The Legacy of Ogma (The Weapons Trilogy, Book 1)

E.A. Rappaport
iUniverse (2007)
ISBN 9780595464043
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.

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