Tyrant Moon
Elaine Corvidae
NovelBooks,Inc.
ISBN: 1-931696-56-X

Thraxis is a somewhat uptight wizard who has lost his powers to a curse, and part of a group of wizards dedicated (more or less) to non-violence and knowledge. Arrow is the warrior champion of her clan, out for blood, glory, and property (more or less). Can two such different people have any hope of even working together to stop a rogue wizard, much less any sort of a future relationship?

Elaine Corvidae does an excellent job in setting up the conflict in this novel, and keeps up the pressure all the way through the book. Her characters are believable, and even better, identifiable. Through her own magic, the author allows the reader to feel just as frustrated as her characters in never quite being able to believe that somehow they’ll make it through the trials ahead. And although other characters weave in and out of the story, we never lose the focus on Arrow and Thraxis.

What sets this book apart from many others is that her characters are consistent with their own histories. Yes, they do change by the end of the book—it would be an awfully boring book if they didn’t—but how they change is part of who they are. It’s a logical journey from beginning to end, as if the author had considered all possibilities and found the only path out of the maze of potential obstacles. This is one to keep and read again and again over the years. —Reviewed by Ann M. Beardsley

Available from NBI, Barnes & Noble and  Amazon.com.