From Publishers Weekly
In the absorbing, realistic world depicted in this first volume of a projected series, MacAvoy ( The Book of Kells ) introduces Nazhuret who, looking back from middle age, tells of the adventures of his youth. Half-student, half-servant in the military Royal School of Sordaling, where he appears short and ugly to his tall Velonyan companions, Nazhuret is forced out at age 20. He is taken on by Powl--a mysterious individual learned in arts such as astronomy, war and languages--who teaches Nazhuret, above all, to control his body and mind. After several years, Nazhuret begins to find his own way, traveling around Velonya as an itinerant optician and befriending a wolf. Going south, he works as a bouncer in a tavern, where he discovers his mixed heritage: he is part Rezhmian, of a neighboring country often at war with Velonya. When he discovers a plot to kill King Raduf, Nazhuret's training, both of body and mind, is sorely tested. MacAvoy's complex realm is full of confusion and ambiguity, in which, as Powl says, "You, Nazhuret . . . are the lens of the world: the lens through which the world may become aware of itself. The world, on the the other hand, is the only lens in which you can see yourself."
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Raised as a ward of the Sordaling military academy and apprenticed--almost by happenstance--to a master of optics, the orphan Nazhuret embarks upon his life's journey with little to recommend him, except for his ability to see clearly the path he must follow. Deceptively slow in its pacing, MacAvoy's latest novel, the first in a new fantasy series by the author of the Damiano trilogy, patiently and persistently describes the progress of a young man destined by fate to be a hero. Enticing in its careful world-building and graceful writing, this fantasy is highly recommended.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
