Vengeance

February 27, 2012
Some 100 noble children from Hightspall were taken hostage in underground Cython, and they and their descendants were enslaved. A thousand years later, one of these descendants, Tali vi Torgist, is born with the same magical powers that got her mother killed, and is determined not to suffer the same fate. When Tali escapes to Hightspall, she finds her life endangered by both magical prophecies and brutal commercial interests. Although Irvine tells a satisfying story, the pacing is uneven, detailing Tali’s ordeals in slavery and her friends’ bickering at exhaustive length while spending little time on the book’s climactic scenes. The epic fantasy jarringly switches gears for a fight with a naked shape-shifter, used as an excuse for out-of-place juvenile sexual humor. Despite these flaws and clichés such as Tali being referred to as the One, this solidly readable work will appeal to less discerning fantasy fans.

Starred review from March 15, 2012

When she was a child, Tali witnessed her mother's murder at the hands of two strangers. Swearing vengeance, Tali, now a young woman, escapes from her life as a subterranean slave of the brutal Cythonians and makes her way to the surface. An encounter with Rix, a young nobleman who suffers from nightmares in which he witnesses a horrific murder, opens the way for the two to uncover the dark secrets in their past. This launch of a new trilogy brings to life an island world in which two civilizations, one below ground, the other on the surface, exist in eternal enmity while the land slowly dies from their greed and ambition. VERDICT Irvine, the author of "The View from the Mirror" quartet (A Shadow on the Glass; The Tower on the Rift; Dark Is the Moon; The Way Between the Worlds), is a veteran storyteller who excels in sustaining complex plots with well-rounded characters. Here, he delivers a compelling tale of vengeance, loyalty, and the search for a place in the world.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.