Are you a fan of wizards, riddles and things that go bump in the night? Do you ever imagine yourself with supernatural powers or hope for a guardian who does have those powers? Instead blaming the vagaries of everyday life on simple coincidence, do you see a pattern? If you do, then Marc E. Robling’s latest novel, Trigon: The Riddle of the Keys is the book for you. Powerful wizard Emit is the guardian of his world for the last 1500 years. He has kept it safe, but his power is waning and the demon is creeping closer, ready to devour the planet. He creates a trigon riddle, a three-part puzzle, to mystify the demon while leaving instructions for three future champions to save the world.

A slave boy is barely coherent from his mind-numbing work in the mines. There is no measurable future until he stumbles across an odd stone.The rock begins to talk to him urging him to find a well. Which is all -good, except he is a slave who is watched every waking second and caged while he sleeps. The slave master provides the chance for escape when he opens the cage and demands explanation for the stone. The boy, suddenly able to read the stone’s symbols, escapes using its magic. This begins his search for the well and the key. His memory starts to come back allowing him to remember a time when he wasn’t a slave and had a name, Hakim.

Arin is devastated that her guardian, Briana, is on her deathbed. Briana is the only one who ever cared for the young albino witch. The villagers ridicule Arin and play tricks on her. Before dying, Briana charges Arin with finding the Mosaic of Destiny and fulfilling her duty. Before Arin can even object properly, something evil slithers in and steals her beloved mentor’s body. Arin knows she has no choice but to find the mosaic and her mentor’s body.

Boyd and his dog, trapped by a volcanic eruption whose lava streams are blanketing the entire island, search desperately to escape. Unfortunately, all the islanders left taking all the boats with them. Boyd is left behind because he returned for his only treasure, a knife with the word “Emit” written on it. He follows his dog to safety when the ground cracks open spewing up a disc. Boyd escapes along with his dog on a raft, which magically appears when needed. All this baffles Boyd, but also makes him wonder if he has a higher purpose.

All three champions are on individual quests helped only by cryptic stories or half-forgotten memories. They all have in common an unusual birthmark and a shadowy being following their every step and perhaps learning the riddle of the keys as they do.

Trigon: The Riddle of the Keys is weighed down by its language and desire to explain things. The language often seems wrong. Everyone from wizards, demons and rocks slur their words, as oppose to hissing, growling or spitting. There is so much back-story that we are not introduced to all three champions to almost half way through the book, plus there is a prologue. This makes the exercise of reading the story a ponderous one.

Trigon: The Riddle of the Keys proves once again that the art of writing good dark fantasy, especially for the young adult market is a delicate balance between being interesting and readable. Trigon: The Riddle of the Keys did not manage the balancing act. I would not recommend this book.

Reviewed by Morgan Wyatt
© July 2007