Intelligence and wry humor refresh stale material in the middle volume of Chernenko's sword and sorcery trilogy that began with 2003's The Bastard King
. Scholarly young King Lanius is the rightful ruler of the city-state Avornis, but he's largely a figurehead for grizzled warrior Grus, who also calls himself king. They don't have time to indulge in magical plotting to seize absolute power, though, because Avornis is not just surrounded by hostile neighbors but is a special target of the Banished One, a deity whom the other gods cast out and who now wants to dominate the human world before he launches an attack to reconquer the heavens. The kings of Avornis must cope with a host of worries, especially their obligation to return a heroic elderly king to the throne of one of the Chernagor city-states. Fortunately, the author knows how shopworn these plot elements have become, and he takes time to work out the details. As they are forced to work together, Lanius and Grus discover that their abilities complement each other and that they even can respect each other. The deposed Chernagor king may look like a stalwart, sword-swinging hero, but he's also a boorish monomaniac. If the emphasis on step-by-step preparations sometimes feels tedious because readers don't see how it ultimately will pay off, the sense of complicated people struggling through difficult times is unusually convincing. Agent, Russell Galen at Scovil, Chichak & Galen. (Apr. 6)
