Buried In Angst – 2013
After reading David J. Pederson’s first book, Angst, I knew that I would have to read
the second one, Buried in Angst. The focus of the book, a character named
Angst, is a former file clerk in the Kingdom of Unsel. As he entered midlife, he decided that there
had to me more to life and magically became a knight of the kingdom with the
help of a huge sword that only he could weild.
Thanks to the symbiotic relationship with Chryslaenor, the magical
sword, Angst manages to save the kingdom of Unsel. Anyone would think that that would be enough
to solve a midlife crisis. Angst should
then be able to live happily ever after right?
Nope, the kingdom is once again in peril.
While angst is looking forward to a life of celebrity,
telling stories in the pub, continuing to incessantly flirt with every female
he sees, and settling down with his pregnant wife, Heather, there is trouble
brewing out on the frontier. An entire
city has disappeared into the sea and guess who Queen Isabelle sends to find
out what has happened. Yep. So Angst and his crew are dispatched to find
out what has happened and try to figure out what to do about it.
But there are a few problems that he has to deal with. The special relationship with Chryslaenor has
been broken and Angst is slowly dying without his foci. The princess Victoria decides to tag along to
help Angst, and the biggest problem is that the elements of Erde are warring
with each other as they do every 2000 years.
And if that isn’t enough, Victoria’s cousin, Alloria arrives on the
scene and manages to replace Victoria as the heir apparent to the throne.
In an attempt to aid Angst and keep him from dying, Rose, a
powerful warrior and strong companion to Angst, tries to bring Chryslaenor to
Angst and turns up missing.
While I thought Angst had found himself facing an unsurmountable
problem in the first book, it seemed even more so in this book. The elements of Erde, earth, fire, water, and
air fighting it out and humans are completely powerless to stand up to the
threat, all except for Angst and his troop minus Rose. But when he returns home, he’s going to find
that things have taken a very bad turn indeed.
David proves with this second installment in this series
that he is not just a flash-in-the-pan indie auther with only one hit under his
belt. The Angst series is a strong work that is a great way for someone who
is not familiar with the fantasy genre (like myself) to be introduced to a new
world of reading pleasure.
While Angst was
great, Buried in Angst is even better
as David seems to be more comfortable his writing style. I really appreciate the language of Angst (both books), the characters speak
in plain language while David’s descriptions of places, people, and foes
allowed me to easily visualize the setting. The to darkne of Buried in Angst is definitely darker than it's predecessor, but not so much so as to be outside of the established parameters and allowing the sense of humor to be lessened. This is NOT a comedy, but there are comedic elements that help to keep the tone light and yet still allowing for a darker plot.
Angst himself, is a strong character. While reading, I often found myself wanting
to just tell him to turn around and run, but he is not only strong and
honorable, not giving to temptations that would test any man’s metal.
I highly recommend Buried
in Angst, as well as it’s prequel Angst.
I am also looking forward to the next installment of this
series that David is working on now!
Well, there it is…
QaplaH’!
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