Tyrants and Kings trilogy by John Marco:
The Jackal of Nar
The Grand Design
The Saints of the Sword

John Marco's Tyrants and Kings Trilogy:
JOHN MARCO LINKS Tyrants and Kings (official author web site) Excerpt of The Jackal of Nar Additional Reviews of The Jackal of Nar

Have you ever been desperate for something to read? Settled for something second-best simply because you couldn't find anything else, and then been pleasantly surprised? I have and was, which is how I come to be reviewing a fantasy novel that is all about war and religion.

The Jackal of Nar looked good on the shelf -- even the blurb on the back was pretty impressive -- but when I got it home and got about four chapters into it, I was starting to think, "What the... ?" and almost put it down.

That would have been a huge mistake. For while it describes the mechanics, the strategies and the logistics of battle in detail, it does so in such an interesting and entertaining way that the reader is sucked into the vortex. I could see the ballista and hear the sound of the cavalry charge and what's more, I understood it and was excited and horrified by what I was visualising. Not too many books can do that to me.

John Marco achieves this by simply making you care about the characters. Within minutes of beginning to read, you become an involved viewer. Their lives, their frailties, strengths and hopes are all yours; no superheroes here.

The Jackal himself is the focus of the first book. Richius Vantran is the Prince of Aramoor a small, rural province, one of many owing fealty to the Emperor of Nar, Arkus, who rules from the Black City. Nar is at war with the Triin of Lucel-Lor, for while the Emperor claims to abhor and distrust the magic the Triin are alleged to possess, he secretly wishes to harness that power in order to prolong his already chemically-enhanced life.

The Black City is a place where alien technology has gone mad. The ruling class have discovered a chemical that can prolong life indefinitely, and thus the madness it brings is tolerated. But Arkus, the oldest of them all, is failing. The potion no longer sustains him and he is desperate to find the source of the Triin's alleged magic.

Aramoor, Richius' province, is between Nar and The Run, a rocky land bridge that divides the two lands and he is fighting the Triin for his Emperor, unaware of the truth behind the assault. Richius' brilliance in battle earns him the nickname The Jackal, bestowed upon his unwilling head by the enemy. His notoriety almost proves fatal.

He meets and falls in love with a woman of Lucel-Lor, Dyana, and comes between her and the Triin man who has rights to her; the prophet, Tharn, whose mania has seen him rise to lead his people.

All the characters in this story are compelling and flawed; Richius with his doubts and his unwillingness to lead, Dyana who is torn between what she has been taught and what she now sees to be the truth, even Tharn, who doubts his own sanity in the face of the God's blessing. Arkus, a frail, frightened, yet ruthless old man and his favourite, Biagio, the head of his network of spies, a ruthless killer and lover of other men.

None of these people are painted in black and white. They all do and say things that they come to regret. They run from their responsibilities. By Book Three they are even changing sides. It is, as I said, all very compelling and very human.

All in all, a lovely read and one that kept me riveted enough that I spent a lot of time and effort hunting out the rest of the trilogy. Well worth it for the characters that will haunt you, long after you've forgotten how a ballista works! *g*