Sentinelspire by Mark Sehestedt

Berun is a ranger in service to the Druids of Yuirwood, but he is also a man with a past, a past as an assassin who was sent to kill the Chief Druid. He failed, was captured and killed, but then resurrected to find new life at the hands of the man he swore to kill.

Berun has moved far from his own life, entrusted with a mysterious artifact by his former Druid master. Now, he serves as a mentor to Lewin, a boy orphaned by raiders, and rescued by Berun himself. But when Berun and Lewin are ambushed by an orc named Sauk and his band of men, assassins that work for the Chief Assassin known as the Old Man of the Mountain, he will find that not even dying and being reborn means he can outrun his old, former life.

Sauk has sought Berun out for reasons other than revenge, though. For it seems that the Old Man of the Mountain has gone crazy, and from his fortress of Sentinelspire, seeks to awaken the Volcano that lies under the mountain to spread death and catastrophe over the whole of Faerún. What he hopes to gain by this, neither Sauk nor Talieth, the Old Man's daughter, know. They can only think that he has gone completely mad, unhinged by the death of his God, Bhaal, and the attack on him by his old foe the Great Druid. The attack failed, but the Druid was captured and now the Old Man has been torturing him or attempting to befriend him in the hopes of getting the power he needs to feel secure in the world.

Whatever his motives, he now seeks to use the power in Sentinelspire to destroy the world. But why? And does Berun have any hope of stopping the power of a crazy old man with way too much magical power at his disposal and the secrets of the Druids as well? But Berun isn't Kheil, the man who died on the tree, and it will take Sauk's kidnapping of Lewin to force Berun to act against the old man. And can Lewin remain unchanged by what happens to him in the fortress of Sentinelspire, and by the dangerous currents that swirl around the different factions battling for control of the mountain?

This was another book it took me a while to get into the story. It starts rather slowly, then picks up speed as the story runs. While I did enjoy it, it wasn't a book I'd read more than once, or pick up on my own after reading it through my local library. The story was more or less standard adventure fare. Threat to the entire world, hero with a mysterious past- yadda, yadda. It didn't feel like anything I hadn't read before in a hundred other fantasy adventures. It didn't even feel firmly tied to the world of Faerun, although I admit that was hard when most of the book took place in remote and trackless wilderness.

But the descriptions of Sentinelspire itself were beautiful and made me feel as though I could "see" it with my mind's eye. My biggest dislike with the book was that I never really felt a connection to Berun, the hero. Okay, yeah, he's a redeemed bad guy. But I never really cared about him or felt that he needed to succeed. Instead, I found myself more drawn to his protegé, Lewin, and what was happening to him in Sentinelspire. His struggle seemed much more concrete than what was happening with Berun, and I found myself caring that he survived and found life and love with Ulaan the servant girl.

So, while there were parts of this book that I really enjoyed, other parts didn't thrill me at all, and on the whole, I felt this book was a rather lacklustre read compared to others set in Faerun. It had its moments, but while I read it through the library, I don't think I'll be buying this one for my collection, even in the interest of completeness. It just wasn't that good for me to consider adding it to my already extensive collection.