IRA

In my new IRA book, a major issue in this story is ethics and morals. The other elven princes fight this war in a less brutal manner. The protagonist of the story, Alith Anar, fights this war brutally. Some might say that he has no ethics or morals, but the fact is that his tactics are effective. The other princes think that Alith is in the wrong for using the tactics that he does. This is how the issues of ethics and morals come into play. While Alith isn't innocent and he's certainly using extremely brutal tactics, he isn't like the cultists. The cultists sacrifice people in the names of their gods and for their own perverted pleasures, while Alith uses the tactics he does for revenge and to free his people. Also, Alith doesn't attack innocents. Another thing I believe is worth noting is that Alith, while young, is a very gifted military tactician. You also have to admit that while he's very committed to his goal of vengeance, he's also a good leader, capable of inspiring others. Because of Alith's experiences he's becme very bitter. This also leads to the reason why he has issues with the other princes and such because of the fact that they don't understand why their military tactics won't be effective in fighting the druchii. They may consider Alith's waging of war to be dishonorable, but this is the only way he can fight an effective war with his lesser numbers.

IRA

In this book, the main character and protagonist is Alith Anar. While he is indisputably the hero of this story, he isn't what you'd typically think of as a hero. Events in his life have conspired to change his personality utterly. In this way, I believe he can be viewed as a tragic hero. He's not a tragic hero in the sense that he fails at his goals. Rather, it's what happens to him that makes him a tragic hero. The murder of his family gives birth to a dark hero. It also raises the question as to whether environment or yourself effects you the most. In Alith's case, I believe it to be both. He already has a more serious personality and is very fiercely independent, causing him to really want to fight Morathi. But I personally believe that if his entire family hadn't been murdered, he wouldn't be so committed to fighting her. Another interesting facet of this story, related to the kind of hero Alith is, is the fact that he is a character motivated by revenge, rather than altruism. In most stories, the hero does everything he does out of altruism. In Alith's case, he is primarily motivated by revenge, as well as a sense of duty. He feels that he must lead the Naggarothi because there is no other suitable prince of Nagarythe who isn't druchii. Also, Alith's character can be said to represent the lengths people can be driven to because of the events in their lives. Another primary focus in this book is religion, mainly the cults. The cults in this book follow the various cytharai, or dark gods. The most prominent cult is the cult of Kaine, Lord of Murder. The depictions of these cults and their gruesome sacrifices isn't just literal, it's also a symbol. The druchii and the acts they committ can be viewed as representitive of the darkness in all are hearts. It is also a way of seperating the druchii from the other elves.Granted, Alith's tactics seem gruesome and brutal, but in comparison they are far less horrifying acts than the followers of the cytharai have committed in the name of their "gods."

IRA: Shadow King by Gav Thorpe

This book is a tale of revenge. It's set on the island of Ulthuan, where the high elves live. The main character is Alith Anar, a prince of Nagarythe. His family are all murdered after they defy Morathi, who usurps the throne of Anlec. Cults to the cytharai (dark gods) are sanctioned and allowed under her rule. The Anars rebel against her and fight a guerrilla war against her. Eventually, they fight in open battle. Alith's father is killed and when they return to Elanardris (the Anar's home), he discovers his entire family has been murdered. He vows to avenge his family and all of Nagarythe against Morathi. One of the major questions this story raises is this; Can you fight fear with fear? To explain this question you must know that since Alith and his force of Naggarothi are vastly outnumbered, they fight a shadow war (they call themselves the Shadows). The Naggarothi who fight for Morathi are called druchii (dark elves), though they are all high elves, but because they willingly choose to follow her and most belong to one of the cults, they are called druchii by all the other high elves. So back to my main point. Alith uses fear to terrify his enemies, making them fear him and his warriors more than they do Morathi. Basically, since he can't overwhelm them with a large army, he uses guerrilla tactics and physcological warfare. He is a very smart and crafty enemy, realizing that you can't just kill your enemy, you have to make the rest fear you. Considering his lack of numbers, Alith has to use phychological warfare. His grasp of this displays the fact that, while he's young, he's a very gifted tactician. In short, this book is very interesting because the main character is a dark protagonist. Most hero's in stories aren't dark and revenge obsessed. It's quite a contradiction. It's almost as if he's a hero and a villian at the same time.

IRA: ANALYSIS & RECOMMENDATION

Here i am going to give a recommendation for this book (The Towers of Midnight). I personally like the book but i plan to attempt to give an unbiased analysis and recommendation of the book. It is a well written book, detailed and fairly easy to understand. There is plenty of background, which helps you understand the mindset of the characters. Now, there is another issue in this book which most people would consider negative but it is also a positive thing. The book tends to repeat itself a lot, going over events in the history of their world, as well as events in the previous books. While this can be repetitive, it is also a good thing so that if you start reading the series midway through, you can still understand whats going on. So it has both negative and positive points. Another good thing about it is the characters. They are relatable and human. They're just normal people. They aren't totally larger than life. They aren't just one-dimensional. They are three-dimensional and have very developed personalities. This is something that not all books can boast. While this book has one major conflict that binds all the characters and everything together, it also has a lot of smaller, personal conflicts and other things going on in it. This prevents it from being tedious. If it didn't have these smaller issues and only focused on the major issue all the time, it would be kind of boring. This book has the potential to be a very dark story and while it is at times, it also has comedic relief. I believe this is a common problem for many stories. You can't have it be all dark; you need some humor in the story. Admittedly, its a rather long series, but the fact it is and has still remained interesting with new material and with interesting plot turns and character developments, reflects well on the author. Another thing that impressed me is that he doesn't let his personal religious views influence his story. This story has elements of various religions in it (Budhism, Hinduism, and Christianity), which shows that he doesn't exclude religions simply because they aren't his. This is a common failing of authors, i believe. They frequently let their personal views interfere with their stories. If they could discard their personal biases, they would be able to create a wider range of literature.

Overall, I believe this book is very good. I readily admit that i might be somewhat biased in my recommendation. I also concede the point that it has negative points and isn't perfect. I admit that my analysis of the book is probably biased. However, i also believe that it definitely isn't the worst book ever written.  So, in my opinion, however biased it may be, i would definitely recommend this book to anyone. I'd recommend it to fans of sci-fi/fantasy books in particular. You don't have to be a fan of fantasy to enjoy the book, though. So, to recap, go out and read these books. I know you'll enjoy them.