3 out of 4 stars
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Invasion of the Ortaks: Book 3 Rebellion by Sveinn Benónýsson is a tale full of heroes and villains littered all throughout the world of Esthopia. As opposed to many fantasy stories in which the good guys team up against the bad guys, this is much more of a chaotic game of war. The story picks up after the battle of Broad Valley in which the Ortaks (the bad guys) won and now have control over most everything. There are some rebel groups left, but they're mostly imprisoned or enslaved with no one to command and unite them. To make matters worse, the Ortaks aren't the only foes in this book. Outlaws roam the lands, robbing, raping and murdering where and when they can. Even the Elves have terrible foes that are growing in power in their separate realm of Alfheim, where their greatest role is to defeat demons that come from the Underworld.
However, even when things seem hopeless and bleak, heroes of all sorts rise up to meet the challenge. Axel, a common archer, has been going around and helping free good people from Ortaks, amassing followers who love him for his goodness and his strategic strength despite being a mere commoner like them. Big John is, well, a very big man with a big axe who refuses to stand by when he sees bad things happening to good people. Queen Egny, despite feeling helpless with no one to lead, is called upon and led to where she can help unite any who will fight for her. And Tania, part-elf, has been told she has an important part to play in all of this.
The story was a little confusing at first as the first couple chapters jump around a fair bit, introducing numerous characters and showing what they're up to all over the place. I frantically took notes of who each person was, but I ended up writing almost as much as I read to keep up with it all and in the end the majority of it was for naught. This isn't an overly heavy fantasy book where losing the slightest detail from a hundred pages ago will lead to confusion; on the contrary, this would easily be considered a YA fantasy novel for any who are okay reading some not-all-that-detailed violence.
After the first couple chapters the author focuses on a single character for a good half of the book - Tania. While her story is a little disappointing in that it doesn't really end up going much of anywhere, it's my favorite part of the book due to her being a rather awesome character. It begins with her as a young child, losing her grandparents and staying with a woman named Rose and her husband. Rose isn't happy to have her or her dog around, and is rather vocal about it at night. Tania hears her one night and decides to run away. When she nearly dies of starvation she miraculously awakens in a monastery where she's cared for, learns to tend a garden and to protect herself. From here, her story becomes more and more incredible, but it's also filled with an equal amount of her wandering around, growing older and just living. Tania's segment of the book also has my favorite bit of writing, in which she vengefully climbs a ridiculously difficult peak. It's emotional, it's tense and it really made me feel for her. If the rest of the book was like that scene I easily would've given the book 4 stars.
Unfortunately, it isn't at all like that scene for the most part. The first couple chapters are almost like watching a recap of a series in fast forward, things happen so quick and there's even a great deal of action but it never drew me in because it was too fast. By the end of the book I realized this was likely the author's way of setting the overall scene of the book and recapping things for those (like me) who didn't read previous installments of the series, but I really would've preferred if the book focused on less characters and gave them more attention. Big John was a great character, and I wish there was far more about Axel; in fact if the entire book just alternated between Tania, Big John and Axel I would've probably LOVED it and been unable to put it down. There was also a very minor side character, Izzy, who Big John meets. While it wouldn't have made any real sense for her to play a big part in the book, I do wish she could've been in it more, she was great.
I was a little nervous going into the third installment of a fantasy series without reading either of the two preceding titles, and while I may have missed out on some information I managed to understand what was going on. I do think the book would've had more weight with the knowledge of the previous books, but I didn't feel like I was entirely unknowledgeable about characters or anything. It felt more like watching the Marvel movies out of order than randomly jumping into the third Hunger Games movie.
In the end I can't remember who came from what town, which castle is which or the names of any of the villains since even the most mighty of villains didn't play much of a role individually (aside from Krakenhawk, partially due to the really awesome name). Despite that, and despite my own original opinions of the book before the story focused on Tania, I really am curious about what happened in the first two books and even more curious about what will happen in the fourth book, Brutal Force. As such, I'm giving Invasion of the Ortaks: Book 3 Rebellion 3 out of 4 stars. People who like light, quick fantasy without much depth will enjoy the book, but those who like deep, heavy, epic fantasy like Lord of the Rings likely won't feel sated with this one.
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Invasion of the Ortaks
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