The Doomfarers Of Coramonde (2007) - Plot & Excerpts
This was a far better fantasy than I recalled. It's really held up well & had all the elements needed to make it an excellent one; action, romance, & excellent attention to the realities of war, although the hyperbole factor was quite high. The best fighters were also the rulers, so they tended to continually put themselves in harm's way. Kind of silly, like Kirk & the command crew of the Enterprise, but fun. While the world is one with magic, there are other dimensions of which ours is one, so a few characters, 2 of the main ones, are from our world. That added a lot to the story. Not everyone was good or bad, either. While Good & Evil were forces in the world, some people were occasionally jerks & got put in their place. Very well done.I can't say I was in love with the reader, but he didn't ruin it either. It was a bit more of a production than I like. Different voices for each character & some were hard to hear, the voice was low. The Hightowers were great. They sounded like Sean Connery & made me think of Highlander, which fit perfectly.There is a sequel to this story, The Starfollowers of Coramonde. I have it on audio & plan to listen to it soon.
I read this long ago and remember liking it so I gave it a shot. I’m pleased to say that it still holds up. It’s your basic fantasy with swords and spells, dragons and evil villains, but with a surprise when a summoning brings forth a US Army armored personnel carrier and its crew plucked right out of an ambush in the Vietnam War. The author does a good job at writing and world building and I like how the characters have some flaws. One protagonist is nearsighted and more than a couple have a tendency to be arrogant assholes. Somehow they deal with each other’s bullshit and muddle their way along. Sadly, I just discovered the author passed away early in his career so this, its sequel, and a handful of other novels are all we’ll get. Now on to the sequel….
What do You think about The Doomfarers Of Coramonde (2007)?
Okay, I'm going to leave the four star rating that I gave it from the memory of reading it at 14. For certain aspects, I still find it well deserved. The way the contemporary characters are drawn into the fantasy world is as well-done as anything along those lines I've ever read, and this is also what impressed me most way back when. On the downside, the high fantasy aspects now seem a little derivative, but this is a minor complaint. The POV shifts so often that I guess it ends up being flat out omniscient view - something there's no way I would have noticed the first time I read it. Hard to say whether I liked it this way - I guess I've developed a tendency to criticize POV shifts as careless writing, but I can only conclude that Daley did it intentionally, since it's not like his editors could have missed it! In conclusion, I want to compare this to what seems to be a highly regarded classic of the genre: Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber. There are definite similarities, and although admittedly, I only read the Zelazny book recently, I hope I'm being somewhat objective in seeing this book as clearly superior. Enjoyable and recommended.
—Chris Branch
