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Lore Bringer (The Last Clansman book 3) by Miller Lau
01/03/2007 . Source: Eamonn Murphy 
pub: Pocket Books/Simon and Schuster. 469 page paperback. Price: £ 6.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-7434-4083-8. Buy Lore Bringer in the USA - or Buy Lore Bringer in the UK  check out website: www.simonsays.co.uk www.simonsays.co.uk
This is book three of 'The Last Clansman' series, following on from 'Talisker' and 'Dark Thane'. Judging from the acknowledgements at the start, praising hospital staff, it has been delayed by author illness. I'm glad he made it. I definitely read 'Dark Thane' but it was a while ago and all I remember is that I liked it. I like this one, too.
'The Last Clansman' series features heroes who hop back and forth between our present twentieth century reality and the Otherworld of Sutra, a land of swords and sorcery. Talisker is the man does it most. Time runs at different rates between the two worlds so his travelling has left him with a sort of super-jetlag and he is in hospital.
While he rests in Scotland, two hundred years have passed in Sutra and a new race has arrived there, the Shoreth. They conquered a few cities then seemed happy to settle in and live alongside the native Fine and Sidhe. However, there are militaristic neo-cons even in fantasylands who want to carry on invading everyone. The worst of these is a general possessed by a demon.
Meanwhile, in Arizona, a Navajo elder dreams of men in kilts fighting and sends Yiska, his nephew, to Scotland to perform a Spirit Walk at the site of the battle. By doing this, Yiska calls up the ghost of Malcolm McLeod. Together, they go to a drug addict with eating disorders called Effie Morgan who can lead them to Talisker. Then they're all off to Sutra, via Arizona, to sort things out.
The start of the book is quite confusing, jumping about between several different places and characters. It's like Stephen King's 'The Stand' in that multiple plot lines converge. Of course, the various characters all meet up and get involved in the battle. The use of italics for long passages and the use of colloquial modern language are very Kingly as well. Nothing wrong with emulating success but I do find the language of the fantasy people a bit too modern, jarringly so at times. 'What part of attack don't you understand?' says one, born and raised in a land of swords and sorcery. This isn't the kind of lingo Hobbits spoke. It's a minor criticism and points more to a failure of editing than of writing. Perhaps the book was rushed through production to compensate for the delay caused by illness.
The writing has blips but the story is cleverly put together, building nicely to a gripping climax. Multiple viewpoints allow cliff-hanger endings to chapters while the narrative goes off to another plot-line. This holds the readers interest and keeps him turning the pages. It does mean there isn't one big hero, a single character, the story is about. Instead, there are several heroes of lesser stature. Indeed, there are several ordinary not very nice people who are heroic come the crunch. It works okay.
All in all, it's quite a slick piece of commercial storytelling. I do think the first few chapters would be confusing to a reader new to the series so it may be worth buying 'Talisker' and 'Dark Thane' before tackling 'Lore Bringer'. You might pick them up cheaply second-hand somewhere. The ending of this one implies more to follow but that's normal. What fantasy nowadays is restricted to a mere three volumes?
Eamonn Murphy
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