Book Review – The Stormcaller by Tom Lloyd

Author: Tom Lloyd
Cover Artist: Todd Lockwood
Publisher: Pyr
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publication Date: October 2008

The Stormcaller is the debut fantasy novel of Tom Lloyd.  It is the first book in a projected five-part series called The Twilight Reign.

Long ago, the gods created the “white-eyes” to rule the world of man.  Born of normal human parents, the white eyes are gifted with inhuman strength, an innate affinity for magic, and the charisma to lead armies and nations- and cursed by a terrible rage that threatens to consume them.

Isak is a young white-eye who has grown up on a merchant wagon caravan.  He is feared and shunned by the rest of the train, and hated by his father for causing the death of his mother in childbirth.  However, his fortunes change when the caravan reaches the city of Tirah, capital of the nation of the Farlan, most powerful of the Seven Tribes.  White-eyes can only reproduce with each other, and female white-eyes are almost nonexistent.  Thus, it is revealed to Lord Bahl, white-eye Duke of Tirah and ruler of the Farlan, that Isak has been chosen by Nartis, god of storms and patron deity of the Farlan nation, to be Bahl’s heir.

And so, Isak is abruptly pulled from the life he knows and into the court of Lord Bahl, suddenly finding himself one of the most powerful men in the most powerful kingdom in the world.  Meanwhile, the world is becoming a more dangerous place, and Isak must master the growing physical and magical power that Nartis’s blessing brings if he is to survive.  A conqueror named Kastan Styrax, another white-eye and lord of the Menin people, is forging an empire and gathering magical artifacts of great power.  Armies of elves march against the Farlan, driven by a prophecy of the return of their ancient king Aryn Bwr, who waged war against the gods millennia ago.  And hidden in the shadows, an ancient and mysterious evil lurks, setting events in motion to prepare the world for its rise.

The Stormcaller is a great entry in the fantasy genre.  Lloyd does a good job of creating a plot that has a lot going on without getting jumbled, and is very effective at hinting that there is much going on concealed in the shadows.  Likewise, his setting is both interesting as presented and full of tantalizing suggestions of much more lurking below the surface.  I thought the pacing was very nicely done, ratcheting up the intensity at just the right rate and finally exploding at the climax.

Isak is an enjoyable protagonist, and I enjoyed seeing him come to terms with his new role.  The idea of a hero of lowly background who finds himself thrust into political power or discovers that he been chosen by fate is a common one in fantasy, but I quite liked Lloyd’s portrayal of it, which captures how abruptly going from a teenage nobody to a lord of the realm divinely endowed with superhuman might would be utterly terrifying and really cool at the same time.  Isak is a likable figure, but he’s human enough to feel the heady rush of power as well as the burden of responsibility, and that made him both believable and sympathetic.

Lloyd really shines in his action sequences, and his story gives him ample opportunity to put that skill to use.  His battles are powerfully described and have a furious intensity.  The idea and power of the white-eyes is at its most prominent here, and Lloyd’s depiction of them- their fearsome magical power, their overwhelming raw physical force, and their horrifying, bestial rage- is wonderfully powerful and makes the reader share both the awe and horror that white-eyes inspire in other characters.

The white-eyes themselves are an interesting idea that works well.  Many fantasy stories have used the idea of a divinely blessed hero, but The Stormcaller does it in a way that more closely calls to mind the idea’s mythological roots in characters like Achilles and Cúchulainn.  Mythic heroes touched by divine power aren’t just strong and impressive, they are terrifying, and Lloyd does a fine job conveying that.

In somewhat similar fashion, the supernatural element is handled well in the story.  Magic and divine influence are both fairly common in Lloyd’s world, but he avoids letting them seem mundane.  In particular, his portrayal of the intervention of gods into events successfully prevents them from dominating the story, yet still makes them awesome figures that really do seem godlike.

The Stormcaller is a great debut and a very promising beginning for the “Twilight Reign” series.  Tom Lloyd is a figure to watch for fantasy fans.

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About John Markley

John Markley is a freelance writer and newspaper reporter from Illinois. He blogs about science fiction and fantasy at Vast and Cool and Unsympathetic and also writes the video game commentary/humor site Pointless Side Quest.