✍ Scribed by Copyright Paperback Collection (Library of Congress);Furey, Maggie
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Three unlikely heroes must penetrate a land of sorcery and secrets to save a world hurtling toward chaos.
From the dazzling imagination of Maggie Furey comes an astonishing new epic of a wondrous world on the brink of collapse... and the daring trio who will risk the deadliest odds to save it.
The world of Myrial is racing toward apocalypse. For aeons, its mysterious Curtain Walls have functioned to separate realm from realm, and race from race, so that each cordoned area remains a sanctuary for its species. But now the miraculous walls that have provided order for so long are disintegrating with disastrous results.
Mingling climates are causing unrelenting rains or deadly droughts, while warlike races are preying mercilessly on the helpless and meek. And the carnage will only grow worse unless a seasoned woman-warrior, a brazen firedrake, and a venerable Dragon with amazing telepathic powers—all trusted members of the Shadowleague—succeed where everyone else has failed. For they must first locate the heart of Myrial, where the secret for undoing this disaster resides. In order to reach their goal, however, they must overcome treachery, intrigue, and evil—and a mysterious figure from the past whose actions threaten to tear the Shadowleague apart.
Long before recorded history, the Ancients rescued a number of endangered species from their world—centaurs, angels, vampires, intelligent insect species—and settled them on the world of Myrial, with magical Curtain Walls that separated each realm and protected the less aggressive peoples from the more so. But now the Curtain Walls are beginning to malfunction, damaging weather patterns and allowing the wholesale slaughter of some groups by others. Only the Shadowleague, telepathic individuals from all species who study and keep the limited knowledge the world has of the Ancients, can hope to set things right. But disaster strikes a small party traveling to the Shadowleague conference, leaving them stranded in a snowstorm in the pitiless mountains near Tiarond. The primitive society here hasn't seen dragons or firedrakes—until now. And their bloodthirsty nature has only been enhanced by one ruthless and powerful man—a man from the Shadowleague's past who will determine their future and that of Myrial itself. This is the first book in what will probably be a trilogy; a huge number of characters are introduced and many plot threads are set in motion. Some but far from all are resolved at the end. There are so many characters it is sometimes difficult in the beginning to remember who is doing what, but the stories move along briskly and the going gets easier as they begin to converge. The background story is so interesting that one almost wishes the writer had started a little earlier in history, so readers could have seen the world when it was working well, not just when everything was going to pieces. But this is a minor quibble in an exciting, well-written book thatshould be enjoyed by all fantasy fans. (Book 1 of the Shadowleague) KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2000, Bantam/Spectra, 469p, 18cm, $6.99. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Deirdre B. Root; Ref. Libn., Middletown P.L., Middletown, OH, July 2000 (Vol. 34 No. 4)
Fantasy fiction
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