.

Looks really good, doesn't it? The story never stops moving forward. Characters are human. Alistair has all the trappings of an epically cool hero. He's an ex-assassin with really good sword skills. That's enough to make an entertaining story from, but there's more. He feels guilty, struggles with faith and hope, struggles with Witchdrale (Sounds like one of my characters ) and he loses his struggles at times. Then he comes back fighting. The characters are all human, well, except the creepy guy in the Bone Chapel. Well, he might be. I doubt it.
The world-building is astounding as well. Each chapter starts with a quote from a writing in the story-world. No outside sources. The allegory is clearly there, but subtle enough to keep you guessing. The races are all unique, there's a complicated and realistic political situations. Best of all, there are no elves! That's an immediate win in my book.

For those worried about content, it's completely clean.

I heartily and strongly encourage y'all to read it. For those of you who have, what did you think? Was my review accurate?

Disclaimer: I am in a several month long promotion contest hosted by Mr. Batson.

Those sound really good, Varon. I'm going to have to order them from the library. (Or are they in libraries yet?)

Sword in the Stars is, probably. It depends on how often your library gets Christian fantasy books.

Those sound really interesting.

They are.

I'm working on them right now! THEY ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah.

Yeah, they do sound good. What would their rating be, if they were movies?

I don't know. PG-13 for violence, maybe?

Yeah, sounds like it. Thanks!

You're welcome.

They sound very interesting, Varon; I'll have to find them sometime.

(I doubt they're as good as the Lord of the Rings, though )

Cool.

They are, especially if you can't stand the style in which Tolkien wrote them.

That awkward moment when one is in said promotional contest, and hasn't done squat...


But that aside, I really need to try these books one of these days.

I know how you feel. I really need to get a formal review written and posted places.

They're good.

(What's your constellation?)

I just finished the Errant King, great book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Belac. Unless of course the name has changed and I didn't know about it, which is likely, with my luck =P

(I'm Phoenix)

I'll be starting The Errant King soon, as soon as I finish my library books.

I've read A Sword in the Stars and The Errant King, and I love them.

Batson's writing quality has improved a lot since his earlier books. It's also clear that this series has been very well planned. I would appreciate a map, but I have a feeling we'll get one soon.

I want to caution potential readers that this series is definitely more mature than his other works. Those of you who haven't read the second book may not agree, but when you read the second book, you'll understand. It could easily be rated R if done well as a movie. (Let's put it this way-is there a zombie movie that isn't rated R? Well, this would be a zombie movie.)

The content is also a little more mature, dealing with issues (and violence) that Mr. Batson doesn't usual touch on.

If not for Mr. Batson's writing style, I would say that this book is written for adults. That's not to say that it's not youth-friendly, but some parents may want to read these books before giving them to anyone under around twelve. It may require some parental guidance for youngsters.

Thank you for the heads-up, Mr. Erk.

Yeah. It would need parental guidance for those under 12. I haven't read the entirety of the second one, so I don't know about any zombies yet.

I have the first book sitting on my shelf right now, so I'll give my opinion after I've read it.

Awesome.

I wouldn't say the books are better than Tolkien....(that's kinda going too far... Tolkien is the Father of Fantasy so not much can get to be as good as him) but I did like the first book.
I've got both books but I haven't read the second yet. I guess I'll wait a little while till the third book is out so that I don't have to wait too long after reading the cliff hanger to read the next book. That's my strategy.... lol

Well, because he's the Father of Fantasy and inspired just about every fantasy writer doesn't mean there won't be series better than LotR.

I've read the second one now, and it was amazing. The stakes sky-rocketed up. The only series it brings to mind that's similar is L. B. Graham's "Binding of the Blade" series.

*chuckles at Varon *

What?

I just happened to find humor in your LOtR comment, since I made a similar comment the other day during a discussion at the diner table.

That would chuckle-worthy.

I wouldn't really compare it to Binding of the Blade, but I suppose I might be rare in that regard, in so far as I tend to think of BotB as demonstrating many of the things that fantasy authors ought to avoid when writing fiction of the "high-stakes" apocalyptic variety we're talking about.

TDSA (Is that the first time we've used that acronym on this forum?) is, first of all, a much more involved plot than BotB. Secondly, it's a more motivated plot: the plot very logically follows from the actions of the characters, rather than being derived from circumstances the characters are unable to control. Thirdly, the plot is very much about consequences of good and bad choices and therefore explores the deeper sides of each character, rather than focusing primarily (BotB fans brace yourselves) on mushy romances accidentally entangled with the end of the world.

And, finally, TDSA has zombies, talking swords, flying Windborne, and Cythral. What could beat that? (Not counting LoTR.)

I haven't read this series, but reading this thread has made me want to.

Excellent.

Me too.

I started reading the second book finally and it is scary! If they were movies, they could get to be rated R for violence.

Maybe not R. Probably a high PG-13.

It is pretty creepy at times.

Not to creep ya'll out or anything, but if I were making them a movie, they'd probably get an R. If you go with accurately reflecting the spirit of the book, that's what you would get, anyway.

That'd be pretty awesome.

What?

Don't be too scared off by the high ratings we would give to the movies It makes the books sound a lot worse than they actually are...

Yeah, that is true.

He did? I never noticed.

Isle of Swords has nothing on TDSA. Especially The Errant King.

Yes, the reviews you gave were quite accurate. And it intrigues one enough to convince them to check the books out themselves, as the first one you wrote did for me. Very glad you wrote a review about the first one on your blog.

Also, for the record, I think I enjoyed Sword in the Stars and The Errant King more than I did Tolkien's books, mostly because the style was easier to follow. I mean, Tolkien was amazing in his own right, but WTB's books have near-to-same epic scopes with much easier-to-read styles.