Perilous Seas: Part Three of a Man of His Word

by Dave Duncan

Book Overview

Inos, hunted now by the fearsome warlock wardens who rule the world, is convinced that Rap is dead. But Rap is not, and the tide may be about to turn . . . She thought he was dead. Queen Inos feels... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0345366301
• ISBN13: 9780345366306
• Release Date: June 1991
• Publisher: Del Rey Books
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 4.2" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

This is a great series!

This is book 3 of Dave Duncan's 4-book, "A Man of His Word", series. The characters are enjoyable, but the situations are even better! Read! A note of caution though, Don't read Mr. Duncan's sequel series, "A Handful of Men". It is simply terrible!

Third in a beautiful series of eight books

"Perilous Seas" is the third volume of "A Man of his Word" which itself is the first of two marvellous fantasy quartets. The first quartet, "A man of his word" has titles taken from Keats' "Ode to a nightingale" and the titles perfectly match the themes of the books. The lines which inspired the titles are as follows - "The voice I hear this passing night was heard In ancient days, by Emperor and Clown .... ... The same that oft-times hath Charmed magic casements, opening on the foam of perilous seas, in Faery lands forlorn" The four books of this quartet are The Magic Casement Faery Lands Forlorn Perilous Seas Emperor and Clown These four books tell one complete story and are best read in this order. There is a sequel quartet, set 15 years later in the same universe, which is called "A handful of men" and has its titles taken from Masefield's poem, "Tomorrow." The four books in that story are The Cutting Edge Upland Outlaws The Stricken Field The Living God All eight books are set in a world of Gods and Sorcerers, where magic abilities are conferred by the knowledge of words of power. The descriptions of magic powers and how they work are far more effectively and consistently thought through than in the typical fantasy novel, and as the hero and heroine travel through a strange and diverse world a picture both of that world and the serious threat which it faces gradualy takes shape. At the start of "Perilous Seas", Inos, rightful Queen of Krasnegar, is in exile in the desert land of Zark, where the local sultan, Azak, is seeking her hand in marriage. Inos was told by a God when she was a child that she must "trust in love" and is wondering if this means Azak's love for her. Meanwhile the stableboy and her childhood friend, Rap, who was sent to the other side of the world from Inos by the Magic Casement, is in bondage as a galley slave. But he is still seeking to cross the world to rescue Inos and put her back on the throne. Can he reach her before she makes a terrible mistake ? The original editions of the "A man of his word" quartet had beautiful covers painted by Don Maitz, and the books would almost have been worth buying for these covers if they had not also comprised a beautiful story

Book Three in A Man of His Word Series

Perilous Seas picks up right were Faery Lands Forlorn left us with Queen Inos still stuck in Zark, land of the Djinns, captive of the Sorceress Rasha. Inos is about to despair of ever escaping the sorceress and she still doesn't know if she should accept the Sultan Azak's marriage proposal or not. The gods told her long ago to trust in love - but what does that mean! Surely it must mean to trust in Azak's love for her, even though she doesn't love him, or does it? When Inos and Azak make a desperate bid for freedom, Inos drags her beloved Aunt Kade all across the desert in strange disguises. She will do anything to make it to the Imperor to plead her case for her beloved people in her shabby little kingdom of Krasnegar. Along the way, she is stunned to see Rap's image appear in the middle of the desert. Surely he must be a demon come to torment her for leaving him to die in the tower long ago. But how could Rap be that cruel...Rap is anything but dead. After escaping the land of Faerie in a Jotunn boat, captained by Gathmore, Rap is all but imprisoned on the island of Durthing. He was bought as a slave to work on the boat, but earned his freedom, however, his gift of farsight makes him far too valuable to risk losing. When the vicious Jotunn raider, Kalkor, arrives on Durthing, he slaughters every man, woman and child he finds - but he takes Rap and Gathmore on board his ship. For the first time Rap gets to see what the power of multiple words turns a person into. Kalkor no longer has a heart and Rap wonders if he even has a soul left. Desperate to get to Inos and restore her to her throne, Rap finds himself playing a cat and mouse game with Kalkor, playing his magical powers off of Kalkor's. But even if Rap finds an opportunity to escape, how can he find Inos in time to stop her from making a terrible mistake?Perilous Seas is the third book in A Man of His Word series by David Duncan and it is the weakest of the quartet, but it is still superbly written and I still loved most of the characters. It is true that Inos is kind of grating in this book and that I found myself rushing through her misadventures to get to the better story with Rap, but I like to think that Inos is growing as a character and getting to be more likeable. Still, it would be great if she dropped that whole I-am-a-princess-and-can't-believe-this-is-happening-to-me attitude. On the other hand, Rap is a great character who is still humble and completely oblivious to the fact that he doesn't live anything approaching a normal life anymore. Again, the host of secondary characters are superb and give additional life and sparkle to the third book of the series. I can't wait to see how it ends! If you like fantasy books that are just a bit different with clearly defined magical rules and different races set in an intriguing world, don't miss this set of 4 books!

Part 3 of a Man of his word

Dave Duncan is one of the best scifi/fantasy writers there are every story is original and fresh he builds characters you love to see succeed and vilans you can't wait to see die a horible death. This is the third book of one of the best series ever written; Rap the lost stable boy with slowly emerging magical powers wonders the world in search of his love and his queen, Inos. Facing pirates and worse he tries to reach a distant waste land to save Inos from a barbarian king.

The twists keep coming

Duncan's series gets increasingly complex, and increasingly entertaining. This is probably the best book in this series. Major revelations about several characters, and further adventures across the intricate world Duncan has invited us into.