By Sandy Amazeen Dec 30, 2007, 20:55 GMT
Lawson’s hefty first novel opens with the recounting of a legend that speaks of a stolen Stone of Power that was hastily ground up, baked into bread and served to First Ancestor. From First Ancestor, bits of that stone eventually found its way into people and while most only held a tiny grain, a few folks carried powerful pebble sized pieces, a witch ember that endowed them with magic abilities. These gifted individuals lived in hiding, sometimes in plain sight while church zealots hunted and destroyed any creature remotely considered magical.
Six-year-old Esmeree, a penniless street urchin trying to survive within a loosely structured hierarchy literally holds a secret to her breast. She carries a large witch ember that works to keep her alive in the face of ongoing hunger, beatings and abuse. A fortuitous meeting with the beggar Old Myrdd provides Esmeree with a tutor who jeopardizes his life by teaching her how to read. Myrdd would like nothing more then to see Esmeree married high above her station, thus well taken care of throughout her life. It is a destiny doomed to failure as knowledge of Esmeree’s witch ember begins leaking out into the street community. The training in magic she receives from her guild is barely enough to keep Esmeree alive throughout the many trials that face the young witch growing into her powers as church officials and the Seven Kingdoms wage brutal war on each other.
This long, frequently slow-paced saga of good vs. evil and the many gray areas in between, set in a medieval world filled with slaves, beatings, atrocities and magic takes time to get into. Although they go by different titles, vampires, elves, dragons and an assortment of other magical creatures figure in this fully imagined tale that could benefit from further editing and there are segments that can be skimmed without missing a great deal. Despite the mistakes, this complex telling is a worthy first effort; it should be interesting to see how this author develops in his next offering The Raven.
Your Talkback on this Story