A few years after Sword, a young man once known as Breaker, destroyed the Dark Lord of the Galbek Hills in The Wizard Lord
(2006), his short-lived respite from defending the land of Barokan comes to an end in this solid second installment in Watt-Evans's Annals of the Chosen trilogy. As one of the eight magically empowered Chosen, Sword must protect Barokan against the possibility of its Wizard Lord going rogue. Now, the Wizard Lord's strange behavior has begun to worry the Chosen, and they must determine if his motivation to modernize Barokan is benevolent or if he intends to do away with magic in order to consolidate power. Though Sword's ambivalence about his violent duties makes him a reluctant hero, when it comes time for him to act, he does so swiftly and decisively. Fans of Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragonlance saga will find this series much to their taste. (May)
