THE FALL OF WATERSTONE

In the second volume of what is now a blatant Tolkien pastiche—following A Flame in the North (2024)—a young wisewoman and her loyal shield-maiden grope for their roles in a looming conflict with Evil.

Solveig, a human magic-worker with exceptionally rare elemental powers, and her sworn protector, Arneior, are at first captives and then guests in the hidden Elder (read: elven) city of Laeliquaende, or Waterstone, finding refuge after many travails. Solveig believes that their Elder companion, Aeredh, intends to take the Jewel (read: Silmaril) that the king of Laeliquaende keeps in a locked tower so that Solveig can use it (somehow) against the Enemy, the evil eldest son of the Allmother. She does not wish to do that, but she’s also fairly angry when Aeredh reveals that he doesn’t intend for her or the Jewel to be used against the Enemy: He simply wants to keep both of them in the city so the Enemy doesn’t get them for himself. Since the book is entitled The Fall of Waterstone, it’s not a spoiler to reveal that things don’t go as planned. Saintcrow does draw on the Norse sagas, the same source material that Tolkien did, but also freely helps herself to Tolkien’s original work, mainly the Silmarillion (specifically, the stories that would later be published separately as Beren and Lúthien, 2017, and The Fall of Gondolin, 2018) but also a fair bit of The Lord of the Rings (e.g., desperate chases through the wilderness and a relationship between a father and his sons that bears a strong resemblance to that of Denethor and his sons Boromir and Faramir). Solveig and Arneior—who are appealing characters—are seemingly unique to Saintcrow’s work, while other characters are considerably less so. And despite these significant borrowings, very little happens to drive the story along in any interesting way. At this point, the wider plot seems to be meeting new people, spending a little time with them, and then they and/or their homes are destroyed. Unlike in Tolkien, no real large-scale resistance seems to be going on. High fantasy involving a battle against an enemy who is evil just for the sake of embracing evil was terribly popular in the late 20th century; these days, most readers prefer something more nuanced.

For nostalgic fantasy fans only.