Threshold

September 1, 2003
Australian author Douglass (The Wayfarer Redemption) offers a stand-alone fantasy rich in detail, action and romance. In Ashdod, "the land of the One," where a mathematics-based religion holds sway, the glassworker slave Tirzah, an "elemental," can hear glass speak. Set to work at Threshold, a pyramid being built by the Magi of Ashdod as a bridge to Infinity, Tirzah must hide her elemental status or risk death. Meanwhile, a malevolent shadow power, Nzame, is lurking in Infinity, waiting to use Threshold to break through into Ashdod. Only Tirzah, with her uncanny magical ability, hears the glass in the pyramid screaming a warning. For all its complexity, this absorbing narrative flows with ease to a highly satisfactory conclusion.

August 1, 2003
As the pyramid named Threshold rises in the land of Ashdod, the culmination of the plans of the Magi to rise to the realm of Infinity, slaves live and die for the sake of constructing the grand edifice. A slave glassholder named Tirzah attracts the attention of the Magi, who tries to discover her hidden talent. The author of "The Wayfarer Redemption" series crafts a standalone novel that features an intelligent and ingenious heroine whose knowledge of impending doom may hold the key to preventing a worldwide catastrophe. Douglass has proven herself a fine storyteller, and here she does it again. Recommended for most fantasy collections.

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 1, 2003
Douglass presents an original variation on the theme of the man, or in this case, magus, who must undo the harm he unwittingly put in motion. On the plains of Ashod rises the great, glass-encased pyramid Threshold, a mathematical and architectural wonder that has taken the Magi and multitudes of slaves eight generations to build. Nearly completed, it awaits only its capstone. Meanwhile, the glassworker Tirzah, a slave, hides a secret from her masters: she can communicate with glass, and has heard the glass in Threshold scream in pain. The glass knows what Tirzah can but feel and the Magi wouldn't believe: that, more than a building, Threshold is a gateway. When it is completed, something from another dimension will come through it. Already, it has started taking lives. Can Tirzah and her fellow slaves halt the construction? Will Boaz, the magus whose alternating kindness and sternness to Tirzah leave her hoping but confused, accept the truth before the capstone is placed? Full of original touches, this is very good storytelling.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)