The Hickory Staff

Book 1 of The Eldarn Sequence, written by Robert Scott and Jay Gordon.
I picked this book up on a whim and made several attempts before I got through it – not because it’s a bad book, I should add. But it hits nearly 600 pages and it’s a complex story with about a dozen major characters.Nor does it help that the first chapter is labelled “Next winter.” Um, what? Did I miss something? Like, maybe, a few dozen chapters?The story then shifts to Rona, a land best described geographically as “elsewhere” (it has two moons so we know it’s not on earth) and then jumps to Colorado, in the late 1800s.
You see why I’ve had to go through it more than once?
Once you get past that, however, it settles into a more reliable storyline. It revolves around Steven Taylor, a bored assistant bank manager in Idaho Springs, Colorado, and his friend and roommate, history teacher Mark Jenkins. They find what appears to be a large piece of finely woven cloth, but are a little unnerved by the glitter and flicker that hovers in the air over it. Both find out the hard way (one stumbles onto it and the other, after figuring out what has happened, steps onto it deliberately) that it is a portal to Rona.
Aha. Now we’ve got the connection.
Rona is a land filled with magic. It is also suffering under the oppression of Nerak, a rarely-seen and probably no-longer-human leader, who is trying to garner even more power than he already has. The results would be disastrous for not only Rona but earth as well ... for Ronans have travelled to earth and back for centuries.
Mark and Steven fall in with partisans battling Nerak and this first book tracks them across the country. Once I managed to figure out what was going on and who was where, I found it to be a very engaging book. The characters are three-dimensional: one, a skilled warrior and proficient killer, hates what he does but must use his talent to protect his friends. Steven has to face his own cowardice. Others reflect on what they should have done, or could do better in the future.
And the book actually is well-organized, despite my first impression. The 600 pages hold five books, according to the contents (and a map, which I never pay attention to as I can’t even read a standard map of earth). Book 1 focuses on Colorado; Book 2 on Rona, and each of the other three on a different area of the “elsewhere” land.
My one complaint is with Book 3: the party takes shelter in a trapper’s cabin. The trapper herself is introduced in the next chapter – for no apparent purpose other than to be introduced and die. It seemed to me a waste of a chapter; it could have been used to further the storyline or just left out altogether. However, since this is the first book in what is (at the moment) a trilogy, it’s obviously not the end of the story, and she may turn up again.
Overall, I’d recommend The Hickory Staff, although it’s the type of book that is best read over long stretches rather than in quick snatches. I’m looking forward to reading the sequels, and seeing how Steven, Mark and the partisans are faring.