Reviews

Australian author Dart-Thornton shifts to the next generation of weathermasters in her third fey-filled installment in the Crowthistle Chronicles. Taking center stage is 19-year-old Asrathiel Heronsword Maelstronnar, daughter of the invulnerable Jewel and immortal Arran (featured in 2006's The Well of Tears) and granddaughter of Jarred and Lilith (the ill-fated lovers who starred in 2005's The Iron Tree). Having inherited the talents of her parents, who disappeared nine years earlier, Asrathiel (previously known as Astariel), has also become a weathermage of great power. She leaves her grandfather Avalloc's home to begin her tenure as weathermaster to the king of Narngalis in the capital city of King's Winterbourne. But the king of Slievmordhu, with the help of the hapless king of Ashqaleth, aims to rid the land of all the weathermasters. Though Dart-Thornton delivers more talk (including lectures on vegetarianism and animal cruelty) than action, her fans will continue to enjoy her Celtic-inspired mythology. (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

The maiden Astarial of the Weathermaster clan has lost her mother to the workings of an evil enchanter and her father to a quest to discover a way to break the enchantment. Now she must choose either to remain in the shelter of the life she has known or to venture into the world to develop her as yet small powers and seek a way to undo the wrongs committed by her ancestors. Dart-Thornton's lyrical prose and sumptuous world building mark this third installment of her epic fantasy (after The Iron Tree and The Well of Tears). Libraries should add this elegantly written saga to their fantasy collections. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.