The Burning Land (Talmont book 1) by David Hair (book review)
‘The Burning Land’ is the first volume in ‘The Talmont Trilogy’, an epic fantasy series set in the world of Coros. It was wracked by war between the empires of Talmont, Zynoch and Abutha until Jovan Lux, a sort of Messiah, forged them into the Triple Empire. He also founded a religion in which Akka, the Father, and Elysia, his handmaiden, are opposed by the evil Devourer. Now it’s 1472 and the Triple Empire is ruled by the God-Emperor Eindil Pandramion III, Heirophant of Talmont. He rules with the help of a union of elites which transcends race, colour or creed. Beneath them are the exploited masses. A novel for our time, not least because the world is burning. Hence, the title.
Our heroes are the Falcons, a pentacle of knights who belong to the Vestal Order, the Knights of the Vestments of Elysia Divina. Certain people are gifted with control of the glyma, a kind of magical energy that usually shows up in adolescence and gets them recruited into the Vestals. There, they learn to control the glyma, harness it and become soldiers of the Triple Empire. They are sworn to chastity because powerful emotions can make them lose control and become monstrous, like the Vyr, their enemy. Most Vestal knights retire by the age of thirty because, by then, it is getting harder to retain control. They boost their glyma energy from shards planted around the world at twenty kylo intervals, recharging themselves and their swords like Green Lantern recharging his ring with a power battery but without a rhyming oath. The shards are made of elobyne, mined from a source in Talmont. It hasn’t been stated yet, but I assume it’s from a crashed meteor.
The Vyr are rebelling against the empire and setting fire to the land, burning towns, villages, crops and forests. The Vestal Knights are trying to hold them back. As the story begins, the Falcons have lost the Isle of Avas and are trying to save what they can of the population. Civilians are on the beaches waiting for boats to rescue them, like in Dunkirk. The Falcons are led by Romara Challys of an ancient, wealthy family. Her second-in-command is Jaydn Kaen, a farm boy who discovered he had the glyma. They are in love and plan to marry when they retire. Obanji Vost is a black man from Abutha, forty years old now, wise and highly respected. Their mage is Elindhu Morspeth, ugly and clever. Mages don’t fight like warriors but help with their magic.
They survive the battle on Avas and recruit Soren var’Dael as an initiate in the order. He has the glyma and is also a skilled swordsman, trained by his warrior father. They also capture a Vyr prisoner, Gram. He has the glyma, but without control, so it can turn him into a raging monster. Jaydn decides to break protocol by questioning Gram because the Vestal Knights have no idea why the Vyr are setting fire to the world. Orders from on high state that all Vyr must be killed, never quizzed, because they can beguile a sweet, innocent knight. Gram tells Jaydn that the Vyr are trying to save the world. The shards are destroying it. The burning is to destroy the shards with extreme heat. That’s a bit of a spoiler but it happens quite early. This revelation turns their lives upside down, and now they must fight against everything they previously believed. However, first they must prove it’s true.
To this end, they set off on a quest to find the heretic preacher Nilis Evandriel. The quest takes them on a long journey, pursued all the way by their old comrades of the Vestal Order. There are many surprises, discoveries and revelations, and the interpersonal dynamics of the old comrades are changed in unexpected ways. A key catalyst for this is Auranuschka Perafi, a beautiful thief they rescue along the way. Sly, clever, transactional and with hidden talents, Aura becomes an important element in the quest.
The Falcons are terrific heroes, sympathetic human characters to whom, I promise, reader, you will become attached. The villains are a dastardly, hateful bunch you will loathe, but also human, for we can be evil. See the news. There are also non-human creatures later in the tale and they are dangerous but not necessarily bad. The story gallops along while the point of view switches allow you to see events through different characters ‘ eyes, including the villains. I was thoroughly caught up in it and always mad to know what happened next.
The setting is complex, imaginative and rich enough to satisfy the most demanding fantasy fan. The themes of elites ignoring a global peril because they’re doing just fine, while keeping the masses ignorant and uninformed, is an unsubtle allegory for our time. The book’s title tells you everything, but author David Hair has certainly not sold his birthright for a pot of message. This is a magnificent, entertaining yarn on its own terms and could be thoroughly enjoyed by an oil tycoon with a private jet. An eco-warrior chained to a tree will probably like it better, as long as he’s kept a hand free to turn the pages. Fitting neither of these extremes, just an old man sat on a sofa, I loved it and recommend it highly. Happily, I have volume 2, ‘The Drowning Sea’, to hand and on with it I will now get.
Eamonn Murphy
December 2025
(pub: Jo Fletcher Books/Quercus, 2024. 475 page hardback. Price: £22.00 (UK), $28.00 (US), $35.00 (CAN). ISBN: 978-1-52943-313-5. Ebook price; £ 2.99 (UK))
check out websites: www.jofletcherbooks.com, www.quercusbooks.co.uk and www.davidhairauthor.com
