"Amusing journey into wizard-hood"
In Ethshar of the Rocks, apprentice wizard Kilisha returns
to the shop after collecting ingredients for her next
lesson when she realizes a disaster has occurred. The
shell of her mentor Ithanalin the Wise lies perfectly still
as if he has been turned into a statue. Using a magic
mirror that absorbed much of Ithanalin's memory she learns
what happened to her teacher. He was working on a spell
when someone knocked on his door. When he went to answer,
he tripped over a spriggan and lost control of the spell
sending his essence among the nearby inanimate objects.
The knocker opened the door letting out the fleeing rug and
much of the furniture. Kilisha begins an effort to gather up the animated
inanimate objects so that she can get help from the Wizards
Guild in performing a restorative spell. However, because
of rebellion elsewhere, Kilisha receives little aid from
the guild so she must depend on her own resources to gather
the now living artifacts, amuse a spriggan that just wants
to have fun, and hopefully with fingers crossed bring back
her teacher to his former self. This amusing fantasy is a delightful tale that showcases
Lawrence Watt-Evans' ability to cast a spell on his
audience. The entertaining story line is an action-packed
journey into wizard-hood that teens will especially like,
as there is plenty of cotton candy to sweeten the tale.
Kilisha is a wonderful heroine who faces the
responsibilities thrown on her with trembling fear, but
performs her duties majestically. The support cast,
especially the spriggan, adds to a gentle frolic for genre
fans. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted December 6, 2002
|
