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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Monmouth Public Library | Fic (sf) Odom, M. 2004 | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Willamina Public Library | FN ODOM | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Mel Odom's award winning quest fantasy "The Rover "was hailed as a successor to the legacy of Tolkien and Terry Brooks. The tale of "Wick" the lowly librarian who rises to the occasion and becomes a great adventurer struck a chord with adventure lovers and fantasy fans alike.
After his adventures on the mainland Wick returned to his duties at the Vault of All Known Knowledge and quickly worked his way up the hierarchy, continuing his quest for the preservation of books and the knowledge contained therein.
And now that quest is threatened.
"The Destruction of the Books"
It is many years later and lowly Wick is now Grandmagister Lamplighter of the Great Library. His trips to the mainland are fewer due to his advanced age, and lately he has enlisted an assistant by the name of Jugh to undertake those roving duties he used to relish.
An encounter with a goblin ship on the high seas leads to Jugh's discovery of a book in goblin hands, a most matter that must be investigated.
This single event leads to startling revelations that forewarns of a great evil that exists that is every bit as powerful as the Vault of All Known Knowledge, and whose presence in the Great Library may indeed result in
"The Destruction of the Books"
And perhaps far worse.
Author Notes
Mel Odom (born 1957 in California) is a writer who has published more than 140 books. He is best known for his novels of science fiction and fantasy, though he has also written non-fiction about computer gaming. He teaches undergraduate courses at the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication in the Professional Writing program at the University of Oklahoma. One of his best known fantasy novels is The Rover (2001), which in 2002 won the Alex Award, an American Library Association award given to novels written for adults that would also appeal to young readers.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Just as aged Bilbo Baggins gives way to a new hero, Frodo, at the start of The Lord of the Rings, so does elderly Edgewick "Wick" Lamplighter, now a Grandmagister at Great Library, leave center stage to a youthful prot?g?, the pint-sized Juhg, in this Tolkienesque sequel, set nearly a century later, to Odom's The Rover (2001). In the tradition of Fritz Leiber's immortal Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Juhg and his burly human friend, Raisho, set out on a series of fantastic adventures, centered on a search for a rare volume that Wick wants for the Vault of All Known Knowledge. The narrative moves along at a snappy pace, with much good humor, zest and color, but around halfway through, the action becomes repetitive and the fantasy effects heavy-handed. Nevertheless, the magic lies in the details, where books and wizards, both good and evil, glimmer. Agent, TK (July 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A new story and start of a series set in the world of Odom's witty, enjoyable, action-filled hardcover fantasy debut (The Rover, 2001). Liberated from goblin slavers by Edgewick the Lamplighter, the bookish librarian and "dweller" hero of The Rover, Juhg, another dweller, has grown bored with duties as an apprentice librarian inside the vast Vault of All Known Knowledge and has put to sea with his human buddy Raisho. Known aboard ship as a scribbler, Juhg spends his off hours writing in a notebook, sketching what happens to him, when he hears a rumor of a book in the possession of a mysterious goblin ship. Goblins aren't known for their literary tastes and, books being rarities, Juhg and Raisho plot to overtake the ship and steal this one. After more than a hundred pages of swordplay, spell-casting, dueling with a supernatural snake and an evil wizard, they succeed and deliver the book to Edgewick, now Grandmagister of the Library. Examining the book, Edgewick and the wizard Craugh discover that it's literally accursed: the pages open a magical gate through which tumble Dread Riders, Blazebulls, and Grymmlings, disgusting sprites that eat anything and everything. In battling the spell, Juhg, Edgewick, and Craugh uproot the library's magical underpinnings, destroying nearly all the books inside. Edgewick charges Juhg with writing a book about the catastrophe. Then off they go to find the source of the evil book, a search leading to apparent catastrophe: Craugh nearly dies, and Edgewick and Juhg are captured by the Goblin Wizard Aldhran. Edgewick reveals to Juhg that Aldhran is searching for the fabled Book of Time, an illuminated volume containing spells so powerful it can unmake the world. A last-minute escape sends Juhg in search of the book, with the goblin wizard close behind. Though curiously lacking female characters, Odom's bouncy, funny, cliff-hanger adventure is perfect for the Potter crowd, with enough puns, wry asides, and satirical send-ups to amuse Tolkien fans. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Almost 100 years after the events of The Rover 0 (2002), Edgewick Lamplighter is grandmagister at the Vault of All Known Knowledge, a secret repository of books rescued from destruction by the dreaded goblinkin. This time the protagonist is Jugh, another halfling, whom Wick rescued from goblin slavers and made his apprentice. Feeling an outsider on the island, Jugh ships out as a crew member on one of the ships that service and help protect the island. But when he discovers that a book is aboard a goblin ship, he manages with great difficulty and danger to retrieve it and take it back to the island. The book turns out to be designed to open a path for dark forces to invade the island and destroy the library. The battles are ferocious; the dark forces deliver a crushing blow and many deaths before being driven off, temporarily at least; and way is opened for further violence in the saga's next episode. As before, plenty of humor tempers the wild action. --Sally Estes Copyright 2004 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Master Librarian Edgewick Lamplighter of the Great Library has grown old and taken an apprentice, the young halfling Jugh, to gather the books of the world together in the name of conserving knowledge. When a retrieved book turns out to be a trap that results in the destruction of most of the tomes in the Vault of All Known Knowledge, a confrontation looms between those who wish to preserve the world's store of precious books and those who wish to see those books destroyed. Taking place nearly 100 years after the events of The Rover, Odom's latest novel is set in a world nearly destroyed by a great Catastrophe and peopled by warring societies. Raising questions about the role of information keepers while telling a rousing, swashbuckling story, this fantasy adventure, part of an ongoing series, belongs in most fantasy and YA collections. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.