When trouble stirs, fate brings unlooked for solutions!
The Bard's Blade (The Sorcerer's Song #1) by Brian D. Anderson
A slow start had me wondering. Two lands sealed off from each other, Vylari and Lamoria. Common knowledge was that "once you passed beyond the border of Vylari, you could never find your way home—that was what protected the people from the threat of Lamoria, and prevented any who might wish to leave from divulging Vylari’s location." Yet, a mysterious stranger brings a warning to Vylari for Lem's mother Illorial. That's when the fatherless Lem finds out more about his mother and entertains thoughts about where his father might have come from. Lem was "the only one whose mother crossed into Lamoria.”
Injured by crossing the barrier, the stranger possesses a letter addressed to Illorial predicting danger for Lamoria. A seer has told that the "only hope rests with one who dwells [in Vylaru]—a child enormous of talent, with special gifts that have the power to hold back the darkness." A person connected to Illorial and that "they are a bridge between" the two worlds.
Lem, as Illorial's son and a talented musician determines to follow the warning and breaks through the barrier into Lamoria. His love, Mariyah accompanied by Lem's uncle Shemi stubbornly follows him.
Of course this ends in disaster in different ways for all. Trying to fit into a land where you know nothing of the religious strictures leads to disaster and enslavement for Mariyah and Shemi whilst Lem finds himself trapped in more ways than one.
A somewhat familiar trope. I must admit it took a while for the storyline to find its mojo. When it did, I was hooked!
A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley
****
A slow start had me wondering. Two lands sealed off from each other, Vylari and Lamoria. Common knowledge was that "once you passed beyond the border of Vylari, you could never find your way home—that was what protected the people from the threat of Lamoria, and prevented any who might wish to leave from divulging Vylari’s location." Yet, a mysterious stranger brings a warning to Vylari for Lem's mother Illorial. That's when the fatherless Lem finds out more about his mother and entertains thoughts about where his father might have come from. Lem was "the only one whose mother crossed into Lamoria.”
Injured by crossing the barrier, the stranger possesses a letter addressed to Illorial predicting danger for Lamoria. A seer has told that the "only hope rests with one who dwells [in Vylaru]—a child enormous of talent, with special gifts that have the power to hold back the darkness." A person connected to Illorial and that "they are a bridge between" the two worlds.
Lem, as Illorial's son and a talented musician determines to follow the warning and breaks through the barrier into Lamoria. His love, Mariyah accompanied by Lem's uncle Shemi stubbornly follows him.
Of course this ends in disaster in different ways for all. Trying to fit into a land where you know nothing of the religious strictures leads to disaster and enslavement for Mariyah and Shemi whilst Lem finds himself trapped in more ways than one.
A somewhat familiar trope. I must admit it took a while for the storyline to find its mojo. When it did, I was hooked!
A Macmillan-Tor/Forge ARC via NetGalley
****
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