This afternoon is finished the first book of the “Riddle-Master Trilogy” by Patricia A. McKillip, titled “The Riddle-Master of Hed”. The two images below show one of the covers for the first book, and the cover of the copy I have, which is an omnibus of the whole trilogy.
This is a rather revered series. Many fantasy readers swear by it, and even rank it up there with “The Lord of the Rings”. Based on that and many great reviews I read, I decided to give it a whirl.
The story surrounds Morgon, the Prince of Hed, a small island made up of farmers. Even the royal family themselves are farmers. Morgon studied at the great college in Caithnard, led by the Riddle-Masters. One of the surrounding kingdom’s have a man (I think he was some sort of royalty) named Peven that has beaten all comers at riddle games. The losers either die or are locked up in his dungeon. The winner gets crown and the right to marry Raederle, the second most beautiful woman in the world. Morgon goes to Peven’s tower and beats him. But along the line of those finding out that he won, they find out that Morgon is the coming of a prophecy that that many know, yet the Riddle-Masters never told him.
I hate saying this, but at times this was somewhat disappointing. At times the story drew me in and really had me wanting more. But the closer I got to the end, I started to come across things I didn’t understand, and not knowing why the lead character was doing the things he was. At times the writing got boring, and I just wanted to speed along to the end.
I think some of this has to do with what I have been reading as of late. I will probably go back to this trilogy sometime, but not in the very near future. I might even re-read this book to get a feel for it again.
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