The Legacy of Ogma: Book One in the Weapons Trilogy

E.A. Rappaport
BookSurge (2006)
ISBN 9781419632952
Reviewed by Olivera Baumgartner-Jackson for Reader Views (2/08) 






E.A. Rappaport’s “The Legacy of Ogma” takes the reader on a fast-moving and quite exhilarating chase through a well-described fantasy world. Halia, a young orphaned woman and a thief by profession, is on a run after her latest adventure. While in the forest, she finds an abandoned castle, which houses a treasure. After overcoming a series of traps and obstacles, Halia discovers an unusual crystal sphere. Since it was so well guarded, Halia decides that it must be worth a great deal, so she embarks on a quest to find more information about the sphere.

After meeting a powerful wizard by the name of Minaras, Halia hopes that her quest is over; yet she soon discovers that it had barely began. The information that could have revealed the mystery of the unusual orb she found is missing from Minaras’ library and it appears to have been stolen. Minaras and his two apprentices decide to help Halia. Halia and the older of the two apprentices, Thulin, are sent to the Great Library in Zairn to try and get some more information on the Arboreal texts and Minaras, accompanied by Oswynn, heads straight to the Arboreal Forest.

Halia’s sphere helps her and Thulin to soon join forces with three other travelers who own similar orbs: sorcerer Ahriman and two warriors, Xarun and Arwold. They soon discover the location of the fifth and last missing orb and decide to try and unlock the ancient secret those spheres are obviously holding the key of. Unfortunately one of the adventurers has not been forthright with the rest of them. He is hiding a dark secret, which could destroy all of them. Will evil prevail?

E.A. Rappaport’s fantasy world is vividly depicted and very imaginative. He used traditional figures of thief, wizard, sorcerer, warrior and more to great advantage; but he also added some new fantasy beings, of which I found the Arboreals the most compelling. The age old battle between good and evil was very gripping and convincingly described. My only criticism concerns two issues: the slightly annoying habit of the characters to “talk to themselves” and lack of proofreading. Since this is the first book in a planned trilogy, I have to admit I am looking forward to the continuation of the story and reading more about the fascinating characters in “The Legacy of Ogma,” which I found to be a great read for any fantasy lover.


Reviewed by Ian McCurley (age 13) for Reader Views (1/07)


Halia, a young woman forced to steal for a living, finds a mysterious crystal orb inside an old decaying castle.  To find out what the orb is worth, she travels to Minaras, and old elementalist mage, who, after recognizing that the orb is magical, journeys to the Arboreal forest to check the Arboreals’ records for information on the orb.  He brings along his apprentice, Oswynn, a lazy but talented wizard who has an undying will to learn powerful magic.  Simultaneously, Halia, along with Minaras’other apprentice, Thulin, journeys with the orb to the city of Zairn, to look for information on the orb. 
           
Xarun is a burly warrior who both protects and bullies the townspeople of his small town.  He meets up with Ahriman, a wizard who specializes in conjuration and knows more about the orbs than he is letting on.  Ahriman, though he already has an orb, is trying to find the other four.  Together they go into the Arboreal forest to steal the orb that is safeguarded by the elf-like Arboreals.  Once they have retrieved the orb they head towards the town of Krof. 
           
Halia and Thulin, when finding no information in Zairn, head to Krof using their orb as a guide.  Once they arrive in Krof, they find Arwold, a young warrior who carries his family’s prized claymore, a large weapon with another orb imbedded in the hilt.  Following this discovery, Halia, Thulin and Arwold join Xarun and Ahriman to begin a quest for the fifth orb and they magical treasure of five all-powerful weapons it leads to. 

After finding little information on the orbs in the Arboreal Forest, Minaras and Oswynn, traveling with an Arboreal named Kuril, head towards the ocean to find the magic weapons before the others and destroy them. 

If you read fantasy, or like RPGs (role-playing games), this book would most probably fascinate you.  Targeted for ages 10 and up, “The Legacy of Ogma” makes for a quick and easy read, though I have no idea why it is so titled since it is only mentioned about three times in the book!  Though the book is only 199 pages in length, there is much more story than there is paper. 
           
E.A. Rappaport writes excellently in “The Legacy of Ogma:  Book One in the Weapons Trilogy.”  Look out for Book Two in the Weapons Trilogy.

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