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Searching... Monmouth Public Library | Fic (sf) Stackpole, M. 2005 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
The author of bestselling Star Wars novels follows his acclaimed original DragonCrown War Cycle with the first in a dazzling new trilogy. Stackpole's original fantasy novels have won fans and acclaim from coast to coast.
Author Notes
Michael A. Stackpole started his career as a role-playing and computer game designer before turning to writing. He lives in Arizona.
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Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Making maps can be gripping work, as shown in this sweeping novel of grand schemes, imperial machinations and brave heroes who seek new lands, the first in a new fantasy series from bestseller Stackpole (The Grand Crusade). Grandmaster Qiro Anturasi, the royal cartographer, makes the maps for the principality of Nalenyr. They're the most accurate, up-to-date maps available, and they've helped Imperial Prince Cyron of Nalenyr prosper. Cyron uses Qiro's skills to facilitate his campaign to unite the nine principalities into one empire. To this end, Cyron has made the grandmaster a prisoner in Nalenyr's capital city of Moriande. At the same time, Cyron funds expeditions for the younger generation of cartographers so that they can explore more of the unmapped world and bring back information and exotic goods. Of course, no tale of derring-do would be complete without intrigue, here supplied by fly-in-the-ointment Prince Pyrust of Deseirion, who has his own plans to be emperor of the nine. This satisfying story has it all-wild magic, the excitement of epic fantasy and the adventure of exploration in the age of sail. Agents, Howard Morhaim and Danny Baror. (Mar. 8) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Stackpole sets forth on his new cycle and 34th novel, following the conclusion of the DragonCrown War Cycle (Fortress Draconis, 2001, etc.). Atlas kicks off with a scene that promises well for the series and is a variation on the Takashi Shimura role as the wise older swordsman of The Seven Samurai. The old swordsman Moraven Tolo, escorting some pilgrims to Moriande, the grandest city in the world, meets three bandits on the very spot where he himself killed three bandits 81 years earlier. He bests the three new ones marvelously, then, rather than kill them, assigns them deeds that will allow them to live. He tells the bandit leader, Payynti, a woman, to go the School of Istor and become a xidantzu for nine years. Will we see her again? The age of black ice that held back discovery has ended and wild magic dimmed. Moriande and its Prince Cyron now depend on the Arturasis, the Royal Cartographers, to lead their ships into uncharted waters. Young Kele Arturasi, engaged to the beauteous but wily Majiata Phoesel, hopes to take her with him on a fresh voyage, but his foxy sister Nirati separates them, and Maj vows revenge. Meanwhile, Moraven's even older master, Jatan, sends him on a mission to Ixyll, a land warped by wild magic, to save the world. Much political stuff erupts in a babble of odd names that deserve a glossary before the great adventures begin and Kele's brawling brother Jorim sets sail in Stormwolf to test new cartographical inventions and fill in the blanks on the world map. Grandfather Qiro, chief cartographer, sends Kele off to survey the lost Spice Route, a dangerous job. Moraven, before going on his mission, takes on a student swordsman, Ciras. Ghastly murders take place while Qiro enters alternate worlds, his map coming alive as the invisible cartographer scrawls new routes and lands in blood. High melodrama empowers a cunning tale. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Stackpole's high fantasy cum seafaring tale proves all the more effective because its setting resembles the great age of European exploration. At that time, maps were often closely guarded secrets and were sometimes thought to have mysterious, even magical properties, as is really the case in Nalenyr, where the family of the royal cartographer enjoys a quasimonopoly in exploration that inevitably makes them rich but also attracts a formidable array of enemies, who come at them with both spells and steel. And now Keles and Jorim discover that their latest voyage threatens to release hitherto unknown magic that will threaten not only their lives and prospects but also the future of their civilization. Stackpole is, as usual, discursive but also deft and detailed in his worldbuilding. Moreover, the set of premises on which both magical and material aspects of that world are based is sufficiently original to keep fanciers of historical fantasy turning the pages industriously. --Roland Green Copyright 2005 Booklist
Library Journal Review
As official cartographers to the king of Nalenyr, members of the Anturasi family are responsible not only for drawing the maps that merchants use for their trade routes but also for exploring new lands and bringing back greater knowledge of the world. When brothers Keles and Jorim undertake exceptionally perilous journeys at the behest of their jealous and secretive grandfather, they discover more than anyone could hope for and unlock mysteries hidden away since the Cataclysm nearly caused the destruction of the world. The author of numerous fantasy and sf novels (Prince of Havoc; Lost Destiny), Stackpole takes a fresh approach to fantasy adventure with this series launch, which offers an original premise, intriguing characters, a richly detailed world, and a suitably ambiguous ending. Highly recommended. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.