The first book in the Tales of the Bard trilogy, Magician's Law, sets the scene well for the series, building characters and background quickly but thoroughly. A prologue indicates that the time of Paedur has passed and signals to the reader's mind that what follows is the stuff of legends.
Appropriately, we first meet Paedur, once famous Bard, who now lives as a hermit in the woods. His left hand has been replaced by a sickle-shaped hook, sharp and durable, covered in sigils. He is remarkably tall, thin and apparently has a sardonic humour that surfaces throughout the story.
Paedur is visited by Mannam, who is Death in the Old Pantheon, and is bribed into questing for the Mandlethorn seeds, stolen by another God, C'ltle. Paedur travels to the kingdom of C'ltle, fulfilling his quest in part and gaining immortality. He realises that he has been tricked by the Gods, chosen by them to champion the Old Faith against the New Religion. After gaining his reward from Mannam, The Lament of Lugas, he is sent on the roads to travel and renew the Old Faith.
At this point we begin to see the Bard from outside as the voice of the story changes to other points of view. He is revealed as intimidating and mysterious, which contrasts interestingly with the human side of him we saw previously from behind his eyes.
A scene in an Inn shows us an example of how he touches the people with the talent of the Bard, telling stories of the Old Faith. This is the first of the stories that we see told by Paedur for various purposes, and Michael Scott has obviously put as much thought into the Myths of these religions as he has into the main story. Many fantasy novels imply a great deal and say nothing useful about the Gods that allegedly inhabit their worlds, drawing on bits of legend as useful, but ignoring it otherwise. Michael Scott however has certainly not skimped on the detail here, and this continues throughout the series.
While at the Inn Paedur learns that he is on the list of wanted criminals and is attacked by a young man who is an ardent believer in the New Religion, Xanazius. Paedur injures him but does not kill him. This is only the beginning of his constant use of the hook as both weapon and shield, there are a number of short half-fight scenes, Michael Scott doesn't get carried away too much with violence, but there's certainly enough of the old-fashioned skill and cunning type fighting to be enjoyed.
The scenes described in the story are not everything that is going on. Just like in life, sometimes other things happen that fall outside of view. In the next section, we find that Paedur has been travelling for a while, and a company of soldiers has been hunting him. The company is attacked by the outlaw Kutor, and all slain except for one seasoned soldier, Keshian. Kutor is the bastard brother to the King Geillard and lives in the Wastelands robbing and being a nuisance.
That night, Paedur appears amongst the outlaws, and discusses the problem of the New Religion, the King's conversion, and Kutor's potential. Another tale entrances the audience, and Paedur advises Kutor that the people need a King strong in the Old Faith and that he should move to one of the old Culai strongholds to prepare for war. Paedur will take care of recruiting, sending people with his sign: The Hook.
The cast of thousands is quickly swelling, and the next we meet is Owen, Weapon Master, and his Companion/Slave Tien tZo. Of course Owen fulfills the usual requirements of being the height of his profession, and yet tormented by his past. Tien is somewhat of a mystery at this point, although it is fairly obvious that he is supposed to be an asian, as skilled in various weapons as Owen, and working effectively as a team during fighting.
Paedur extracts the past from Owen, revealing that he was from a family of the Old Faith, but during a vulnerable period he was inducted into the Band of Kloor, a group of fighters dedicated to the New God of War, Kloor, and bonded with an Iron Band. Paedur frees Owen from the band and sends him to Kutor with the Hook sign on his dagger.
This pair, and indeed most of those met so far, don't show up again in this book, indicating that Michael Scott certainly worked to a broad plan when writing the trilogy, setting up characters early on so that returning later in the series has allowed time to mentally pass for the reader. While they had continued doing what they were doing, we were looking elsewhere, following the Bard around.
So now that the first group of characters have been introduced Paedur is sent on another quest. The New Religion is intending to release a fragment of the Soulwind, described during the first of Paedur's orations, thinking it will sweep away the Old Gods. In fact it will sweep away everything, and Paedur must stop it. To do so he must travel, in best fantasy style: "Beyond the Straights of Pinacloe, across the Sea of Galae, on the Blessed Isle of the Culai," where the 'Chrystallis' is kept: "Inside the Inner City, enclosed within the Circle of Keys."
After the ship he is on is raided by a Taourg Corsair, he explains to the Captain that there is a nearby island with "Black Water", known as Sleedor, that can be harvested and sold. The Captain, although he dislikes Paedur, decides to go and raid the island. After they arrive they discover that an ancient cult has been revived, worshipping Quisleedor, the creature of the black pools, and ministered by a Susurun, the debased creations of the Culai.
After losing a number of the crew, the creature is destroyed, the Susurun killed, four Priestesses are rescued and Tuan, one of the crew, is inextricably bonded to Paedur. One of the Priestesses predicts that Paedur will invoke the Magician's Law before the end of his quest. I have to admit that I personally find jungles very boring in books and I have no idea why. So this section didn't grab me, but that doesn't mean it won't be good for other people. However, that's why I'm skimming over this bit, which has a lot more action than I'm describing.
