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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very enjoyable prequel,
By
This review is from: The Usurper's Crown: A Novel of Isavalta (Hardcover)
I was reluctant to read this when I learnt that it was the story of Avanasy and Medeoan... there are things which we already know, but as is revealed, knowing of them and knowing the WHY of them are completely different. The tradgedy is in Medeoans blind love for Kasha and his complete contempt for it.. We learn what can make Medeoan so completely ruthless, and how it happened... Absolutely fascinating and VERY Enjoyable.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Isavaltan History,
By
This review is from: The Usurper's Crown: A Novel of Isavalta (Hardcover)
The Usurper's Crown is the second novel written in the Isavalta series, following A Sorcerer's Treason, but is the first in internal order. In the previous volume, Bridget Lederle is a lighthouse keeper on Sand Island on the shore of Lake Superior in 1899. Her father and her love-child have died, she has never know her mother, and she is estranged from her aunt. Moreover, she has been accused of her infant daughter's death and shunned by most of the town of Bayfield. Then she rescues a stranger from drowning and he convinces her to return to Isavalta with him.In this novel, Ingrid Loftfield follows her sister Grace to a meeting with a drowned man's ghost on the shores of Sand Island in 1872. When Ingrid separates the ghost from Grace, she is saved from the ghost's wrath only by Avan, a foreigner living on the island as a fisherman. They return Grace to the family home, facing hostility from Ingrid's father, mother and brother, but later find a way to meet and exchange stories. Avan is really Avanasy Finorasyn Gorianaiavin, a sorcerer and former tutor of Medeon, a powerful sorceress and the High Princess of Isavalta. Medeon had fallen in love with Prince Kacha of Hastinapura and had become betrothed to him. However, Avanasy had found evidence of falsehood in Kacha and warned Medeon, but she believed Kacha, banished Avanasy and married Kacha. Now he is in exile, but still can perform sorcery with great effort and subsequent extreme weariness, so he struggles to weave a net to overcome the ghost and thus free Grace from its power. Meanwhile, in Isavalta, Medeon's parents, the Emperor and his consort, have died of a mysterious illness and she has become Empress, with Kacha as her consort. While looking for a cure for his withered hand, Medeon has accidentally discovered Kacha's treachery and then she looks for allies to escape him, among whom are Peshek, Captain of the Imperial House Guards, Bakhar, Keeper of the Imperial Godhouse, and Iakush, Lord Sorcerer of Isavalta. Medeon manages to flee to Hung Tse, but Kacha detects Iskush's duplicity and kills him, yet Iskush uses his own death to bring warning to Avanasy. When Avanasy prepares to leave for Isavalta, Ingrid insists on accompanying him. On the voyage there, she finds that the touch of the ghost has allowed her to see into the spirit world and to separate her spirit from her body. She is drawn away from the boat through the Land of Death and Spirit. She encounters the Vixen along the path, but is allowed to continue to the house of Baba Yaga, where she and Avanasy's spirit confront the witch and refuse the demand to assist in the recovery of something stolen. When Kacha discovers that Medeon has fled, he announces that she is pregnant and in confinement, for it is very difficult for a sorceress to bear a child. He has replaced all Medeon's loyal maids in waiting and Chekhania, the first among these ladies, is his minion, scripting notes in Medeon's hand to authorize his actions. Kacha is fairly well pleased that Medeon has fled, but still has the army search for a mad woman who believes she is the empress. This novel is the backstory for A Sorcerer's Treason. Bridget is Ingrid's daughter by Avanasy and so has great powers. Another novel, The Firebird's Vengeance, is planned to complete the trilogy. One would presume that it will be a sequel to this novel. This series takes place along the shores of Lake Superior within our timeline, but also in a mythical world wherein the analogs of Russia, China, and India content for supremacy through force of arms and magic. With both Isavalta and Hastinapura taking arms against Hung Tse, the Nine Elders summon one of the four great protectors, the Firebird. Recommended for Zettel fans and anyone who enjoys tales of exotic cultures, political intrigue, and unusual magic.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Isvalta of the past,
By
This review is from: The Usurper's Crown: A Novel of Isavalta (Isavalta, Book 2) (Paperback)
I must say, that I at first was disappointed, when I learned that this book was a prequel to "A Sorcerer's Treason". Now though I would not have missed it. It is true that you know how things between Avanasy, Ingrid and Medeoan will end, but still this time you get the details and get to know the characters on their own accord.So I ended up liking the book, it's well written, and I think "The land of death and spirit" are a very interesting mythology. But I do hope that the last book in the series takes us back to Bridget.
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