ISBN: 0-380-97902-0 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com
An excellent fantasy with a well-rounded, untypical heroine, with a deft mixture of warmth, danger, humor and magic.
Reviewed by David on November 08, 2003
Genre: Fantasy (High Fantasy, Intrigue, Romance)
Synopsis: The Lady Ista, who played a minor part in the excellent The Curse of Chalion, here takes center stage. The mother of Chalion's queen, Lady Ista's long years of guilt and madness fetter her in the ancestral home. Her soul, however, after many years of suffering, is not ready to for the long imprisonment of comfort and kindness. Earning for adventure, yet woefully unprepared for it, Ista finds a way to leave the house. On the thin excuse of a pious pilgrimage, Ista embarks on a journey, which will provide her with more excitement than she ever wanted.
Full Review: The Lady Ista is a unlikely heroine. The widow of a king, the mother of the new and very capable Royesse of Chalion, and bearing the scars of guilt, pain and madness, she seems like a candidate for retirement. But she's ready for adventure, passion, fear and courage, and the author shows great skill in portraying the woman with all her doubts and desires. After only a few pages, the reader's sympathy is firmly captured, and Ista's adventures become fascinating, for all her lack of swordmanship or great wizardry.
Between Ista's courage and wit, along with her doubts, and her improvised entourage, there are plenty of interesting characters. Even the enemies are shown with some sympathy, and the adventure allows for both doubts, triumph, and the road for future danger and happiness.
An excellent example of unconventional but accessible fantasy, with a well-defined world, awe-inspiring, dangerous and sometimes humorous gods, and wonderful characters and their trials, shows the author as the master of both science fiction and fantasy.
Overall: 7; Plot: 6; Characters: 7; Style: 7; World-building: 7; Originality: 6;
Copyright date 2003, HarperCollins (Eos), August 2001, Cloth, 456 pages
ISBN: 0-380-97902-0 Order from: Amazon.com Barnes & Noble.com