The Ships of Merior and Warhost of Vastmark - ARCII (SPOILER WARNING)

[Ross]

The Ships Of Merior and Warhost of Vastmark
ARC II​

SPOILER WARNING - DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU HAVN'T READ THEM YET!
　
Due to me reading them a while ago and just now starting to write this I'm struggling to remember how things went and what I could say or ask. But here it goes anyway. Apologies in advance guys.

The Ships Of Merior
Desh-Thiere's curse, a conglomeration of demented and twisted wraiths forces Lysear and Arithon against each other which ultimately leads a world to war. Arithon tries to avoid the "Curse of the Mistwraith" by distancing himself from his Princely brother Lysear but Lysear feels he has to do the opposite to protect the people of Athera.

Fortunately, Arithon can fight the anger to fight his brother to a certain extent but if his brother is in close proximity then the curse can become too much. To distance himself from Lysear he establishes a small shipyard in the Village Merior by the Sea so that he can distance himself from his enemies at much greater speed.

I like the fact that allthough Arithon builds the shipyard to help prevent any further bloodshed, many still believe him to have an ulterior motive. Including the Mad Prophet, Dakar who hates Arithon but had been charged to protect him by Asandir, a Fellowship Sorcerer. The one person who would do anything in his power to protect Arithon in any way and prevent him from being overcome by Desh-Thiere's curse is Jieret s'Valerient, Earl of the North, Sworn Liegeman of Arithon, being Bloodpacted to his liege also compels him even further to protect him at all costs.

One of my favourite moments in Ships of Merior involves Jieret and Arithon when Arithon, against his better judgement, goes to Werpoint to confront Lysear from the sea so that he can destroy any hopes of Lysear following him, but also to protect a women and her children. Arithon uses his shadows to make Lysear and his men believe that a fleet of fired brigantines were bearing down on them, except Lysear knew of this trick. At this time Jieret, at all costs, through agony, cuts, bruises and chance of death he stood by his liege's side to prevent him from being overcome by the curse. For a fair time Jieret battled with Arithon, gaining many new scars in the process just so that he could protect him from the curse as he knew what man Arithon was and he would follow him to the end of the world if need be.

Warhost of Vastmark
Now, onto Warhost of Vastmark.

Arithon barely escapes the clutches of his Desh-Thiere cursed brother, Lysear. He hides in the desolate land that we all come to know as Vastmark. While here, Arithon makes plans to thwart Lysears massive army, including the capture of Lysears wife, Talith, with the help of his devoted followers and the Mad Prophet Dakar. Dakar at the moment is still having problems trusting him despite see'ing the good things he has done.
In this one, whereas Arithon seems to be fighting to control the curse, Lysear seems to be doing the exact opposite and is slowly being driven insane. In previous books it could be said that both were just struggling with the curse and only mis-judged each other.

The battle scenes throughout the book are also extremely well written, especially the battle which takes place in the Canyon when Lord Deigan attempts to destroy Arithon and a section of his followers, Caolle included. Lord Deigan fails and attempts a re-treat but as Caolle is about to tell his men to stop firing, Lord Deigan is shot with an arrow and killed. Lord Deigan was to return to Lysear to tell him not to attack anymore to prevent more blood shed. Lord Deigan previously ignored a warning sent by Arithon thinking it was only a ploy to get an upper hand against Lysear.

One of my most beloved characters throughout the book and especally this one is Dakar. The development of his character is brilliant. He goes from the extremely funny, argumentative drunk in the previous books into a man alot more concerned with the fellowship and protecting Arithon, while still liking a nice cold drink or five. Long live Dakar, I'll have a drink to him!
　
There is much, much more I could talk about but I've started it off, now i'll let you guys have a turn. Correct me as much as you like and tell me what you guys think of the books, ARC II.

 

[Grimward]

I've heard that mentioning Dakar and a drink in the same breath can act like a summons, Ross; ward your liquor cabinet!

I am finishing up a re-read of Curse; depending on progress thru other things *Cough...Zelazny....Cough*, may start a Ships re-read next. I have the Mega-Ships, so that will get me Warhost in the bargain. Given that Clanny's up to something similar (when not posting cryptic challenges in Tolkien Trivia, that is), should have more detail here soon. Maybe Pro or Dek have re-read it more recently (although Dek is probably very busy with Dek Jr....). Any thoughts on the S'Brydion and their allegiance? And what did you think of Ivel? I thought he was a great character, and provided a nasty. biting kind of counter point to Dakar's buffoonery....

 

[Clansman]

In the midst of a Ships re-read that got stopped because of demands on me as a reviewer. I love this book, as the days in Merior are like a beautiful interlude in the surf and the sun before all hell breaks loose for the next five books!

I'll post something of a little more depth here shortly.

 

[Clansman]

So much for my promised in-depth posting. 10 months later and it has yet to materialize.

I just wanted to post to let everyone know that this book (not including Warhost of Vastmark) is being read by The Fantasy Book Club at Goodreads in June, and discussed in July. Nice follow up, actually, to their similar discussion last year (in the same months) of Curse of the Mistwraith. Pretty good discussions at Goodreads. Certainly worth a look.