The
Thirteenth Scroll
By Rebecca Neason
Warner Aspect
Fantasy
Paperback
June 2001
www.twbookmark.com
430 pages
$6.99 USD
ISBN: 0-466-60953-6
Lysandra knows well the price the people pay when politicians jockey for power. Ten years ago, when King Osaze died, the eight Barons who ruled the outer provinces all vied for power, but it was the king's nephew, Anri, who would get the throne. Too late was this settled for Lysandra...the Barons were busily conscripting the men folk, weakening villages as men either fought in wars no one believed in, or ran and hid in the woods. These weakened villages were easy prey for marauders...and marauders came to Lysandra's village, killing her parents and the man she loved, attacking her brutally. When she wakes she is blind. Unable to take living in the village where the people's nervous kindness is cold comfort, she wanders in the woods. As she wanders she slowly learns that she can see...after a fashion. She sees shadows and colors inside her head, and sometimes it blooms into full sight. Eventually she settles down in an abandoned cottage, her only companion a wolf pup she rescued, Cloud Dancer. She becomes a trusted healer, and her Sight improves, until she can see though Cloud Dancer's eyes. King Anri's death shatters her peace, as do a series of dreams. These visions force her back out into the world, where she meets more friends...and makes some ruthless enemies. The most frightening of these is the sorceress Aurya, who has read the forbidden Thirteenth Scroll, and knows the prophecy in it but heart...and so she searches for the one child who could stop her own dreams from coming true. She knows who she wants on the throne...her lover, Giraldus.
A fantasy of this type is very hard to execute with any originality...but Neason manages it, and manages it very well. Lysandra can take a lot of the thanks for this...she is complex and interesting. She's what I call a "warm" character...someone of great depth, someone you'd like to spend time with. Her Sight is a wonderful attribute, making her special in an unusual way. Neason writes it very well. Blindness is a great challenge in a medium where describing things visually is common. I thought she did some clever work.
Aurya is one of the most vilest antagonists...but she's not completely evil. Her determination, dispute the humanizing fact of her harsh past, (perhaps even because of it...her past makes her sympathetic and more real) makes her a formidable bad girl, and the challenges she presents our heroine and her companions are quite cool. The interplay between her and Giraldus, who in some ways is just a retired solider who honestly believes he can do good, is interesting, and further goes to show that the people in this book are neither all good or all evil.
There's another interplay that's worth commenting on...the relationship between Lysandra and Father Renan. It adds a subtle tension, as they begin to truly care for each other, but Renan is not quite what he seems, which causes him to hide his feelings...as Lysandra's painful past causes her to hide hers.
Not
everything is wrapped up in this book, but it does stand alone well. It ends at
a point where you can satisfy yourself that all will be well, but there is so
much that is not quite resolved that you know there has to be a sequel...and
there is. The Truest Power, which is now on my definite, have to read list.
4 out of 5 scrolls
Cindy Lynn Speer, GWN Reviewer
March 13, 2003
The
Seed of the Dogwood Tree
Greg Cicio
American Book Classics
June 2002
$22.00 USD
ISBN 1-58982-006-1
For Michael Sinclair and his friend Bruce Plantard, two Archeology students at
the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, the field trip to the Mendip Mines of
Somerset England was supposed to be "just another field trip". Little
did they know that it was the beginning of an adventure that would alter their
destinies.
Michael's discovery of three letters written by the first Baldwin King of
Jerusalem, with the help of Bruce's Uncle Edmond's book by the Prieuré de Sion,
could be the key to Celebrity for the two youngsters, or something more
sinister.
Their first dilemma is to decide if they'll tell the world about their
discovery, or if they'll keep it secret and look for more buried clues in the
Mendip Mines. After lots of consideration, they opt for the latter.
As soon as they return to Scotland, Michael's twin sister Elizabeth-Marie brags
about her new promotion to assistant of Dr. Hapsburg, a prominent scientist
doing research on the possibility of cloning from blood in any condition by
reconstructing its foundational DNA. Michael convinces Bruce to let him tell
Elizabeth about their discovery.
Michael and Bruce know that they have to go back to the Mines. Searching through
all their meager resources, the two students gather all the necessary material,
and with the unexpected financial and moral help of Uncle Edmond, hire a boat,
and are soon back to Somerset to conduct more research, this time, without the
knowledge of their University or colleagues.
Never in their wildest dreams would they have imagined the incredible discovery
they'll make in the Mines, a discovery which could catapult them into the world
of fame. Alas, Uncle Edmond believes that the discovery can't be broadcast yet.
He will entice professor Stuart, Michael and Bruce's mentor, to schedule another
search expedition to the Mendip Mines, so the 2 students can legitimately get
the credit for the find.
But fate has other plans for Michael and Bruce. After a violent altercation,
Bruce leaves the apartment he is sharing with Michael.
This is only the start of an incredible string of nightmarish adventures for
Michael, his twin sister, and their father, which will lead them to uncover a
centuries-old global conspiracy involving Heads of States, Kings, scientists,
big corporations, several religious orders and even members of his own family.
He will discover that people who have surrounded him, and been trusted by him
his whole life are not what they appear to be. His entire life will change when
he finally understands the magnitude of the consequences triggered by that
fateful trip to the Mendip Mines. He will realize with horror how little
appearances can be trusted, and that nothing stops the people behind the scenes,
who pull the strings of the unaware puppets whose lives have been manipulated as
if they were pawns on a chess board, not even murder.
Mr. Cicio's characters are very well defined, even the most evil ones are quite
credible. The conspiracy plot is plausible, especially in the light of some
recent events.
Cloning is a subject which has attracted a lot of attention lately. The fact
that British scientists successfully cloned "Dolly" the sheep a few
years ago makes the idea of human cloning perfectly feasible to any scientist,
even though the ethical question still has to be resolved.
"The Seed of the Dogwood Tree" is an interesting novel.
4 ˝ chalices out of 5
Johanna Smith, GWN Reviewer
The Wizard's
Wife
Becky Gauger
1st Books
2002
375 pages
ISBN:0759644381
The Wasting Disease took away her father, and so since she's alone in the world,
Marela is happy to cross the Scar with her adopted uncle Shap and other
travelers. However, one morning she awakens to find that she is alone with not
one iota of proof that anyone ventured there with her.
Marela feels fortunate to eventually escape the Scar, but exits near Grendelire
Keep, where the wizard AErin resides by himself during the cold winter. He takes
her in and she feels gratitude towards the elderly wizard. As she begins to fall
in love with her kind host, Marela realizes he is more her age. He loves her
too, so they marry and she accompanies him on his annual pilgrimage to see his
friends, even while they try to learn the fate of Shap and his party. However,
there are many other dangers, including an evil foe who abducts Marela. AErin
willingly risks his life to insure her safety.
The Wizard's Wife is an endearing fantasy romance in which the reader will want
the lead protagonists to fall in love with one another. Marela is a delightful
heroine; shy yet talented, until love turns her into a butterfly. AErin may be a
wizard, but in many ways he acts more like an applied researcher, treating
wizardry like a branch of physics. Even with plenty of action and adventure, the
key to this warm tale is his euphoria when he performs a magic trick that
provides joy to his beloved. Simplistic yet cherished is Becky Gauger's fine
tale.
Harriet Klausner, GWN Reviewer
03/12/03