Brown, Simon
INHERITANCE
Book One of The Keys of Power
Simon Brown
DAW 2000
Pb 424 pages
ISBN#
0-7564-0162-3
Looking for a good fantasy read that isn’t in black and white? They are not as
common as I’d wish. Yet Simon Brown does an excellent job of creating real
characters that transcend the stereotypical good VS evil mold. None of Brown’s
characters are all good or bad--they are human.
The kingdom of Grenda Lear is ruled by a queen who holds four keys of power. She is respected by all. But when she dies, distributing those keys between her four children, age-old plots come out of hibernation. INHERITANCE follows all four keys, but concentrates mostly on the Key of Union which was given to Queen Usharna’s youngest, Prince Lynan. Unlike his half-siblings, Lynan is the son of a commoner father, though The General was anything but common. Elynd Chisal was the greatest general the kingdom had ever known and Prince Lynan wants very much to emulate the father he never knew; and this is not difficult because two of his father’s commanders teach Lynan the ways of war. No one trains Lynan in the ways of court, however, because he is the youngest and also snubbed by many for not having a father of the nobility. Lynan’s chief rival is his sister Areava who is quick to believe the lie that Lynan killed their older brother just hours after their mother’s funeral. Lynan and three loyal companions are on the run for their lives after that, while plots thicken in the capital where the two remaining heirs to the keys of power are dupes who fall for schemes that will change their kingdom away from its original design.
Queen Usharna’s heirs work against each other, yet none are evil: circumstance just pulls them to opposing sides. Though the plotting is not original and the world-building has a flaw or two, still this is a worthy read because of the excellent characterization. There’s enough action, too, to keep this adventure-hound happy. I’ll buy the next in the trilogy.
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