10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A rich and complex stand alone epic fantasy, July 31, 2001
In the land of the Ennead, the triad consists of a binder, an illuminator, and a wordsmith. They are the basis of Society's good health. When the weather needs a little change, or when somebody is sick, or a birth is hard the triad eases the suffering and makes the person well again. When death is near the triad takes away the suffering so the soul can leave the body peacefully. Liath has trained all her life to be an illuminator but after she earns her badge, the light fails her.
She travels to the home of the Ennead, the most powerful mages in the land, in the hopes that they can bring out her light. They fail but tell her that a renegade mage working in a triad can help her if he is brought back into the fold. She seeks Torrin but when she finds him he is nothing like the evil man the Ennead has described. He tells her things about her world that frightens her, but something about him attracts her even though she should feel nothing but revulsion for him. The time will come when Liath must separate the truth from the lies but when that happens will she have the courage of her convictions and act accordingly.
ILLUMINATION is a rich and complex stand alone epic fantasy that mesmerizes the reader. The society that Terry McGarry describes feels so real that audiences will believe she has visited that world. The characters are so complex and colorful that nobody could doubt that these people once lived, loved and laughed. Thanks to the author's skill, we have a variation of the Atlantis legend subtly adapted for this fabulous fable.
Harriet Klausner
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A World Underway, August 16, 2001
Not since Tolkien's amazing works or Donaldson's depressing vision has there been a world created with such a depth of history as Ms McGarry has compiled for us in ILLUMINATION. The first book of a series, which I hope will be long and successful, gives us a glimpse into a world steeped in a tradition whose origin is lost to the past. Liath (whose very name--pronounced Lee-ah--presents a riddle), a very normal citizen of this world, will find herself struggling with these traditions when her very normal world fails her. Reconciling the truths she learns on her way to solving her personal problems leads her to challenge the society she once wanted desperately to protect.
McGarry does not prop up her world with magic, making every sword have a will of its own or every ring grant omnipotence. The magic of the triad and the Ennead sits as a background, as natural as our belief in science--so much a part of everyday, and yet hardly given a thought. The magic of McGarry's world consists of no more than song, bookbinding, and illumination, and yet the influences the magic has on the daily life of her characters is so important that the reader is compelled to see the world of Eiden Myr through their eyes. From the colors of their clothing to the their view of the lay of the land, the author thought through the ramifications of her world so well, built such believable structure and richness in detail, that the reader can almost reach out and touch the soil of Eiden Myr.
But ILLUMINATION is just the beginning. Many mysteries remain at the end of this first book, many plots have been seeded that do not come to fruition just yet. Patience is required as we await the next installation. But the joy of finding a new world--not just some simple faux-Middle Ages Europe filled with not-Celts riding almost-horses, but a world with a complex history--that will keep the reader digging for more answers and begging for more clues.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, if Unintended, Find, September 5, 2004
I picked this book up on a fluke in the library, just randomly browsing and choosing books based on their covers (just to prove that old cliche wrong and kill some time between appointments). I was pleasantly surprised by this random choice.
Being something of a self-proclaimed fantasy dabbler, I had plenty of other novels in this genre to compare this story to and I was pleased to find that, while it stuck true to the theme of the fantasy vein, it didn't rely on the old stock characters and plots as much as others. There are no elves or dwarves or magic swords or rings like you find in so much other fantasy that's nothing more than blatant Tolkien-rip-off.
Instead, McGarry has given us a very interesting and strong (but not "she-male" quality) female character to lead us through this story that's more about discovery and understanding than gaining absolute power.
But don't worry, there's still plenty of plotting and "ruling the world" to keep you interested.
While there's a little bit of fluff here (meaning things that could have been eliminated without losing much of the plot) it was all very entertaining and the whole thing was quite enthralling by the middle of the story. There are a lot of characters to attempt to keep straight (though, for the most part, you can forget many of them without much guilt since the main characters are so striking and memorable as to not be forgotten).
The theory of three (or multiples of three) being needed for success in McGarry's version of sorcery is a nice, new twist on an old theme and keeps it fresh for the reader. In other words, you're not sitting there, reading it and going "God, this plot AGAIN??" which, unfortunately, seems to happen all too often in fantasy.
Liath is a character that's quite easy to relate to. Even though the chances are good none of us reading this are mages, we've all had the struggle for ascertaining truth amid a huge, confusing mess of people and "leaders" claiming to be right and figuring out our place in the world. This is Liath's main fight and it's interesting and completely believable. Hats off to Ms. McGarry for her abilities here. None of the other characters are *quite* as well developed, but they've got dimension and life that's their own and since they're memorable to me a few weeks after reading this, I think they're well enough developed as to be considered "good." They also avoid (for the most part, anyway) that whole "stock character" label. As in, somewhat original and not just a slight variation on something someone else has already done. Not ALL, mind you, but most.
The world-building is not extravagant, but nicely done. It's a soft, gentle hand that guides us through this realm that's so like our own, but just different enough to be fun. It's not grandiose and it's obvious the writer has much higher ambtions than just making a cool place for boring characters to live. The focus isn't on the setting, but it's given such fine attention as to be considered almost perfect as far as I'm concerned.
So, the whole review in one sentence?
Excellent showcase of originality, fun, and talent by a writer in a genre that's overpopulated with a "been there, done that" theme.
It's definitely worth the read, especially if you've been bored with what's on the bookshelves lately. Highly recommended to lifetime readers of fantasy, or those who are just starting to cut their literary teeth on the stuff.
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