THE ONE KINGDOM
Book One of the Swan's War
By Sean Russell
Harper Collins - February 5, 2002
ISBN: 0-380-79227-3 - Paperback
Fantasy / Explicit Violence

Reviewed by Jo Rogers, MyShelf.Com
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At the beginning of The One Kingdom, four cousins of the Renné family, Beldor, Samul, Dease and Arden, are plotting the assassination of a fifth cousin, Toren, who now is the de facto ruler of the family. Toren wants to make peace with their long-time enemy, the Wills family. To accomplish this, he plans to return a piece of land, the Isle of Battle, to the Wills family. This was taken in a war over succession to the now kingless throne. Neither side was victorious and the land was splintered into a number of small countries, each prince holding what land he had armies enough to secure.
Lord Carral Wills also wants peace. But he and Toren Renné are practically alone in this desire. Blind since birth, Carral has left the running of the family to his wicked brother, Menwyn, and has become a minstrel, living for his music and his daughter, Elise. But Menwyn and the four Renné cousins have no desire for peace. Menwyn wants to force Elise Wills to marry Prince Michael, son of the prince of Innes. This man has a powerful and ruthless counselor who will do anything it takes to form the alliances to fight a war with the Renné. Soon, others are accidentally caught in their intrigue.

When cousins Tamlyn Loell, Fynnol Loell and Baore Talon set out from their homes in the Vale of Lakes, they planned to go to Inniseth and return before the first snows fell. They would travel first by boat down the River Wynnd, taking a stop at a battlefield to dig up some ancient artifacts, then take these to Inniseth to sell. They planned to come back on horses they would purchase in Inniseth. But their plans would go badly wrong.

When the strange traveler, Alaan, first came to their campfire, he seemed like a friendly, harmless fellow. But, he was accompanied by a whist, a bird of blue-black plumage that was thought to be a harbinger of death. The three cousins still thought there was something a little unusual about the man until he awakened them in the middle of the night with a warning that there were men hiding in the nearby forest.

The men were dressed all in black and looked like men-at-arms, trained soldiers, rather than the gang of thieves the cousins first thought them to be. Alaan said the men were after him and persuaded the three cousins to cross the Telanon Bridge while he held off the brigands, as he called them. They did so, but to their sight, Alaan was murdered by the brigands. The three cousins hid down the river from the ruins where they had camped. When they returned to their camp, all their belongings had been rifled and their boat, along with the valuables they intended to sell, was gone.

Soon after their narrow escape, they met a band of Faél, a race of wanderers much like our won Gypsies. They were mostly dark-haired, dark-eyed and dark-skinned, though there were some of a lighter complexion. The three cousins told the Faél of their fate. The Faél offered them a proposition. They would help Baore build another boat and buy the cousins horses if they would accompany one of the Faél storyfinders, a man named Cynddl, down the river Wynnd in search of stories. Little did they know how dangerous that would be. Would the three cousins survive their adventure long enough to get back home?

In The One Kingdom, Sean Russell has begun an epic high fantasy that will keep you reading, though the tale is long. I found it difficult to put down, and I found I really could hardly wait for the second book. This is one of the best fantasies I've read. Pick it up for those long winter evenings. It's much better than TV.