Lord of the Isles (David Drake)

A series of books by author David Drake. In 1997, Drake began his largest fantasy series, Lord of the Isles, using elements of Sumerian religion and medieval era technology. The series consists of nine books broken into two distinct parts, the Lord of the Isles consisting of the first six books, and a final trilogy dubbed the Crown of the Isles.

Novels
Lord of the Isles
  1. Lord of the Isles (1997, ISBN 0-312-85396-3)
  2. Queen of Demons (1998, ISBN 0-312-86468-X)
  3. Servant of the Dragon (1999, ISBN 0-312-86469-8)
  4. Mistress of the Catacombs (2001, ISBN 0-312-87387-5)
  5. Goddess of the Ice Realm (2003, ISBN 0-312-87388-3)
  6. Master of the Cauldron (2004, ISBN 0-312-87496-0)
Crown of the Isles trilogy
  1. The Fortress of Glass (2006, ISBN 0-7653-1259-X)
  2. The Mirror of Worlds (2007, ISBN 0-7653-1260-3)
  3. The Gods Return (2008, ISBN 0-7653-1261-1)
Short Stories
  1. The Elf House (2004, published in Masters of Fantasy, ISBN 1-4165-0927-5)

Main characters
  • Garric or-Reise
  • Sharina os-Reise
  • Cashel or-Kenset
  • Ilna os-Kenset
  • Tenoctris the Wizard (bos-Tandor)[1]
  • Liane bos-Benliman

Other characters
Recurring characters
  • Reise or-Laver (Garric and Sharina's father)
  • Lara (Garric and Sharina's mother)
  • Katchin or-Keldan (Cashel and Ilna's uncle)
  • Kenset or-Keldan (Cashel and Ilna's father)
  • Nonnus or-Bran (A quiet hermit close to Sharina)
  • King Carus (The ancient king who dwells in Garric's mind)
  • Lord Waldron (commander of the Army) bor-Warriman
  • Lord Tadai (Lord Chamberlain) bor-Tithain
  • Lord Royhas (Lord Chancellor) bor-Bolliman
  • Lord Attaper (Commander of the Blood Eagles, the noble-born Praetorian Guard of the series)
  • Admiral Zettin (Lord High Admiral)
  • Captain Chalcus (ex-pirate, Ilna's lover)
  • Lady Merota (orphan noble, Ilna's ward)
  • Rasile (cat-woman wizard)
Featured characters
  • Asera bos-Gezaman (Procurator)
  • Meder bor-Mederman (Wizard)
  • The Dragon (lizard-man wizard)
  • Goddess of the Ice Realm (half-human hell-bent woman)
  • The Hooded One (undead wizard)
Other characters
  • Count of Blaise
  • Duke of Sandrakkan
  • Count of Haft
    • Count Lascarg
  • Duke of Yole
  • Valence III, King of the Isles
  • The Shepherd (Great God)
  • The Lady (Great Goddess)
  • The Sister (Great Goddess)
  • Duzi (minor god)

General outline

The books center on the lives of four youths from a small village on one of the islands that make up the archipelago of the book's world, known as the Isles. In the first novel, the character Garric or-Reise discovers that he is, in fact, the direct descendant of the last king to rule the Isles, exactly a millennium ago. Then, as now, the power that fueled all magic in the world rose precipitously, allowing the use of spells so powerful that they shattered the cohesion of nations, driving them apart and in the process killing Garric's ancestor, Carrus, and sinking the island of Yole.

The novels deal with Garric's claim to the throne of the Isles, and his attempts to unite them once again. In the process, he and his companions are challenged by foes both physical and supernatural, which they must overcome. The basic outline of many of the novels deals with the characters being split apart, often taken to parallel universes or distant periods in time, by some hostile entity or group, which they must then defeat before, or in the process of, re-uniting.

Magic in the series is based on a now-dead language, the Old Script. Its characters are usually drawn using an athame (made of a variety of substances including iron, twigs and ivory) and the words spoken aloud. The introduction states that these are actual incantations from the Classical world.

The Isles
  • Atara
    • First Atara
    • Second Atara
    • Third Atara
  • Bight—Home isle of the Hairy Men
  • Blaise—Powerful isle originally opposed to Garric's rule.
  • Bowwkan
  • Cordin
  • Dalopo
  • Gharax
  • Haft—Home isle of the four main characters from Barca's Hamlet.
  • Kanbesa
  • Kepulakecil
  • Laut
  • Ornifal—Current location of the nominal official government of the Isle's and Liane's home.
  • Pandah—Central isle
  • Pare
  • Pewle—Located outside the Isles proper
  • Sandrakkan—Powerful isle originally opposed to Garric's rule.
  • Seres
  • Shengy—Grows bananas
  • Sirimat—Home to man-eating trees
  • Tegma—Sunken isle, once home to the Archai, a prehuman insectoid race. Now a breeding ground for seawolves.
  • Telut
  • Tisamur—Grows pineapples
  • Volita
  • Yole—Now sunk
  • Western continent—Possibly mythical[2]

References
  1. Drake, David (2006). The Fortress of Glass. Tor. p. 177. ISBN 0-7653-1259-X.
  2. The Mirror of Worlds
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