"An engaging and believable fantasy"
Diana is an Adept, which means she is skilled in many kinds
of powerful Magick. Win is a Mage, a servant to the Goddess
and Balance--the ongoing struggle between good and evil.
Win has been dedicated to the Balance since childhood, but
Diana had a miserable childhood and thinks Goddess has been
manipulating her all her life. They are lifemates, able to
share their magical power between each other and mind-speak
silently. When a young woman Apprentice is kidnapped from
Ocean Magick, a Stronghold of the Balance, Diana has a
Sight dream, showing it happening. Diana and Win are sent
there and find the Guardian of Ocean Magick has lost his
magickal powers. Win will be Guardian Pro Tem until he is
healed. Usually the Guardian's lifemate is made Priestess
of the stronghold, but Diana has not dedicated herself to
Goddess so the High Priestess has come to Ocean Magick to
serve in that position instead. Diana dreams that the abducted Carla is being badly abused
and beaten, but the Council refuses to try to immediately
locate her, the High Priestess claiming other, more
pressing duties. Diana and Win both connect with Bedrock, a
powerful source of magick at the Stronghold. It is rare for
a lifemate to be able to see the images from Bedrock, but
at first doing so almost makes her sick. Still, more and
more Diana's talents prove to be extraordinary. A man that comes to visit the ill Guardian is Diana's
father, Janus. She learns he was a Mage, but left the
Balance when he got her mother pregnant. Her mother refused
to tell Diana anything about him, but Diana knows he left
her 16-year-old mother to raise her alone. He tells his
side of the story and tries to build a relationship with
his daughter. She and Win listen, but neither of them trust
him. Diana feels useless. Because she will not dedicate herself
to Goddess, there are things the Council will not let her
do. Win's grandmother teaches her to scry, and she sees the
body of the kidnapped girl in a ditch, discovered to be
just outside the Stronghold. Carla is brought inside and
Healer Sulis, Win's sister, is brought in to help with the
healing. Sulis becomes romantically involved with Janus.
When she leaves with him, the Council believes it was of
her own volition, and is ready to cast her out. Diana
goes to find her, traveling astrally, and becomes tangled
in a mind Web. Janus has set it for her. It takes Win, the
Council, and the High Priestess all working together to
extract Diana, but they lose her on the Astral Plane. They
may never get her back. Ever. This book is a marvelous read, the characters engaging and
perfectly believable. Not only Diana and Win, but other
major characters learn and grow along with them. I highly
recommend MORE THAN MAGICK. I hope Mary Taffs has more
magickal tales to tell! Reviews for PNR Reviews by Judith Miller
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted March 4, 2003
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Diana can't forgive Goddess; Win can't forget that Diana's
an Adept. When evil threatens the Balance, will the
lifemates need more than magick? More Than Magick is the stand-alone sequel to EPPIE2003
Finalist Magick. The highly-acclaimed fantasy romance
Magick follows Diana into the world of the Balance, where
magick is used to uphold good in the service of Goddess.
There Diana learns she has previously-unsuspected magickal
ability, and that Win, the Mage who's been protecting her,
is her lifemate, the other half of her soul. More Than Magick continues Diana's journey. She and Win are
now lifemates, but the Balance is still a puzzling and
disturbing world to her. Will she ever truly fit in? Does
she even want to? Meanwhile, Win has challenges of his own. The job of his
dreams is now his, and he must learn to deal with a whole
new set of responsibilities while his Stronghold is in
danger. A Guardian has lost his magick and a young woman
has been kidnapped. Are these events related, and what is
their significance? Win and Diana must find these answers. They also must
discover the incredible power of their lifemate bond.
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