Lessek’s Key: The Eldarn Sequence, Book 2

Scott continues the fantasy trilogy, created from the notes he and his late father-in-law Gordon wrote when they plotted the series. In this grand-scale installment, bank manager Steven Taylor races across the United States to retrieve the magical Lessek’s Key and help his friend Mark Jenkins, who is trapped in the fantasy world Eldarn. Nerak, demonic sorcerer-prince of Eldarn, leaves a trail of horror across modern-day Colorado as Mark and his companions travel to the home of the murdered Larion Senate and the magical table opened by the key, while Steven’s girlfriend, Hannah Sorenson, struggles through a forest of ghosts and mysterious visions and attempts to infiltrate Nerak’s palace. The story moves along briskly, though Mark’s sudden racial sensitivity and expert archer Garec’s crisis of conscience are jarring diversions. Much is left dangling to await the concluding volume, due out in March. (Jan.)