Wheel of the Infinite (Hardcover)

by Martha Wells (Author) "Maskelle had been asking the Ancestors to stop the rain three days running now and, as usual, they weren't listening..." (more)
Key Phrases: bori club, first solar tower, western baray, Celestial One, Old Mali, Temple Master (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
With her previous novel The Death of the Necromancer, Wells established herself as a skilled fantasy world-builder with the ability to blend mystery and intrigue with plenty of buckle and swash. Here she departs from more familiar pseudohistorical European settings for the Celestial Empire, a land where life moves in eternal circles and the wishes of departed ancestors can have as much influence as the living on day-to-day life. Itinerant ex-priestess Maskelle was once the Voice of the Adversary, vessel to a spirit created by the Ancestors and given the task of punishing injustice and evil. When a false message from an interfering evil spirit led her to commit murder, Maskelle left the faith, only to return now, years later, answering the summons of the Celestial One. Someone--or something--has corrupted the great Wheel of the Infinite, distorting the sacred patterns which must be faithfully recreated at the end of each year to ensure the continual existence of the world. The only way to repair the pattern is to find the being responsible for disturbing it, and so the Adversary's Voice is needed once again, despite the past. Assisted by the swordsman Rian, a lordless bodyguard from distant Sitane, Maskelle uncovers an intricate plot whose roots were set into motion long ago--a plot responsible for the murder which forced her to leave the faith. Engaging characters and a convincing setting make this novel of ancient schemes and twisted magic an excellent and memorable read. --Charlene Brusso

From Publishers Weekly
Maskelle, the Voice of the Adversary, speaks for the power the Ancestors created to destroy evil. Since a false vision years ago, she has wandered in exile, but now the Celestial One, head of the Koshan Order of priests, has called her back to the capital city of Duvalpore. The yearly Rite of the Wheel of the Infinite, upon which the survival of the world depends, has been interrupted. An inexplicable black storm has appeared on the face of the Wheel, and if it is not removed before the Rite is completed the world could be utterly changed. With the help of an attractive foreign swordsman named Rian and a troupe of actors, Maskelle must lead the battle against the storm and the strange insurgents from another world who sent it. Maskelle and her allies face murderous water spirits, possessed corpses and cursed puppetsAand then the evil forces get to Duvalpore, and the real trouble begins. Murdered priests, magical assassins and the court favorite Lady Marada all add to the growing mystery; meanwhile, the Adversary, the source of Maskelle's power, seems strangely unreliable. Fast-paced, witty and inventive, Well's latest fantasy (after The Death of the Necromancer) is not only about saving the world; it is also about saving Maskelle from self-doubt and isolation. The vividly imagined Celestial Empire's peril is made all the more dramatic by the characters' sarcastic, reasonable conversations, and by their very human responses to inhuman dangers; there is real reading pleasure here. (June)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Eos; 1st edition (July 3, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380973359
• ISBN-13: 978-0380973354
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,303,257 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great World-Building, interesting protagonist, December 10, 2000

By	booksforabuck "BooksForABuck.com" (Dallas) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

In WHEEL OF THE INFINITE, Martha Wells has created a fascinating world and belief structure. Each year, the priests and 'voices' must create a microcosm of the world. The connection between the 'wheel' and the world is causal. If they are unable to recreate the world, chaos may result. Maskelle, voice of the Adversary, has lost faith in herself at the same time as the wheel is threatened by a powerful over-writing. Unless Maskelle can overcome her doubts, the world may be destroyed.

Maskelle is an intriguing protagonist. Her doubts are understandable as she killed her husband in response to a false prophecy. For the most part, however, the other characters lack the dimensions shown by Maskelle. The motivation of Maskelle's love interest, in particular, is unclear.

Still, Wells' writing moves the story along with a good mix of adventure, magic, and a world you'll want to return to. ....

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Another Winner from Ms. Wells, January 30, 2001

By	Maraich (PHOENIX, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

My first experience with Martha Well's work was Death of a Necromancer. I love her ability with character development and her wry sense of humor. Having read that book I quickly sought out her other titles and consumed them (City of Bones being my favorite). Wheel of the Infinite proved to be just as engaging as her previous works and more tightly written than Necromancer. Maskelle, Rian and Ristam are all very engaging, but even the less central characters are well developed and interesting. Add to that a fascinatingly new world view, with an intriguing religion, and Ms. Wells has succeeded in creating a truly engrossing tale.

17 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A rich, fast-moving, beautifully-detailed fantasy novel, July 30, 2000

By	Roger Mastrude "Roger Mastrude" (Capitola, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book immediately caught me, and I haven't been able to do much else until I finished it. Wheel of the Infinite is set in a world you could imagine as like Cambodia six hundred years ago, with a capital city like Ankor Wat, both an imperial and a religious capital. The temples and palaces of the city form an enormous diagram of magical power, symbolizing the true form of the world. As in other Martha Wells novels, though, magic is entirely real, and the correspondence between the layout of the city and temple rituals and the world flows in both directions--you can change the world by changing the symbols. The heroine Maskelle is an enormously powerful priestess, second in power in the religious hierarchy, whose major blunder in interpreting a prophetic dream ten years before the novel's action caused her disgrace and exile. Now the chief religious feels deeply disturbed about an upcoming, critical, ritual performed every hundred years, and has called her back to the capital. The character Maskelle is a fighter, sarcastic and with an awesome temper. She propels the action through a fast and very enjoyable read.