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| Review Summary |
A Matter of Honor is the sequel to A Two-Edged Sword and continues the adventures of Steve Wilkinson. Steve's spirit was forced out of the alternate reality, Quarin, back into his body on Earth. He tries to convince himself that the whole experience was just a dream, but then he sees a picture of one of the Dread Lords, Belevairn, in a supermarket tabloid. So Steve drops out of college and sets out to discover what Belevairn is up to. His trip takes him all across the country and then into South America. Steve finds out that the Morvir (the bad guys in Quarin) are coming to Earth and becoming mercenaries to become trained with our technologically advanced weapons. The Dread Lords use our places of Power to transport between their world and Earth. These places of power include an ancient Mayan temple, a Pueblo kiva, and others. But, in order to do this, there have to be many, many blood sacrifices - so they use the drug trade in Nicaragua. They raze whole villages and take only women and children as camp servants/slaves. All of them end up being sacrificed on the top of the temple. As bad as this is, Steve knows that it will be worse if the Morvir can make it back to Quarin with their tanks and guns - Quarin will be utterly destroyed. It is up to him to stop them...
This book has a great plot - bad guys come to earth to take our higher level of technology back to their medieval alternate reality. There are a lot of books about people from our time going to other times/realities, but this is what happens when one of the bad guys follows you home. The characters were very interesting and Martin gave the reader the opportunity to see the events from several different angles: from Steve, the Dreamer & hero; from Dick, a tabloid reporter who will do anything for a story; from Belevairn, an undead warrior with powerful magic; from Maria, a South American woman captured in a raid by the Morvir; from Garth, a Morvir lieutenant, and many more. All of the characters were well developed and the reader instantly feels a kinship with them. All have hopes and dreams, fears and failures, and triumphs - both good and bad.
Although this book was not as good as A Two-Edged Sword, I still thought that it was excellent. Martin keeps things very fast paced and I sat down and read the book in less than a day. I am looking forwarding to reading A Call to Arms, the last book in the trilogy and seeing how the drama plays out.
Debbie, Resident Scholar
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Composition of Book
Descript. of chases or violence - 30%
planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 30%
Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 20%
Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 20%
Tone of book
- very upbeat
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?
- fantasy story on current Earth
If an invasion, from Earth/human POV:
- subtle invasion (mind control, lookalikes)
War or Invasion
Yes
Major kinds of combat:
- magical battles
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- student
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
How sensitive is this character?
- middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- very athletic
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- long-lived adults
Profession/status:
- mage/magician
Has magical powers?
Yes
Magical/mental powers of main antagonist:
- fire/thunder/weather cntrl
- mind reading
- can fly
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an average amount
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Setting
Earth setting:
- 20th century
Takes place on Earth?
Yes
Style
Person?
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
How much dialogue?
- roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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