From Publishers Weekly

British author Hanley pens a romantic royal tale of intrigue in the tradition of King Arthur. Princess Torina, "eyes sparkling, hair wild," is the only child of hard-hearted warrior King Kareed. After the king defeats the peaceful monarch of Bellandra, he brings home the country's famous sword and gives to his daughter a magic crystal and Landen, the prince of Bellandra, to be Torina's slave. What begins as an uneasy friendship between Landen and Torina grows into a bond of trust when the girl saves his life due to her ability to see the future in the magic crystal. Years later the two become estranged when Landen informs Torina that her lover, Vesputo, is deceiving her and has only ambitions to the throne. Vesputo turns vicious, and both she and Landen are forced to leave the country. They separate, travel far and wide, and eventually find themselves major players in a complicated political plot with Vesputo at its center. This is a lengthy novel, and the narrative's vacillation between different locations and points of view becomes disorienting; the pacing also suffers from fits and starts. However, Hanley's characters are heroic and vulnerable, smart and hot-blooded. The romance rings true and the action sings with excitement: the climax literally comes down to the executioner's scaffold in the penultimate chapter. Fans of romance and the Round Table genre will be swept up in the plot. Ages 12-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Gr 6-10-Princess Torina is delighted when her father, the King of Archeld, returns from his conquest of the neighboring kingdom. He has brought home the magical Sword of Bellandra; a crystal globe that he gives to his child; and, to Torina's horror, he presents her with the defeated country's now-enslaved Prince Landen. She immediately frees the boy, but the orphan remains in the king's household and trains as a warrior. Over the next decade, Torina becomes a seer (the crystal stone allows her to divine the future), while Landen sets aside his pacifist upbringing and becomes a skillful soldier. Both assist the high king in his efforts to unite several small, rival countries and repel the attack of brutal invaders. This political setting sounds much like Arthurian England, but Archeld's royal court has a more Elizabethan tone, being rife with poison, intrigue, and hidden alliances. Hanley competently establishes a large cast of secondary characters and neatly weaves together the far-reaching threads of consequence spun out from the cruelty of the king and the mercy of the princess. Fans of Tamora Pierce's books should enjoy this long, sprawling novel, which is less wryly humorous than Pierce's work but is often more thoughtful about the outcomes of peace and warfare, aggression and compassion.-Beth Wright, Fletcher Free Library, Burlington, VT

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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