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"Delightful fantasy tale"

In the kingdom of Escator, medical apprentice Garth Baxtor learns how to apply his gift of the healing touch and use of herbs under the tutelage of his father physician Joseph. Every year Joseph treks to the Veins to provide health care to the condemned prisoners working the mines instead of paying taxes. Garth accompanies his father on the trip.

Garth notices one of the incarcerated has the tattoo of the mythical Manteceros on his arm; a tattoo of this beast is restricted only to two people, the king and his heir. It does not take much thinking to conclude that this prisoner has to be Prince Maximillian, who vanished almost a decade ago. Garth says nothing, but upon returning home, quietly investigates the tattoo, the Manteceros, and a weird rhyme the prisoner recited. Joined by Ravenna of the marsh, and the regally faithful Abbott Vorstus, Garth knows the rightful monarch toils in the mine while an imposter rules Escador.

Though the story line flows in an obvious direction, fantasy readers will enjoy this delightful tale. The story line is loaded with action so the audience rarely has a moment to breathe. The champion trio seems genuine even as they step over the edge risking everything in a heroic effort to right a wrong. Sara Douglass provides a strong tale that displays why the Australian audience thinks she is one of the top fantasists writing in the past decade.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted July 13, 2003

Like his physician father, Garth Baxtor is gifted with The Touch. By laying his hands upon a person, Garth can sense what dwells within: pain, illness, joy, or sorrow. It is through the application of The Touch that the gifted minister helps the sick of Escator by diagnosing ills and promoting healing.

By decree of the royal treasury, for a period of three weeks each year, physicians of Escator - in lieu of taxes - are required to attend to the needs of the criminals who labor endlessly in the Veins, the labyrinth of mines carved deep into the earth and from which they harvest the gloam-a priceless commodity upon which the fortunes of Escator depend.

It is during one such period of mandatory service that Joseph Baxtor decides his son is old enough to accompany him to the Veins as his apprentice. Garth is delighted. It's a chance to escape the dull and dreary surroundings of his quiet village for the delights of the capital city of Ruen. Joseph has been ordered to attend King Cavor himself. Garth will actually meet the king in person!

As he discovers all too soon, however, the task at hand is a grim one. Descending into the mines for the first time, Garth could hardly be less prepared for what he encounters: thousands of men laboring like animals in dreadful conditions deep below the earth's surface.

Applying his hands to the wound of one prisoner known only as Lot No. 859, Garth is stunned by what he discovers. This man is no common criminal. But then, who is he? Could it be? After all these years?

Prince Maximillian?

The answer to the riddle will involve Garth in a harrowing journey out of the Veins and into the Land of Dreams as he tries to resolve the question of the identity of Lot No 859. In the process, Garth will solve a centuries-old mystery-a mystery that will pit one king against another and shake the Kingdom of Escator to its foundations.