The Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert Redick

We finished The Red Wolf Conspiracy a few months ago--the first book we completed utilizing our new-found form of entertainment: reading aloud to each other. Not only does this exercise save money we would have otherwise spent renting movies to entertain and distract ourselves in the evenings, it also provides a lot of scope for the imagination. Reading aloud forces one to slow down and really come up with vivid thought-movies for what is described. R. Reddick's book, the first in a trilogy (yay!), is an almost-perfect vehicle for this sort of imaginative escapism.

The fantasy epic is set on board the ginormous, ancient sea-faring vessel, the Chathrand. It is, in essence, a swashbuckling high seas adventure story. The key protangonist is Pazel Pathkendle, a victim of imperial oppression who possesses a seizure-related linguistic gift acquired through magic. Another main character is Thasha, the spunky daughter of a high-ranking diplomat, doomed to serve as a treaty-bride in a planned rapprochement between two warring empires. The various story-lines intertwine as these "little people" become caught up in the throws of high political intrigue and conspiracy, not to mention dark magic.

Redick's world, Alifros, is very convincing. The various cultures he describes are richly endowed with plenty of customs, including fleshed-out religious beliefs, to make the story believable. Believability is a must in the fantasy genre, as far as I am concerned. I want to escape to a plausible world with some internal conistency. The various religions he dreams up and their conflicting ideals and beliefs almost echo some of our contemporary religious troubles. There is also a plethora of interesting creatures, such as 'awakened' animals and the tiny Ixchel people, all of which have their own fully-realized story-lines that are in turn woven into the main plot.

There are a few draw-backs: some of the names are unpronounceable and maybe a bit silly (this is especially noticeable when reading aloud and resulted in several fits of giggles), and once in a while the plot devices are a tad too obvious. Those things aside, however, the book is a real page-turner and we often stayed up too late, not wanting to put it down.