Ian Graham Resident Scholar Profiles TOP SCHOLAR: Harriet Klausner SCHOLARS:
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Review Summaries
"
Ace, April 2004, 14.00, 400 pp.
ISBN 0441011357
He is a slothful thief who does not care that he is homeless, smells like a pig and has a beer belly so huge that it bounces. Ballas has no friends and kills without mercy. In a tavern he steals the purse of a store mason but is caught and beaten almost to death. A priest takes him into his home and when he is well asks him to perform an errand at the museum.
Ballas spots an artifact consisting of a big blue stone surrounded by red ones that brighten up a room when a light is put under it. He steals it hoping to sell it to a collector. Instead the church, which rules the kingdom of Druine, wants him dead. The chief hunter is from a magical race of mages long thought gone. Ballas leaves dead bodies in his wake and forces reluctant allies to help him find the mystical city of Belthiran over the unexplored Garsbracks Mountains because he knows he can never return to Druine.
This is not the typical fantasy novel because Ballas is an antagonist with very few redeeming qualities. Those he does have he does his best to sublimate preferring to treat other people as if they were things to be discarded when he has no use for them.
Harriet Klausner
"
Harriet Klausner, Resident Ian Graham Scholar
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Overall Review
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Plot
Composition of Book Descript. of chases or violence - 10% planning/preparing, gather info, debate puzzles/motives - 40% Feelings, relationships, character bio/development - 40% Descript. of society, phenomena (tech), places - 10%
Tone of book
- suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
FANTASY or SCIENCE FICTION?
- fantasy world/fantasy past
Spying & Investigations
Yes
What is main char. doing?
- a bad guy stealing/killing
Is this an adult or child's book?
- Adult or Young Adult Book
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- unemployed
Age:
- 40's-50's
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Physique
- very athletic
Main Adversary
Identity:
- an organization
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- an average amount
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Setting
Earth setting:
- during "Tolkien" (fairytime) times
Takes place on Earth?
Yes
Style
Person?
- mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
How much dialogue?
- significantly more dialog than descript
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