The Seventh Sigil

July 7, 2014
Weis and Krammes wind up their Dragon Brigade high fantasy trilogy (after Shadow Raiders and Storm Riders) with this inflated YA-style concluding clash of good versus evil in a complicated sociopolitical setting. Former Dragon Brigade leader Stephano de Guichen and Sir Henry Wallace, representing their warring nations of Rosia and Freya respectively and each supported by a rich cast of colorful characters, reluctantly agree that their countries must unite against a common threat, the Bottom Dwellers. Thrust into the depths of the planet five centuries earlier by misguided and malignant religious forces, the Bottom Dwellers are driven by fanatical leaders, who use fearful contramagic reinforced by “blood magic” of torture and human sacrifice, to invade Rosia and Freya. This hefty excursion into a complex world of spymasters, derring-do captains, sorceresses, maturing heroes and heroines, and benevolent and sinister monks and nuns often reads like a hasty transcript of an interminably breathless role-playing game, but it fitfully comes to life with the help of enormous dragons, who provide an engaging extra dimension to this predictable would-be epic.

August 1, 2014
The struggle for the future of Aeronne continues. The Bottom Dwellers and their terrible contramagic continue to wreak havoc in the world above. Sir Ander and Father Jacob are imprisoned by the church for their heresy, and Jacob takes the opportunity to study the contramagic more closely. Eventually, the religious crisis sparked by the origins of contramagic and the truth about the seventh sigil will come to a head. Gythe has gone below with Miri to work with Bottom Dweller rebels. Countess Cecile has also made her way below by an even riskier route, on the trail of the princess Sophia. Gythe and Sophia, being savants, are threatened with becoming sacrifices for blood magic unless they can stop the terrible wizard storms ravaging Glasearrach. Stephano is trying to re-create the Dragon Brigade, although the king will not relent, and the dragons are hesitant. It seems to take a long time for all the pieces to fall into place, but once they do, the story spins to a properly heroic ending with the most important ends neatly wrapped up. All in all, a solid conclusion to a solid fantasy trilogy.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)