The Prince of Dreams

By Curt Benjamin

Book 2 of the Seven Brothers trilogy. The quest continues. Llesho has found two of his six brothers and continues the search for the others. Helping him are various gods, witches and wizards, dragons. Llesho learns more about his dream power from a group of adepts. But the evil magician Markko is trying to find Llesho and kills all the dream adepts. A good story; I enjoyed it.

The Prince of Shadows

By Curt Benjamin

Book 1 of the Seven Brothers trilogy. Llesho is a young slave, forced to dive for pearls every day. But he remembers a time when he lived in a grand palace with his dad and mom, the King and Queen, his baby sister and his six older brothers. Llesho saw his parents and baby sister murdered and the palace and the royal city sacked by fierce barbarian invaders. Llesho was carried off and sold into slavery. One day, while diving for pearls, it is revealed to him that he must find his brothers and save the lost kingdom. But he is just a child and a slave. What can he possibly do?
An interesting start to the trilogy with a strongly Eastern flavor; an enjoyable read.

The Gates of Heaven

By Curt Benjamin

This is the third in the Seven Brothers trilogy.

In this final chapter, Llesho, the prince and former slave, has found his brothers. Even though the brothers are all older than he, they defer to Llesho and he ends up carrying most of the burden of trying to reclaim their lost kingdom and of defeating the demon that is threatening to destroy not only their world but heaven itself. In this story, Llesho continues his journey of discovery and comes into possession of his full powers. With the help of his brothers, dragons, magicians, emperors, princes, and gods, Llesho may have a chance at defeating the terrible demon called up by his old foe Markko.

I enjoyed the first two books in this series more than I did this one. It’s pretty obvious where Llesho is heading in this story and it is not a premise I particularly enjoyed. Plus the novel seemed to be rather contrived in the adventures it sets up for Llesho, more than in the first two stories. Still it was a good read, better than most swords and dragons fantasies