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"Fabulous coming of age fantasy"

In Slievmordhu, Jewel lives a wonderful life showered with love from her family until King Maolmordha's troopers kill her parents. Unbeknownst to Jewel, her savior, Step-Uncle Eoin feels remorse for causing this tragedy all because he was jealous of her father Jarred for being married to the woman he loved Lilith. Knowing he placed his beloved niece in danger, Eoin takes her on a perilous journey through the Great Marsh praying he can get her to safety in the nearby kingdom of Narngalis. He has yet to tell her that he revealed to the king's minion that she and her father were the last descendents of the feared sorcerer Janus, making her a pawn to open the Dome of Strang where the wizard's powerful secrets lie.

Eleven days looking over their shoulders, the wayfarers struggle until they clear the marsh. However, deadly unseelie wights capture Eoin. Jewel seeks refuge at High Darioneth where she meets the weathermasters and the Storm Lord Avalloc Maelstronnar-Stormbringer. She soon learns that Eoin is dead and finds solace with the people of High Darioneth until she learns that no one guards the Dome of Strang so decides it is time to learn about her roots.

THE WELL OF TEARS, the second entry in the Crowthistle Chronicles (see THE IRON TREE starring Jarred and Lilith), is a fabulous coming of age fantasy starring a wonderful heroine whose world is destroyed by the betrayal of a loved one. Eoin is an intriguing character though his time in the tale is short as the audience feels his ignominy of what he wrought. The story line is character driven with Jewel the focus of a fine fantasy quest to find out what truly flows in her blood.

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted January 16, 2006

Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted January 25, 2007

The beautiful maiden Jewel is the center of her parent's joy. She is the embodiment of their true love and she has grown up surrounded by peace and love in abundance.

Jewel's world cruelly shatters when her parents are suddenly killed and she and her uncle Eoin are forced to flee. Leaving the only home she has ever known, Jewel learns that her parents, caught in a tangle of a tragic prophecy, had hidden in the marshland for years to protect the secret knowledge that Jewel is the last of the line of the Janus Jaravhor, the dreaded sorcerer of Strang. That she might be the one person in the world who could unlock the mysterious Dome that is told to hold all of Janus's secrets. And that King Maolmordha now knows of her existence and will stop at nothing to find her.

Pain and loss follow and Jewel must make her way alone. Rescued by a traveling band of Weathermasters, exalted magicians who control the heavens for the rich and powerful, she is taken to High Darioneth and is accepted into this tightly knit community.

And not just accepted, but loved, for one of the young weathermasters beheld her and his heart was lost.

Jewel is left with the promise of true love and a powerful secret. But which path will she choose--and who will suffer if she makes the wrong choice?

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