| Description: |
|
Product Description
In Einarinn, the secret of magic is known only by an elite few. They live in deliberate isolation, under the watchful eye of the Archmage. But nothing last for ever. Livak is a part-time thief and a full-time gambler, long accustomed to living by her wits and narrowly avoiding serious trouble. When she attempts to sell a stolen antique to a passing merchant, she finds herself pulled into a new and dangerous world of political intrigue in which the stakes are higher than anyone involved can imagine. For the antique she has acquired dates from a particular period in the history of Einarrin about which little is known, but much has been speculated. And when the truth begins to emerge, Livak decides to take the greatest gamble of her life.
|
| Reviews: |
|
Hope (United Kingdom) (2008/01/18):
I enjoyed this very much, although I can see that I had to be in the right mood and time to read it. The main reason for this is the way this particular story is written and arranged. This particular adventure/mystery/puzzle/quest involves tracing and obtaining, by fair means or foul, some specific artefacts used by mages in the past. Since these particular mages are long dead, there is historical research, as well as magical research involved. So, Juliet McKenna intersperses her story with little excerpts of gazeteers, letters, maps, almanacs, essays and so on. These seem to have been quite carefully placed so that they fit with the story either side of them, yet also provide a neat way to move to another part of the globe to talk about another piece of the puzzle. They fit because they feel like the characters research and papers they carry with them, and less like a general information bulletin to the readers about the world in which the book is set. They also provide a nice change of pace.There was a lot I liked here - plenty of shades of grey, some very ambiguous characters, politics and intrigue (of the office, university, town and national varieties), espionage, adventure, larceny, wry remarks about the quality of the local inns and the popularity of the "laundry" service, several different sorts of magic and each of the characters had a different understanding of magic, humour, suspense, old manuscripts, rummaging around libraries. There were a couple of rather eerie moments, which were quite welcome. I very much like the main character. It was nice to have a somewhat sceptical main character who is roped in to the mages' quest as a result of a con that goes awry. This makes for an interesting travelling party - each character has their own agenda, and they do not entirely trust each other. For now, these characters work together (when they are not working their own missions on the side), but there is a sense it can fall apart at any moment. Now I am taking a break, and then on with the next book in the series. I shall be very interested to see if it is written from the same character's viewpoint.
|
