Now, still searching for Niko, wanting him for the murder of one of their own, the 3 rd Commandos trash Bomba’s bordello, but Niko manages to escape.Įnter Tempus: The Riddler wrestles with his own demons. To make matters worse, Brachis, High Priest of Vashanka (the Rankan storm god who has disappeared), comes to hire Niko to assassinate Abikithis, the emperor of Ranke, for the good of empire, Vashanka, and Niko’s own soul. Pulled in three directions by three powerful beings of higher octaves, Niko is being driven mad, which leads him into a whirlpool of drink and drugs. And Enlil wants Niko as a representative on earth. Roxane the witch, Death’s Queen, wants Niko’s body and a bit of his soul. All three come to haunt Niko.Īskelon wants Niko for the purity of his soul, who steals his sleep and wants Stealth for an avatar. Finally, we have Enlil, the northern Storm Lord and god of the armies. Then there is Roxane - shape changer, soul eater, and vampire-like witch, who devours the essence of life from hapless mortals. He rules the sleep of all, from his ephemeral archipelago of dreams, Meridian. First, there is Askelon, the entelechy of dreams, regent of the seventh sphere and an archmage with delusions of godhood. This is where the triad of Niko’s troubles begins. Niko escapes and goes into hiding at Brother Bomba’s whorehouse. In the first chapter, he’s at wits’ end, quitting the Sacred Band after he gets rousted by a pair of arrogant 3 rd Commandos, wherein things quickly turn ugly and he kills one of the soldiers. Everything in this excellent novel revolves around Niko (who is also known by his war name, Stealth), for what trials he endures and what tribulations he suffers are Herculean and tragic and form the core of this novel.

They ride into Tyse triumphant and settle in to wait for spring, content with the season’s work. Fighting had ended inconclusively, with the Mygdonian warlord Ajami still at large.

Niko’s commander, Tempus, called the Riddler, had employed magic to bring his mixed cadre of shock troops (Rankan 3 rd Commando rangers, Tysian ‘specials,’ hillmen of Free Nisibis, and Niko’s unit of Stepsons) back to Tyse for the winter. Heavy snows had put the war against Mygdonia and its Nisibisi wizards into hiatus. Let me begin with a little recap in Janet’s own words: This is also the most dramatic, tense and emotionally powerful of the three books. This was the toughest of the three to review because there is so much that happens and so much ground to cover. I finish my reviews of the 5-star, Author’s Cut editions of Janet Morris’s classic of Homeric Heroic Fantasy, the Beyond Sanctuary Trilogy, with the third and final book, Beyond Wizardwall. Woe betide the soul who loves too much, wants too much, dares too much.

Beyond Wizardwall by Janet E. Morris