Here Be Monsters

Stardate 01-16-2008

I just finished a great and extremely nerdy fantasy novel. It was the first book in the Fantasy Series, The Age of Discovery. The first book is called, A Secret Atlas and it takes place in a time that would be very similar to our the 15th and 16th century--except for that magic exists and is a very important element of society. It is a time of exploration when the most important key to success is the accuracy of the explorer's maps. The story centers around a family of Royal Cartographers. The grandfather of this family is the foremost map maker in the known world and his two grandsons are his apprentice map makers. The main characters in the story are these two grandsons and we follow them as each sets out on a new quest to explore and create new maps for the region. One goes out by boat and the other is to explore a far off land.

As the book progresses we learn more and more about the history of this land. The land is basically one huge continent that used to ruled by two peoples; humans and viruk. The humans were ruled by a queen. Many years ago, this queen gathered her most powerful magicians and warriors and set out on a quest to destroy the viruk. This viruk are basically a group of magical 10-12' giants. The two groups did battle in the North. Their battles were so great and their use of magic became so out of control that there was a great magical cataclysm which changed the face of the land and killed just about everyone who was involved in the battle. The result is that there is wild and uncontrolled magic that has infested the land. It continuously creates magical storms that are deadly to those around it and the face of the land constantly changes, which makes it almost impossible to chart routes through the land. One of the brothers is sent to try and map out this region of the land.

The use of magic is very cool in this book. Swordsman, map makers, archers, even whores who become so good at what they do can reach what is most easily described as a zen state, which allows them to call upon the power of magic. This magic allows them to do great and unbelievable things. Only a select group of people are able to do this and as the novel progresses, we find that people are learning to harness this magical power in different ways. For example, there are a group of grave robbers who are digging up graves of those who died in the great magical war. By just using the weapons of the dead, they are able reach this state of magic for a time. Another thing that ordinary people do who wish to attain this power is grind up the bones of the dead and sniff up the powder like a drug. Again, this allows them to use the magic for short periods of time. The common man figures out many more and interesting ways to use this wild magic to their advantage.

The other brother sets sail with a great armada in an attempt to chart a path around the world. Along the way they discover unknown lands with different races of people. They also discover and are attacked by different kinds of sea monsters. His story line is entertaining, but its more of a set up for great things to come in the next two books.

I would reccomend this book to any of the cousins except for Amber. She would hate it. In fact, if she started to read this review, I'd be really suprised if she even gets this far.