From Publishers Weekly
The Eternal Guardians possess powerful magic stones that not only make their bearers immortal but also enable them to travel through time and to alter history at whim. Originally there were four Guardians, but in this third book of the series (following The Fourth Guardian and The Lost Guardian), Elena, the Guardians' former leader, is lost and feared dead. Her son Raphael now wears her stone, coming into his own power under the streetwise tutelage of Thaddeus, the Guardian whose love of jazz nearly outweighs his resolve to use his stone for humanity's good. Violet, logical and intelligent, is the Guardian most skilled at wielding the power of the stones. Accompanying her is Tippi, thought to be at least half insane, who seems to have a native skill with the stones, though she doesn't have one of her ownAyet. When Raphael has a vision that his mother is still alive, the Guardians set off to find her before she can be manipulated into using her stone to help an ancient Wiccan group take over the world. Characters both major and minor are sacrificed without hesitation in this headlong rush of arcane intrigue and earthly violence. All the sound and fury ultimately is trumped, however, by the arrival of a deus ex machina that winds the various plot strands into a neat spool. Readers new to the series may have a tough time orienting during the first half of the narrative. Veteran fans, meanwhile, are likely to be the only readers who will relish staying the course with this awkwardly plotted, choppily told tale.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
Third in Cross's series (The Fourth Guardian, 1994; The Lost Guardian, 1995) about the guardians of the four Stones of Power, these actually being four pieces of a single god-wrought Stone that in Roman times was split among Corbo, Popillius, Drusilla, and Germanicus. The Stones confer enormous magical powers on their bearers, who naturally plot and scheme to acquire each other's Stones. Further complications are caused by a certain Ketoko, a sort of demon who can move through time. The present guardiansViolet, Raphael, and Thaddeus; previous keepers Elena and William are departed but, maybe, not dead--must solve the problem of a troublesome Visitation from another reality; and sometime archeologist ``Texas'' Jed Hinks discovers an 11th-century giant warrior who, entombed with a modern guitar, was killed by a German WWII grenade. A mediocre fantasy that owes little to logic and much to authorial whim; still, fans of the previous books will certainly want to investigate. --
Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
