Ragnekai Winds, Kindle Edition, copyright and written by Peter Buckmaster.
This is Book One of a fantasy dealing with the subject matter of its subtitle, the Old Wounds Trilogy. It is set in and provided with a map of a mythical world of long ago where High King Sedmund, the most powerful of all kingdoms, long in failing health, suddenly succumbs. He has no heirs and strangely, had appointed no successor. It is rumored that he was poisoned by the sister of the ruler of one of the lesser kingdoms, who had been involved in a clandestine relationship with the king’s powerful general. Regardless, the lack of this overall deterrent, releases all of the frustrated ambitions held by others and each attempts to heal old wounds in their unique manner.
Discussion: The author has presented a well written tale of intrigue, distrust, deceit, betrayal and treachery interspersed with expressions of loyalty, faith and love. Many empathy worthy characters are engaged in activities reminding one of a well-played game of chess and many tragically pass away. The story is fast-moving with little ‘down’ time interspersed and the battle scenes are well described as relative to that era of warfare. As the reader progresses toward the book’s finale, he/she discovers that instead of being provided with some degree of resolution, still another element is introduced, although it had been alluded to in a most unobtrusive manner very early in the story.
Summary: The author indeed has set forth a most worthy story that meets all of the criteria for interesting and well-written manuscripts. It also plays well into the increase in escapist thinking generated by today’s hectic lifestyle; i.e. tales of fantasy that merely provide a substitute extension of the long-running TV shows and books depicting ‘Tales of the Old West’. The entire trilogy should be thoroughly enjoyed by all but regrettably a very few such as this reader and surprisingly a notable one other. It appears that perhaps a few prefer to have some degree of ‘closure’ at the conclusion of each book in a series. In this case, so many characters with whom a degree of empathy has been established have been killed that one is reminded of the old “cliff hangers” where a reader must wait to discover if the same fate has befallen several more. Most admittedly, such an admission ‘bespeaks a line of thought hearkening back to earlier times when such attempts to assure retention of the reader/observer’s attention for the next episode were initiated.’ (Granted, the idea goes back a long way, but probably not quite as far as thought; i.e. it was well before the era of dinosaurs.)
5* Well-written fantasy; the trilogy enjoyable for almost everyone.