Across the Face of the World by Russell Kirkpatrick

According to Amazon, ACROSS THE FACE OF THE WORLD (USA, Canada, UK) by Russell Kirkpatrick does not release until January 1, but since I saw it in Book-a-Million the other day, I thought I might as well announce it. I have a copy, courtesy of Orbit books, and I plan to start reading next week. Since it is a rather lengthy tome (736 pages), I have lined up several guest reviewers who will hopefully be able to put up some reviews in the meantime.

From a tiny snowbound village, five men and women are about to embark on a journey that will change their lives -and the destiny of their world.For two thousand years, since he was cast out from Dona Mihst, the fabled Undying Man has been plotting his revenge on the Most High. The Destroyer's plans of vengeance are nearing fruition-and he will allow nothing to stand in his way.But one man has escaped from the Destroyer's prison, and even though the Lords of Fear ride in pursuit, he will bring word to his people. It will be up to his sons, Hal and Leith, together with a small group of villagers, to warn their world of the coming war.

It sounds fairly exciting, but the reviews I've seen so far have been mixed. Robert at Fantasy Book Critic and John at Grasping for the Wind were both ambivalent, but they ultimately found it too geography-intensive. We'll have to see if I agree.

The author keeps a blog at his website. As a professional geographer, he has worked on several atlas projects. You can see his Australia cover at his website, and I like it much better than the UK/USA/Canada cover. The author has an older website here, and while it is dated, it has lots of maps!

I have to admit that the very title of this novel is somewhat intimidating. Sometimes I really like quest novels, but other times it seems like I am forced to watch while the main characters go about every second of their lives while on the road. I have no problem at all when an author says, "three weeks later, they arrive" rather than make me live through page after page describing those three weeks. From what I'm reading on Robert and John's blogs, I may be in for some agonizing scenes. However, I'll try to read with an open mind. This book is coming at a good time for me, because it has been a long time since I've read a quest novel.