From Publishers Weekly
In McGarry's imaginative and complex high fantasy novel, the sequel to her well-received debut, Illumination (2001), a handful of surviving mages are trying to rediscover their powers. It's six years after the Lightbreaker destroyed magic in Eiden Myr, a world quickly going to rack and ruin. The key to saving Eiden Myr lies with three orphaned girls-Pelufer, Elora and Caille-and Louarn, the young man they meet after being forced to flee their home. Their road takes them up hill and down dale, through desolate landscapes, multiple conspiracies and much bloodshed. As the story approaches its climax, the warrior Khinish threatens to invade Eiden Myr. Can Kazhe, a vividly portrayed drunken swordswoman ("Kazhe's cheekbone cracked against the table "), stop Khinish in time? A huge cast of characters and rapidly shifting viewpoints make this a challenging read, but the author's talent for world-building and sure use of language will leave fans, especially those fond of big, intricate fantasies like Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, feeling more satisfied than confused.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
The complex successor to
Illuminations (2001) may strike newcomers to its world, Eiden Myr, as worse than complex, but those in the know will be greatly gratified. Six years after
Illuminations, things are falling apart because of the loss of magic in Eiden Myr. Searches are on for a binder to help bring magic back, for means to control a binder for sinister or selfish purposes, and even for a way to prevent the return of magic by killing the binder. Key to saving the world are an itinerant jack-of-all-trades, three young girls with residual magical talents, and a drunken mercenary who saves everybody from being destroyed in savage warfare. They are members of an extremely large cast that, fortunately, McGarry lists in an appendix and selectively sketches in a glossary that also defines several terms. List, glossary, and even map don't entirely ease the strain of shifting among the story's multitude of viewpoints. If McGarry might be faulted for that strain, there is no denying the power and fertility of her imagination.
Roland GreenCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
