The Realms Thereunder

The narrative starts slowly enough with what appears a bit like borrowed imagination. However, before long you are enveloped in an well woven tale that skillfully brings to life vivid scenes and adventures worth telling. It is a bit difficult to reconcile the character development at first, but by the end a well rounded cast of characters, fully fleshed out stands before you. The farther in, the more interesting the story becomes. I enjoyed most the unpredictability but consistency of the storyline. Lawhead refrains from simplistic allegory and moralizing and weaves in enough uncertainty to prod thoughts, but not provide answers. I am definitely looking forward to more Ross Lawhead work. Harvey Thiessen

I started reading this book out of bordom. The plot centers around two children, Daniel and Freya, who somehow make their way through a portal that leads them to the enchanted underground city of Nidergeard. While there the two children discover that only they can defeat the evil that is attacking the city because of their mortality. One of the interesting things about this book is that it’s divided into “Before” sections, when Daniel and Freya were children in Nidergeard, and “Now” sections; Daniel and Freya as adults discovering that the work they accomplished in Nidergeard is infact not over and they are needed once more to save humanity. While the concept is great I didn’t enjoy the sections with the adult Freya. For some unknown reason she is trapped by her professor and he makes her believe that she is with him and they have children. In order to continue this deception he makes her fall asleep with lists of names that go on for pages. I found that to be highly unnecessary and a waste of space. Meanwhile Daniel, who is trapped in Elfland, spends the majority of the book trying to get home. Something else that bothered me is that towards the end, in one section that they are children, Daniel and Freya are forced to part ways and each one must go off with one of the knights they had awoken at the beginning of the book. It clearly says that Ecgbryt would go with Freya and Daniel would go with Swidgar…yet three pages later it’s Daniel with Ecgbryt. This is too big of a mistake for an editor to miss and I’m pretty disappointed that they didn’t catch or fix that. I suppose for a first book in a series it’s necessary to set up a background and drama but things felt too stilted for me and I wish that things had been a little bit more fast paced.

The first book of the Ancient Earth trilogy, The Realms Thereunder, is also author Ross Lawhead’s debut novel. It creates a well-thought out plot that alternates between two worlds, the world of present day Oxford and the timeless realm existing under the earth. His protagonists, the drifter Daniel Tully and the OCD student Freya Reynolds are on a quest to discover the source of the increasing evil that is manifesting itself in horrible and unsettling ways. Though comparison with Lawhead’s father, author Stephen Lawhead is inevitable, one should try to read Realms for its own merits, which are many. A well-written and engaging read full of dark alleys, evil and malignant creatures, memorable characters and travel between alternate realities, it maintains a good pace and enough interest to hold this inveterate and opinionated reader of good fantasy captive. The Realms Thereunder is a blend of ancient and modern day England and draws heavily from the country’s rich store of history and myth, creating a compelling landscape across which the author spreads his story of interweaving realities. For an exciting distraction from your own reality, I would heartily recommend this book.