"a highly satisfying tale of love, adventure, and magic"
From the very beginning of this book it is clear that
Jennifer Dunne knows how to build a fantasy world. The
world in "Shadow Prince" is a rich one, created with good
writing, excellent characterizations, a strong
understanding of magic... all the things one learns when
doing DND games. I'm becoming convinced that role-players
often make the best storytellers. In Shadow Prince Angelique Blanchard is an artist on
Earth, who paints fantasy scenes and suffers
from "attacks" which give her glimpses of another world --
the one she's painting. She's been like this for the past
ten years, afraid of storms, and bouncing in and out of
reality since a car accident that killed her parents and
left her in a coma for weeks. Searching for peace, she
walks into the desert for some quiet time, but has another
attack... and this time becomes not only a visitor to this
fantasy world, but an active participant just as she had
been while in the coma. Ten years ago Reynart was prince of Nord D'Rae until a
mysterious woman had appeared with strange powers that
triggered the "gateway" to his kingdom, leaving the place
flooded and destroyed. The fact that the woman he'd
called "Anjeli" had walked off with his heart only made it
worse. But now she's returned, and he can claim revenge on
her... once he figures out what that revenge should be.
Fortunately, before he can make up his mind a mage comes
from the council of mages and Angelique and Reynart are
needed to stabilize the rest of the gateways before
disaster occurs. It seems that ten years ago an evil mage had created
a "construct" and pulled a soul from another world to
inhabit that body. Angelique's previous stay had been the
result. Now that she realizes she's really in this world,
and not simply crazy, Angelique comes to terms with her
situation... and with the love she still bears for
Reynart. He, in turn, now realizes it wasn't her fault
that his kingdom was destroyed. But still, it will be a
long time before they learn to trust each other. A significant part of the book is the pair of them
remembering what occurred ten years ago, and reconciling
it from their separate perspectives. The struggle for
this, as well as the journey to save the gateways provides
a well-balanced frame for the Reynart and Anjeli love-
story. In addition, the hero and heroine are joined by the
mage, Beryl, whose husband was killed by the same evil
mage, and Kerrim, a young bard who accompanies them to the
gateway as a way to obtain material for an epic song, sure
to get him into the college of bards. In short, Shadow Prince was a highly satisfying tale of
love, adventure, and magic, sure to please those who quest
in their hearts for all three.
Reviewed by Janet Miller
Posted June 6, 2003
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The kingdom of Nord D'Rae was destroyed ten years ago, although there are hundreds of theories as to how and why it happened. Popular sentiment blames the bastard prince Reynart D'Altha. But no one is foolish enough to ask the deadly assassin that Reynart has become. Fantasy artist Angie Blanchard was assured by her psychiatrist that her visit to the imaginary kingdom of Nord D'Rae was a particularly vivid coma dream. The obsession threatens not only her sanity but her life. Finding out that the fantasy world is real doesn't change that threat, only transforms it. When Angie is magically transported to Reynart's world, his plans for vengeance are interrupted by the mage council's representative. The destruction of Nord D'Rae destabilized the world's magical gateways, a situation which has recently become critical. The mage needs both Angie and Reynart to help her restore the broken Nord D'Rae gateway, then seal it for good. On their quest, they must face the lies and betrayals of ten years ago. Too bad they'd rather kill each other. This book is was previously published elsewhere.
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