David Farland has created a world where rulers take advantage of a magical process by which they acquire one or more of the attributes of their subjects, such ..Show More »as strength, stamina, glamour, metabolism, grace, etc. The person that gives up such an endowment is known as a "dedicate" and they are now crippled in that capacity for the rest of their lives, all so that the receiver can be enhanced. Those who receive endowments are known as Runelords, and they each approach the ethics of receiving endowments from different moral perspectives, which adds to the richness of the characters. Some are ruthless in their thirst to improve themselves for their own purposes, while others pledge their lives to making the world better on behalf of their dedicates.

The ability to take and receive endowments re-defines how people live, rule, and fight wars. When Runelords go to war with each other one can reduce the power of their rival by killing off their dedicates to strip away endowments. Since an endowment only functions while both parties remain alive, the protection of one's dedicates is very important. Rarely does such a detailed structure govern the magic in a Fantasy book and for me it really helped make the world seem more realistic and plausible. I could not help but feel that this magic system would make for an excellent board/computer game. 

Endowments aren't the only magic system in this series as there are also a whole range of wizards that use various elemental magics, as well as strange creatures that live underground known as Reavers. The world is rich and the characters are interesting. There are currently 8 books in the Runelords universe but and the first 4 contain the primary story arc and are known as the Earth King series: The Sum of All Men, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Wizardborn, and The Lair of Bones. You can't go wrong reading these 4 and this initial story arc wraps up nicely.

A second story arc known as the Scions of the Earth starts with book 5, Sons of the Oak. The series shifts to focus on the next generation and frankly the new characters aren't quite as interesting. Book 6, Worldbinder, is a total hit of the "reset button" for the series in general and I must admit that the events of book 6 left me lukewarm. Due to this I have not read books 7 or 8 yet, but don't let that scare you off from books 1-4 which are well worth your time.

For audiobook fans Ray Porter does an excellent job of bringing all of these various characters to life with his narration. He is an excellent story teller and he definitely enhances the material with his performance.