"a great read!"
We begin in Mudflat, Washington where our heroine, Claire,
is hiding behind a dumpster in a Seattle alley. Claire is
an astrologer who has occasional jobs and a wonderful sense
of herself. She is being followed by Darrel Decko who
wants her to make star charts for the races, sports games,
etc. so that he and his friends (not nice friends, by the
way) can become rich. He is very persistent and she is not
about to do what he wants. Claire takes off camping with some friends to avoid
Darrell. This is not one of her better ideas since
although camping sounds good, Claire is not an outdoors
person and she quickly becomes bored with her friends and
the whole camping game. She takes off on a search for
COFFEE, a shower and a motel. Her sense of direction
leaves a lot to be desired and she immediately becomes
totally lost. She is wandering around in a stream when a
good-looking guy comes up behind her with a knife. He is dressed somewhat like a barbarian and Claire figures
she has wandered into either a Renaissance Faire or
Shakespeare Fest. Wrong. Totally wrong. She has actually
gone back in time to a land of Tarvik (the knife guy) and
his father Korvat. Tarvik tosses her onto his horse
(Claire HATES horses!) and takes her to his camp where he
finds her food and shelter. The next day he travels back to
his home with his guards and Claire in tow. Claire, now known as Stargazer in Tarvik's time, becomes
involved in a palace plot, a Barbariwan hunk who is
infatuated with her, too many horses to her liking and a
wing-riding priestess. In the end, she does what she must. Claire, is a very independent heroine on the run from some
unsavory characters and heads right into chaos in another
time. She leaves her house in the care of the troll living
in her basement and goes off in search of peace and quiet,
what she finds is anything but. She meets a very ugly
ruler, his hunky son, a priestess who flies and a stable
hand full of knowledge that may not be exactly what he
seems. The cast of supporting characters makes this story a
hit. Since this is the first of a series I can't wait to see
what Claire and her band of barbarians are up to next!
This may be one of the most unique book titles I have ever
run across. What is Tarbaby? You'll just have to read it
and see!
Reviewed by Nancy Eriksen
Posted June 18, 2008
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