From School Library Journal
Grade 5-7-- Twelve years before this story opens, in Sandwriter (Holt, 1988; o.p.) , Princess Antia of Kamilant and Jodril, son of the chieftan of the desert kingdom of Roshan, pledged their first child as apprentice to Sandwriter, an old woman who is revered as the mystical spirit of the kingdom. As The Promise opens, it is Princess Rania's tenth birthday, and time for the pledge to be fulfilled. Atbin, a young man from a desert village, is sent to escort her. At each step of their journey, items are discarded, until she arrives at Sandwriter's desert dwelling with all vestiges of her former life stripped away. For four years, living austerely, she learns the lessons of the desert, gradually forgetting her family and friends. One day she sees Atbin leaving their daily food, and her interest in the outside world is rekindled. Realizing she has demanded too much too soon, Sandwriter sends Rania to spend a year in the town of Monar, at the end of which she may choose an ordinary life or to return to the desert. As the year progresses, she misses and values her desert existence more and more, and, when the time for choosing comes, she returns to it and Sandwriter. Not as fast paced or as obvious in its message as some of Hughes's other works, The Promise nevertheless has much to offer thoughtful readers. --Li Stark, North Castle Public Library, Armonk, NY
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Honoring her parents' promise, ten-year-old Princess Rania is taken from her lush palace and thrust into the arid desert home of Sandwriter, the powerful shaman whose magic is essential to survival in their world. When she's 14--wiser, stronger, but still ambivalent about dedicating her life to magic--Sandwriter sends her to choose her future, a choice made more difficult by the love of Atbin, the desert youth who took her to Sandwriter four years ago. Conscience wins: Rania decides that her responsibility to her people outweighs her personal happiness. The jacket shows Atbin and Rania perched far forward on a two-legged desert beast that, if the laws of gravity hold, is about to go snout-down in the sand; but this is fantasy, so the beast lumbers on. It's not a bad metaphor for the book: lots of suspension of disbelief required. That said, young readers will find some convincing details, while tales of selflessness still have their place. There may even be a subtext about the harsh price society exacts from women who choose wider responsibilities than love and family. (Fiction. 10+) --
Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
