Berg, Carol
SON OF AVONAR
Book One of The Bridge Of D'arnath
Carol Berg
ROC 2004
Pb 471 pgs
ISBN#
0-451-45962-8
This book is for fans of sword and sorcery who enjoy the female hero; except this heroine does not wield a sword or even sorcery, she wins the day because she is shrewd.
The son of Avonar is the heir to magic, but this story is not told from his viewpoint. It is told from the viewpoint of a woman who comes to know first one heir to Avonar, and then another. The world exists, you see, in this realm and another. A magical barrier separates ordinary men from where sorcerers originated, a barrier connected by a magical and hard to find bridge. [Note the series title--The Bridge of D'Arnath.]
Our heroine is Lady Seriana (Seri, for short), and she is sister to a duke, bound for marriage to the next king. But Seri refuses marriage to Evard, turning down a chance to be queen because she has fallen in love with a sorcerer. Now, sorcerers are rare in Leiran because they are feared and hated. Karon is one of the last sorcerers alive on this side of the barrier. He is a gifted healer, so gifted in fact that his patients accidentally give him away to his enemies. Though he tries to hide behind another profession, a sheriff traps Seri and Karon in front of the king. The sheriff stabs Seri in the back, in the heart, and Karon must save his beloved wife or watch her die. He is taken prisoner for sorcery and tortured. All of Karon's friends are murdered for having known his secret without telling the crown. Seri is held prisoner, but because she is a duke's sister, she looses only her station, her husband, and her child, but not her life.
Seri runs away to live in the country. Dirt poor, ten years later when a stranger needs her help, she has little left to give. But this young man is very strange. He is running from those who seek his life. He is mute, and naked. And Seri discovers that he has no memory of who he even is. When Seri sees him do magic, she is compelled to solve a mystery more dangerous than her experiences ten years prior.
This young man is also a son of Avonar, except his Avonar is on the other side (there are two cities called Avonar, one on each side of the magical barrier). Prince D'Natheil, Heir to the royal line of D'Arnath, has crossed over, come to ask assistance from those of his kind on this side of the barrier without having known that they were nearly extinct. But the mystery goes deeper than that. Seri feels drawn to this man . . . almost as if she has always known him.
The book is presented in a flip-flop fashion. It begins in the middle then constantly flash-backs to fill in the back-story. Though it does have enough action to keep it moving, these flash-backs get a bit irritating. So, this reader only votes SON OF AVONAR a five out of ten, because -1- of the heavy use of flash-backs; and -2- because the prose, though very well done, gets a bit too wordy at times; and because -3- the ending did not satisfy [Note: the ending will probably satisfy you if you fit the description in the first paragraph of this review. However, the story led this reader to anticipate romance, an anticipation that was not rewarded. One might suspect that Carol Berg could use this carrot to lead her readers through the series without ever allowing them to become fully satisfied.] This book is for readers who want a heroine who will save the day with her smarts.
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