The wizard Mauryl Gestaurien cast his greatest spell to create Tristen. Armed with a book of spells he can't read and a magic sword bearing the words "Truth" on one side and "Illusion" on the other, Tristen rides into battle for Cefwyn against the Shadow spawned by Hasufin, Mauryl's greatest enemy.In Fortress in the Eye of Time, C.J. Cherryh demonstrated that she can do something quite different from the tough-minded space operas of warrior elites and technobarons with which she made her name. No-one knows quite who, or what, young Tristen is, or was before; he drifts into the lands of Men when his master's, or creator's, immemorial citadel falls to the magic of his enemies, and becomes a crucial player in the game of thrones. Now young King Cefwyn has to use the victory that Tristen's off-hand magic and gallantry won him-- and the church is not happy either with Cefwyn's choice of half-elven bride or with his choice of friends. Sent from court with a brand new dukedom and a border province to make loyal, Tristen learns governance in the same ingenuous way that he learned human relationships--charm and intelligence see him through in spite of a distinct oddity of affect. This is a likeable and clever book in what is presumably set to become an extended series--it perhaps lacks an entire capacity to stand on its own. It shares with its predecessor a dreamy sense of the magical quite their own. --Roz Kaveney:

Genre: Fantasy