celticfrogreviews

Daughter of Light
Morgan L. Busse
Marcher Lord Press

Daughter of Light is a fantasy novel by Morgan Busse. Rowen is the adopted daughter of a respected soldier. For his sake she is tolerated in their tiny community. Her father dies and Rowen is more alone than ever before with only one woman who dares to be be her friend. It takes a mysterious illness to build a bridge between Rowen and the people of the village. She is almost grateful for the sickness, but it leaves a white mark on her hand. Rowen soon learns that she has powers to see inside of another person.

She is cast out of the village and decides to travel to the White City where she has been offered a position as bodyguard. Rowen’s experiences on the road only strengthen her determination not to allow anyone to know of her new and frightening powers. Only a thin leather glove stands between her and discovery.

The White City offers more than Rowen expects with people who want to be her friend. If only she could trust herself around them. What Rowen doesn’t know is that she is more than she thinks she is and her powers come at a time of great need.

This is one of those rare books that I finished and immediately wanted to start over. The characters are well drawn with enough flaws to make them lovable and believable. The world that Mogan Busse creates is similar enough to ours to make us feel at home, but with her own twists and turns. My favourite is her take on the divine sacrifice.

As with all Marcher Lord Press books there is a strong spiritual aspect to the story, but as always it is not allowed to detract from the power of the book. I would recommend this book to anyone.

You can buy the book at Amazon.com or from Marcher Lord Press

Bottspyder
Malcolm Brown

Bottspyder is a novel by Malcolm Brown. Bottspyder is the offspring of the ambitious wife of the Duke of Yeovold and a demon named Darren. (Mephistopheles was busy.) The King of the land has died and left an infant to succeed him and the Duke of Yeovold as the Lord Protector. She has Bottspyder as a way to increase her power, but immediately regrets it and decides to dedicate her life to opposing the demonic child. There are other children around who are less demonic as well as a magician, a witch and a terrifying Mother Superior. Add in some dwarves, both union and non-union and a company of players and you have a cast of characters for a memorable romp.

Malcom’s style is somewhere between Terry Pratchet and Mervyn Peake. There are elements of comedy and tragedy mixed with a liberal hand. He never lets either get in the way of telling a great story. Characters change sides, get lost and found and lost again on the way to the final show down.

I very much enjoyed this book in which the story is crafted with as much care and art as the cover illustration. None of the characters are cardboard cutouts. The villains have hints of a heart and the heroes are tested to the edge of their endurance. I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good tale.

You can buy this book at Malcolm’s page at Lulu.com