Category: E-Books → Harry Turtledove - The Golden Shrine

Harry Turtledove - (Opening of the World #03) - The Golden Shrine
Published 2009
This book is subtitled: A Tale of War at the Dawn of Time
Unabridged. Bitrate 128 kbps/HQ stereo. Length 13:55:26. 764 MB.
Narrator: William Dufris

The glaciers came and covered the world with ice. Now they are in retreat. North of the city of Nidaros, north of the forest, north of the steppes where the nomadic Bizogots hunt, a gap has opened in the ice-wall. And down through that gap come the men who call themselves "Rulers." Their terrifying cavalry rides wooly mammoths. Their bows can shoot arrows farther than those of the southerners. Their wizards wield power that neither the shamans of the Bizogots nor the wizards of Raumsdalian Empire can match---a magic that can melt the stone beneath a man's feet, call down blasting fire from the sky, or decimate a tribe with plagues that have no cure.

Scattered survivors of the Bizogot tribes hide from the Rulers. The Empire is shattered. The feckless Emperor Sigvat II is in hiding. Against the Rulers stands Count Hamnet Thyssen and his small band of friends: Jarl Trasamund of the Three Tusk Bizogots; the adventurer Ulric Skakki; and, most important, Marcovefa, the female shaman of a cannibal tribe that lives atop the Glacier itself. Marcovefa has magic that the Rulers cannot counter. But there are many Rulers, and they have many wizards. Marcovefa is but one.

Perhaps Hamnet and his allies can save their lands from the Rulers. But first they must seek out the legendary Golden Shrine---and the Golden Shrine has not been seen by human eyes since the time before the glaciers came.


Terrific Bronze Age fantasy
To the North as the glaciers retreat, a gap opened in the ice wall. Through the aperture came the vicious riders called the Rulers whose destruction of anything in its path was abetted by powerful wizards. The Bizogots nomads and Raumsdalian Empire fail to stop the assault somewhat because the Emperor Sigvat refuses to accept the threat; preferring to believe it is nothing more than Count Hamnet Thyssen's need to be important.

Hamnet and his small unit fight the Rulers in a counter insurgency while seeking the Golden Shrine. Hamnet knows the Rulers need him dead to prevent a prophecy from occurring, but though he remains resolute, his side is in trouble. New hope arises when he meets an unlikely ally; cannibalistic shaman Marcovefa, who also seeks the artifact that legend says will destroy the Rulers.

The third and final Opening of the World dawn of time fantasy (see The Breath of God and Beyond the Gap) is a terrific tale in a strong saga. The story line is fast-paced yet filled with intricate details so that the reader will feel transported back to the Bronze Age as the war to end all wars explodes. Harry Turtledove is at his epic fantasist best with this action-packed All series.