Diana Pharoah Francis
THE
CIPHER
Diana Pharaoh Frances
ROC 2007
Pb 432pgs
ISBN:
978-0-451-46179-7
ISBN-10: 0-451-46179-7
This is A Novel of Crosspointe, an entitlement which leads us to believe there will be other stories written in this setting. THE CIPHER appears to stand alone, though it is possible that the author will bring these characters back at a future time. Crosspointe is a city on an island in a very nasty sea which conjures up magical debris called sylveth. When touched, sylveth changes people into monstrous aberrations that devastate the lives around them.
Our heroine Lucy Trenton is a customs officer for Crosspointe’s harbor and a member of a royal family that is not in favor with the common people, so she works hard and keeps a low profile. And she hides secrets--not only does she have an extremely rare talent that enables her to sense magic, she’s also been illegally collecting true ciphers: items with strong magical spells. This doesn’t become a problem until bad luck hits her from several sides at once. First, it’s an extremely busy day at work, then a true cipher attaches itself to her (fating her to death or worse, so say the history books), then her day at work turns even more unpleasant. Along the way she meets Marten Thorpe, a ship captain with a disreputable reputation who goes on to show us he’s most disreputable...except when he hits bottom he finally realizes that being a pawn of his dangerous brother is not the best life one could choose: setting Lucy up for a political fall endangers not only the entire city but also his love life!
THE CIPHER is well written--there are no reader trip hazards, just a fun story that moves with action and suspense. Just when you think the characters’ lives couldn’t get any worse, more misfortune falls upon them. The world-building is complete and flows without distracting detours so the pages keep turning as the reader sinks deeper into the morass of Lucy’s troubles. An enjoyable read, recommended for fans of magical fantasy.
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