City of Jade (Mithgar)

What can I say McKiernan hits it out of the ballpark once again. I have loved all his books and this one is on my love list as well. Mithgar is the world I would love to live in, if I were a dwarf, of course.

Dennis Mckiernan has once again crafted a well written story that manages to waft the reader to the land of Mithgar and enthrall and entertain the reader for the length of time it takes to read the novel.

City of Jade (2008) is the sixteenth fantasy work of the Mithgar series, following Red Slippers. In the previous volume, various aspects of Mithgar culture were revealed in these stories about the famous inn and bordello at Port Arbalin. In this novel, Bair -- a shapeshifting Baeron and the Dawn Rider -- has a face-to-face conversation with Adon. Most people are slightly afraid -- or terrified -- at talking to a god, but not Bair. He convinces Adon to lift some divine Bans, including the blockages on the paths between the planes. Aravan accompanies Bair in his travels to meet the god and then returns with him to Mithgar. They first call upon Riatha -- Bair's mother -- to tell her that she can now visit her family on the Adonar plane. Then they head toward the crossing leading to Vadaria, the plane of mages. Alamar -- the chief mage -- is awaiting their arrival. He has been busy organizing a warparty of mages. He is also looking forward to the reunion of his daughter Aylis with her beloved Aravan. Pipper Willowbank and Binkton Windrow are young Warrows. Pip is fourteen summers old and Bink is three moons older. They are orphans and live with their Uncle -- actually their great uncle -- Arley Willowbank. He trains them in tricks of entertainment and larceny. Nunde is smoldering in his tower hidden deep in the Grimwalls. He blames his misfortunes on Aravan, that misbegotten dolf. He wants vengeance, but he cannot find a suitable way to punish the dolf. Then he comes up with a fiendish plan. In this story, Bair shifts to Hunter -- his Draega form -- and Aravan becomes Valke -- a falcon -- as they cross over to Neddra. Then they slip quietly across the countryside to the Vadaria crossing. They carefully avoid alerting the Spawn within the black castle at the junction of the four interplanal paths. Bair and Aravan have hostile intentions against the dark folk within the castle. When they return, it will be with small armies. But now they need to visit Alamar's cabin in the mountains of Vadaria to complete their plans. At the cabin, Aravan is reunited with his beloved Aylis. He had thought her dead for millennia. The assembled mages enjoy teasing the lovers upon their reunion. This tale involves the assault on the dark castle and its black mages. Then it continues with a journey to the hiding place of the elvenship Eroean and the launching of the ship. The rest of the book is mostly about the voyages of the Eroean and its crew. Aravan and his crew eventually cross the path of the buccans. Pip and Bink are in dire straits at the time. But they soon become scouts within the Eroean warband. The author is probably the truest inheritor of the Tolkien tradition. Others write in a similar style, but McKiernan captures the excitement and magic of the Tolkien's works. It probably helps that this author was also strongly influenced by the old fairy tales. This story contains few innovative plot elements. Indeed, some portions

Legend talks of a City of Jade hidden in the jungle. Probably more likely myth than a real lost city, as no one has ever returned from the quest of finding this fabled locale though many have tried across Mithgar. In the Final Year of the Fifth Era, with the Dragonstone War ended when the Black Mage God Gyphon was slain by the elf, passages have opened between realms while wards have been used to close those leading to and from the the creations of the late Dark God. In that seemingly peaceful environment, Elven Captain Aravan learns of the City of Jade and wants to find this precious legend. He brings together a crew of elves, dwarfs, men, and other species to sail into the sunset on the fabled Eroean. Accompanying him on his quest is his beloved mage, Aylis the seer. Even without Aylis' predictions all of the crew of the Eroean knows the journey will be dangerous and many if any will not return; they volunteer because the lure of adventure is greater than their safety; most are used to a world at war. Few perhaps would have signed on if they knew the dark necromantic sorcerer Nunde seeking vengeance is lurking everywhere they are sailing. As explained in the "afterword" to this engaging fantasy, the events in the CITY OF JADE occur at the end of SILVER WOLF, BLACK FALCON and the beginning of the RED SLIPPERS: MORE TALES OF MITHGAR anthology. The thriller starts off as more of an interrelated anthology catching up with what has happened to the good, the bad, and the nasty since the demise of the Dark God. Once the crew is set and prepares to sail, the story line converges into an entertaining adventure tale with a fuming vengeful Nunde stalking the Eroean over each horizon. Fans will relish this terrific tweener while new readers should first peruse SILVER WOLF, BLACK FALCON to better comprehend the citations to the war. Harriet Klausner