Eye of the Sword: a Disappointment

Young Trevin, a newly appointed "Comain" in the kingdom of Camrithia, has been given two quests.  His duty assigned to him by the king is to seek out the other comains (knights) who have gone astray, in order that they may return to protect the kingdom.  The duty given by the princess, however, is to recover the two missing "kyparis" harps, so that the Wisdom Tree will be restored, and the angels that inhabit the kingdom may return to their heavenly abode.

Along his way, Trevin makes friends with the prince of a neighboring kingdom, becomes the enemy of another prince who thirsts for the throne of Camrithia, and finds himself a fugitive of the very kingdom he strives to serve.  Trevin also struggles with feelings of inadequacy and guilt as he changes from a thief and a spy to a man of justice and honor.

As a big fan of fantasy tales, I highly anticipated the arrival of this book, The Eye of the Sword by Karyn Henley .  But when I finally began to read, I was sorely let down.  There was nothing inherently wrong with the writing, apart from a few words the author seemed to like but did not appear terribly comfortable using ("daft," "dolt," "dun").  I just did not entirely like the style author Henley chose to  use.  (After reading Les Miserables, though, not much really impresses in the style area.)

If there was any allegorical meaning, which tends to accompany Christian fantasy novels, I did not pick up on it.  Nor did I feel any emotional attachment to any of the characters.

I suppose it was an okay book.  It was a quick read, was clean, and had some unusual characters (angels); a decent read for preteens and teenagers.  I would not read it again though.   

I received this book for free from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

(Note:  This book is the second in a series called Angelaeon Circle.  Maybe reading the first one will make reading this one a more enjoyable time.)