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The Resundering and Beyond
One of the storylines of ElemenstorLance, The Resundering and Beyond tells a generational story, beginning with Perilous Circumstances, the first Queen of the Singing Throne. The first three books discuss her finding the Throne during its first appearance and becoming its "queen," someone destined to carry out its will whenever it returns to Battal. Her first assignment is to kill Illibar by crossbow-bolt to the head at point blank range. Her second mission is to infiltrate the idealistic group Elemenstors of Autumn Springtime and execute its leader by crossbow-bolt to the head at point blank range. Her third assignment is to find Archibald Almalastor, then execute him by crossbow-bolt to the head and make it look like followers of Char Reyarteb did it. Ironically, this is the only mission she fails, as Almalstor is executed by crossbow-bolt to the head by followers of Char Reyarteb, who make it look like she did it, creating the conflict for the second half of the book. The final assignment, just as Battal prepares to be Resundered, is to find the prophet of The True Unsundering and execute him by crossbow-bolt to the heart (to spice things up).
Of the original trilogy, the second book stands out among critics as "by far the worst crap ever written, excepting perhaps The Scourges Pentadecaphron." In it, Tracy White and Leslie Hackstein introduce the characters Theenis Dwarvelfan, Ponyhoof Pickpocket, and Drang Boomstick, and focus on those characters for about two-thirds of the book. No one knows why, as each character was annoying as hell. Their enemies, Osteorin the Couldn't Resist a Dare, Alambar the What The Hell Was He Thinking, and Furbles the Hireling were equally annoying.
Fan-favorite Hal Robinson came to the rescue, penning four consecutive novels in the series, including a few following the daughter and grand-daughters of Perilous Circumstances throughout The Unlight Eonicles. They are, compared to their ancestor, horribly incompetent, but the books are entertaining for it.
When Hal attempted to bring the series to a close with The Dawn of Unlight's Setting, Part 2: Victory's Deathknell, Realmworlds Publishing handed the reigns to Tracy White and Leslie Hackstein, who famously recounted all other ElemenstorLance authors and characters as "puppets to be crushed and played with at our leisure."* They brought back their most annoying characters and entirely dropped the "descendants of Perilous" theme, leading fans to question why the books were still published under the "Resundering and Beyond" banner.
Naturally, there were to be no answers; only more questions.
Other authors piled in, leading fans to wonder whether The Resundering and Beyond was so popular that Realmworlds Publishing couldn't resist exploiting the banner, or that perhaps there were just too damn many ElemenstorLance Collections and so books were just getting crammed into existing ones willy-nilly so as to avoid filing additional copyright paperwork. Eventually, originator of the series Merth Lemon returned for two books on the condition that the series be closed to further entries.
Naturally, the series's reception was mixed. Some found it to be an unusual and interesting take on ELOTH:tES, others were somewhat put off by the sheer numbers of crossbow executions involved. The last book is an interesting curio among fans of the Hierarchs comic book, as the main characters make cameo appearances in the second-to-last chapter.
*This statement later came back to bite the two in the ass, as conclusive proof that they made a statement about something raised the ire of Realmworlds Publishing. Rumors place them as being forced into one of General Defense Dynamics's Gardens of Unspeakable Metal Delights for "quiet-or-else-the-sound-activated-machine-guns-start-and-then-not-stop-until-they-are-out-of-ammo time."
Books in This Series (In Order of Publication)
- Illibar's Assignation, by Merth Lemon, 1998
- Elemenstors of Autumn Springtime, by Tracy White and Leslie Hackstein, 1999
- Auguries of the Kingdom, by Hal Robinson, 2000
- The Mincing Kingdom, by Hal Robinson, 2000
- The Dawn of Unlight's Setting, Part 1: The Rise of Dusk, by Hal Robinson
- The Dawn of Unlight's Setting, Part 2: Victory's Deathknell, by Hal Robinson
- Players of Battal, , by Tracy White and Leslie Hackstein
- Immortal Wanderings, by Tracy White and Leslie Hackstein, 2000
- Ruins and Robes: Tales of the Resundering
- The Trials of Wor
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to Battal, by Jan'et Plain, 2002
- Trail of the Black Wang, by Merth Lemon, 2002
- Perilous Circumstances, by Merth Lemon, 2003
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