Book Review     

 The Sons of Maeve Trilogy

Author:  Dave and Rose Cox

Publisher:  Authorhouse

ISBN: 1-4208-0814-1

Website:  www.bablbar.com

The Sons of Maeve Trilogy follows the adventures of Than and Gimble as they trek through a mysterious mountain near their village home.  Spurred by hopes of finding Than's lost father, the boys stumble into an unusual world filled with dangerous civilizations, each on the brink of chaos.  Thrust into the midst of these troubled circumstances, the boys are compelled to fight for their lives and their new friends against a host of wild beasts and the evil Pallig, Shaman of Darmid and leader of the Army of the Allodial. 

This book is clearly aimed at a young adult audience and transports the reader from the comfort of their chair to the neo-hobbit world of Than and Gimble.  Two friends who have much in common, including being 'drawn' towards the mountain that towers near their village.  Tales abound regarding the mountain and those that have tried to venture up it, these include Than's dad who disappeared when Than was young after the death of his wife.

Than and Gimble decide to head up the mountain after a visit from the village outcast.  When Gimble doesn't turn up at the pre-arranged time Than goes up the mountain alone.  The journey up the mountain is fairly uneventful but when Than finds a cave he meets some of the interesting and dangerous creatures that threaten to kill him.  This is the first of many times that Than's life is threatened and sets the pattern for the books.

Gimble does follow Than into the mountain and between the pair of them they experience the whole range of emotion.  Friendship between Than and Gimble is of course a major feature of this book, although at times it becomes very strained.  However they both find love at different times in the story and this brings not only relationship strain but surprising emotions for this type of book.

There are some often repeated phrases in the book and a few spelling mistakes have managed to creep through into the final copy.  For the main part however the storyline is easy to follow and very entertaining with a great arch-villain.  Although some of the book is clearly influenced by writings like Lord of the Rings (although nowhere near the level of detail that Tolkien gives) there are also vague references to Celtic mythology and if you look hard enough you will find that the authors have also taken snippets of inspiration from many diverse areas.

Split up into 3 separate stories this book is a great adventure totalling in all around 420 pages it will keep you interested although some plot points escape me, such as why it is never night in Darmid.  This is a good first work however it is not going to be widely publicised due to being a relatively obscure publisher, which is a shame.  However any teens looking for a good romp through a different world without the difficulty of navigating pages of descriptive prose that you find in Tolkien will enjoy this adventure.  With three more books on the way (four is half completed!) this is a nice series that will last a good day or two!