Books like The Guardian

I’m a ‘sort-of’ fan of Angus Wells – I love some of his other work (The Book of the Kingdoms trilogy, and the Godwars trilogy), but I recall not being too impressed by Exile’s Children years ago. This one – I knew I’d read it, but couldn’t remember much about it. So time of a re-read.The basic plot is indeed basic: Gailard, our hero, is a former highlander (yes, the highlanders in this fictional world wear plaid, just like the highlanders do (or did) in our world) who left his clan to serve in the army of the king of Chaldor. Alas, the peaceful province of Chaldor is conquered by the king of Danant and his evil sorcerous advisor. Gailard is forced to swear an oath that he will flee with the king’s daughter and protect her until she has grown into her own magical power. Cue desperate escapes and encounters with highlanders and enigmatic sorceresses.This book is okay. It’s not brilliant, but it’s not horrendously bad either. My real frustration with it is really the fact that it’s a stand-alone novel and the author has tried to cram too much into it – with highlanders, magic, battles and river pirates, it feel almost like the outline of a novel rather than a finished story. I can’t help feeling that making this book longer, or a duology, would have improved the story. Part of me almost hopes that in the future another writer buys the rights to the story from Mr Well’s estate and re-writes it with more depth. If you’re curious about the writer’s work, start with the Kingdoms or the Godwars books.