Tuan and Paedur meet with a Priestess of the Old Faith, Cliona, in the city Maante. She has been drawn to the city by Dreams and has been trying to keep the faith alive despite the disappearances of the Priests of the city. Cliona in some ways is inappropriate for the role, her mother having been one of the Nightfolk, who still keep alive the darker magic of the Culai. The trio are attacked several times by the Band of Kloor, who are still hunting him and are also there to accompany the High Priest Thanos.
The presence of the New Religion in the city has been increasing and Thanos is revealed as being a childhood friend of Paedur turned nemesis. Known as the Hand of God, he has come to the city for the same reason as Paedur, to set sail for the Blessed Isle and to act as the tool of his Gods. Thanos is accompanied by Xanazius, who has progessed rapidly since he last met Paedur and is now the "Fingers of God", whatever that actually means.
Cliona decides to accompany the pair to the Blessed Isle and they commune with the Goddess Dannu just prior to yet another attack by the Band of Kloor. A rather good fight scene takes place, showing both Paedur's and Tuan's abilities nicely against ten men, with Cliona contributing somewhat toward the end of the fight despite being completely untrained.
This is where we leave the normal world truly behind, as we watch them go through the the Grey Wall, toward the Blessed Isle. Paedur successfully defends Cliona and Tuan from the defences of the Isle while they sail, but realises that they won't be returning. At this point Paedur is so exhausted he actually sleeps for the first time since becoming the Gods' Champion, which distresses Tuan. When they land the beach is covered in carnivorous, though apparently stupid, rocks, and Cliona's Nightfolk blood causes problems already as it interacts with the magic of the Isle. The Isle was created entirely with magic as a last sanctuary and prison for the Culai when their time was ending, near the beginning of man. Cliona unfortunately cannot enter the shadow of the cliffs without freezing.
The only way for Cliona to continue with them is to be turned into a mindless quai by Paedur, and they run for the cliffs just as their enemies arrive on shore. The day's travel is exhausting for Tuan, but he still manages to defend Paedur and Cliona from a sneak attack while the Bard is restoring Cliona to herself. It is unclear, to me at least, why the cliffs were a problem but not the rest of the Isle, but no doubt there's a reason. The defences of the Isle continue to trouble them, although their adversaries seem to do worse, losing several of the Band. The defences include six fallen Gods in the shape of giant birds. Paedur tells their story and explains the landscape as they travel, including the fields of knowledge and the danger of wanting to reap there. The whole Isle is like a cornucopia of myths and fantasy archetypes drawn together, which means this part is a real classic magical fantasy for me.
After entering the citadel they immediately begin to flee before a mysterious hunter and Tuan sacrifices himself to allow the others time to get away. Eventually Paedur and Cliona reach a cavern where every day the Culai gather to worship at midday. As the Culai worship, Paedur sees something from his youth, the Three Cords. The mystery of his hook is revealed as he remembers finding a stone with the symbol of the Three Cords, Disruption, Annihilation and Chaos, on it as a child and innocently taking it home in his left hand. His Uncle, Gahred, severs the hand at the wrist with Dannu fire and purifies the house. The hand is then replaced with a hook by Toriocht the Smith, servant of the Gods, with the assurance that it would magically grow with Paedur until manhood.
Paedur realises that the Culai have been invoking the Three Cords and imbuing them with power, and the only way of wiping them from that plane is to invoke the Magician's Law, that equals cancel each other out, and use the Chrystallis to destroy the Three Cords. They follow Thanos' trail, who has somehow arrived ahead of them, through a portal to a pyramid on Teouteuchal. They defeat Thanos rather anti-climactically and take back the Chrysallis, although Xanazius escapes.
Perhaps the reason this section felt a bit lacking to me was because Thanos is really the only character that was left as a sketch. The description of him in childhood was only hearing about him from Paedur, and we only met him in person, as it were, minutes before he died. He didn't feel like a real villain that you feel good about seeing defeated, I think I would have felt a bit more triumphant had we met him a few times before in the story. There's certainly enough going on at this point for it to be exciting otherwise.
Paedur and Cliona at last make it back to the cavern, discovering that they have lost several days during transfers, and the Three Cords are about to break loose. Cliona must be the one to break the seal, being a Priestess of Dannu, at which point the Chrysallis and the Three Cords destroy each other, sending a wave of destruction throughout the plane.
Paedur is the only survivor, Clonia and all the Culai are destroyed, but he has finally lost the only remnants of his humanity. Although there wasn't much humanity left by then anyway, he had been getting progressively more eldritch as the story unfolded, leaving me to wonder just how much time had passed over the course of these adventures.
We finish with Paedur insisting darkly at the end of the book that this is only the beginning.