[SteveF]

Just finished reading Stormcaller by Tom Lloyd. Overally, I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to the next in the series. I enjoy fantasy novels that feel like they have a weight of history behind them; significant and major events in the past of a particular world. I also liked the range of different characters and beings, although I could have probably done without the odd mythical creature (vampires etc).

Having said all that, there were some aspects that I had problems with. The fate of a particular character towards the end of the book is very badly handled, off screen as it were. Also, and this may just be me, I actually found myself getting increasingly confused. Lloyd has tried to cram an awful lot of myth and magic into a few hundred pages and I increasingly found myself getting lost in it.

Partly this may have been the result of having little time to devote to the novel, but I gradually started to forget what happened in the great battle, who was involved, who exactly the Gods are and what they do and so on. By the end, I was just appreciating the action as it drove ahead, rather than being able to place it in its wider context. I think the book badly needs an appendix.

Did anyone else have this problem or have other thoughts on Stormcaller?