Crusade; The Empires Trilogy: Book Three: The Empires Trilogy: Book Three

by James Lowder

Book Overview

The barbarian army has turned its sights on the Western realms. Only King Azoun of Cormyr has the strength to bring the Western factions together and forge an army to challenge the horsemen. But Azoun... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0880389087
• ISBN13: 9780880389082
• Release Date: January 1991
• Publisher: TSR
• Length: 313 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 7.0"

Customer Reviews

The Army of the Alliance

Crusade, is the third and last book in the Empires Trilogy, and deals primarily with King Azoun IV's efforts in trying to raise an army to protect Thesk and the free city of Telflamm, from Khahan Yamun's hordes. Picking up from where Dragonwall left off, the book sheds light on the Cormyrean king, masterminding and then leading the crusade in the defense of the entire continent following the invasion of eastern Faerun, Ashanath, Rashemen, and Thesk, by Khahan Yamun and the Tuigan horsemen. Whereas Horselords looks at the story from the point of view of Koja and the Tuigan, and Dragonwall looks at the continuation of the same story from the point of view of General Batu and the Shou Lung, Crusade is written from King Azoun's and subsequently the West's perspective. In addition, there are two parallel stories running: the king's relations with Alusair, his estranged daughter, and the adventures of John Razor, a fletcher from Suzail, as he takes part in the Crusade. The plot as a whole is excellent! The book is so incredibly well written that the reader feels that they have been transported to another plane of existence and are actually present among the characters, seeing what they see, feeling what they feel, sensing what they sense. Moreover, James Lowder does a great job of presenting the distinct culture and civilization of the peoples of the Heartlands; Cormyr, Sembia, the Dales etc. Furthermore, he has done a great deal of research in order to provide such an accurate and lucid description of the difficulties and hardships facing people that have lost their homes and have become refugees as a result of war. His solid grasp of factual detail makes him very capable of providing the necessary background needed to carry out the difficult task of writing Forgotten Realms novels, which is something often missing from the work of many Fantasy authors. On the negative side, the book does have a few silly mistakes e.g. on page 29 "villainous neighbors to the north" should be "to the south," on page 37 "ancestors" should be "descendants," on page 71 "She close/chose to ignore" etc Moreover, a better Cormyrean insurgency and opposition to the Crusade could be used, in the shape of the "Rebel Prince's" Selamber's supporters, or those wanting to end the monarchy, but the "green-clad" Trappers Guild??? And why? Because of taxes? This is still the "goodly" Kingdom of Cormyr and King Azoun would never raise taxes to the point of destroying peoples' lives or businesses. Along with the Trappers, the Tanners and Butchers are also opposed to the war, and again it is difficult to comprehend why. Indifferent yes, militantly opposed, probably not. In addition, I am going to have to agree with the previous reviewer when he says that the gathering of the crusading army took too long in comparison to the actual showdown between the two armies. Furthermore, the final duel between Yamun and Azoun was indeed over without the magnificent climax that one would

Nice Crusade

It puzzled me at first. I read a 3 novel series all written by different authors. Each novel is from a new perspective. It seemed that after getting comfortable with one author and loving his contribution to the Empire series you have to do the same thing with the next. Crusade completes the hat trick in sneaky fashion. It's the type of novel that will resonate in your mind years after reading. There are just so many reasons to love this novel even if you are not a Forgotten Realms fan. However to a Forgotten Realms fan this is your sirloin steak. You have the cultural rivalry of Sembian mercenaries and Cormyr volunteers allied together. You have an army of Zhentarim Orcs as allied with an army of Dwarves. You have an assassination attempt on a King for because of the economic tow the Crusade he aligns would have on some business. What you end up with is a lot of hodge podge that James Lowder orchestrates as well as an author can. You could replace everything in this novel with another pile of hodge podge and it would still work. Lowder is gifted at giving a novel superb chronology. Cover to cover it's an involving ride that is above your head like a good work of fiction should be.