Lost Covenant: A Widdershins Adventure by Ari Marmell (book review).
Following on from ‘Thief’s Covenant’ and then ‘False Covenant’ we have ‘Lost Covenant’ as the third in the ‘Widdershins Adventure’ fantasy series of novels by Ari Marmell. It picks up about six months after the ending of ‘False Covenant’, during which Widdershins has been travelling the world after fleeing the city of Davillon. The story proper starts off with Widdershins in the city of Lourveaux visiting the tomb of William de Laurent, once Archbishop Chevareaux. He was one of the people who were fond of Widdershins and met an untimely death as so many of Widdershins’ acquaintances do. I say the story proper, as there is a prologue set in Davillion that only makes sense towards the end of ‘Lost Covenant’, so I’m not going to dwell on it other than to say there are a number of interludes in the book. These follow on from the prologue and piece together another but related story.
While in Lourveaux, Widdershins becomes aware that the noble house of Carnot is moving against the House of Delacroix and quite successfully so, too. They have all but eliminated it from Lourveaux and have now set their sights on the last remaining Delacroix bastion in Aubier. As Widdershins adoptive father was from the Delacroix house, she has a soft spot for them and so sets out to assist them against the Carnot’s. A task not made easy by the Delacroix dysfunctional family who don’t want anything to do with her. Adding further complication is the Thousand Crows as the local mob of thugs is known. Widdershins seems to be in conflict with just about everyone except House Delacroix’s youngest son Cyrille, who is smitten by her.
Now I’m a fan of the ‘Covenant books’ but this one strikes me as a filler. There’s no supernatural demonic entities for Widdershins to get to grips with here, just the local thugs and conniving nobles. That’s not to say it’s a bad read, I quite enjoyed it and the body count is on a par with the other books, it’s just that the real action is in the interludes. While the main story has a satisfying ending, we all know that the interludes are leading up to the main event, which I expect will be chronicled in the next book.
Andy Whitaker
October 2013
(pub: Pyr/Prometheus Books. 277 page small enlarged paperback. Price: $17.99 (US). ISBN: 978-1-61614-811-9. E-Book: $11.99 (US). ISBN: 978-1-61614-812-6)
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