Waterdance

ISBN: 0-441-00613-2 Order from: Amazon.com

An average fantasy adventure with a strong female hero, a romantic element, magic, fighting and evil priests.

Reviewed by David on March 08, 1999

Genre: Fantasy (Magic, Romance, Martial Art)

Synopsis: Peri, a young woman of noble birth, raised with the love of horses and swords, is reluctant to accept a role as the Heir of Bregond. However, her weak but rare magical affinity for water make her a perfect candidate to unite the two countries of Bregond and Agrond, still recovering from the painful memories of the war with Sarkond.

Years ago, the mages of the two allied countries have erected a Barrier to stop Sarkond incursions into Bregond. When Peri, scouting ahead of her party, encounters a party of the dreaded Bone Hunters, the mage-priests of Sarkond, on the wrong side of the Barrier, she impulsively rescues their prisoner. However, the victim is not some innocent citizen of Bregond, but Atheris, a former mage-priest himself.

Subsequent adventures pit the young woman and her magic and swordmanship against the Sarkondish assasins, deadly prophecies, untrustworthy attraction, and old betrayals. The royal daughter of Agrond and Bregond may be the key to the fate of all three countries, but the right decision may cost Peri her life or her honor.

Full Review: The society of the three countries, the honorable but merciless Bregond Horse Clans, the more effette and cultured Agrond, and the arch-enemy, priest-dominated and desperately poor Sarkond, is well developed in this rapid-moving novel. The hints of prior history, plots and wars allow room for prequels or sequels.

The teenage Lady Perian, willful, fierce, sensual and impulsive, is not an unusual fantasy hero: she is "sexually liberated" but inexperienced, skilled enough in matrial arts to be working on new techniques, a mage, a healer, and an expert horsewoman. To avoid comlpete implausibility, Peri's fighting skills are not quite up to the level of the expert assasins sent against her and Atheris; and her magic, while considerable, is not overpowering.

The plot is rather meandering, with a number of romance elements related to the issues of distrust and growing sexual attraction between Peri and Atheris.

Peri alternates between overwhelming self-confidence, and powerless victimhood. This, along with the relatively common fantastic elements, make this book less exciting than its premise would indicate. One interesting touch is the realization that the evil Sarkond priesthood is actually driven more by the desperate plight of their people than by dreams of conquest.

Waterdance is an average fantasy novel, exciting at times but unexceptional.

Overall: 5; Plot: 5; Characters: 5.5; Style: 5; World-building: 6; Originality: 5.5;

ISBN: 0-441-00613-2 Order from: Amazon.com