The Coldstone Conflict

September 1, 2014
Thanks to a remarkably stupid trick in the previous episode (The Vanquish Vendetta, 2014), a soul-stealing dark god has escaped its ancient prison and is out for revenge. Time to open a fresh can of heroes. The various mountebanks, mercenaries and nonhuman warriors met earlier on in the series aren't going to be much help this time-particularly the several, such as man-mountain Groan Teethgrit, king of Phlegm, who have become mindless slaves of the re-risen god Vanquish. Still, it's up to ex-thief Jimmy Quickstint, half-vampire Obegarde and the rest to try. Unfortunately, the bad guys include a god, a pair of newly formed zombie armies and a pair of fire-blasting dragons. Fortunately, in trot experienced dragon-slayer Grid Thungus and his deceptively human-looking companion, Moltenoak, to join the hastily assembled good guys. Strewing corpses before the first chapter even starts, Stone throws his cast, which is diverse of species but all male with one minor exception, into various adventures then sends Jimmy and friends to the city of Dullitch to find Vanquish's hoard of stolen souls while everyone else meets at Coldstone for a diversionary climactic slaughter. The silly names and occasional caricatures lighten all the bloodshed, and this, the final book in the series, brings the proceedings to a satisfying and. Consider this finale (published overseas in 2007) Terry Pratchett lite for fans of sword and sorcery bonbons. (Fantasy. 10-13)

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