The Demon in the Mirror

Short but sweet, the Demon in the Mirror begins the War of the Wizards Trilogy featuring the flame-haired Tiana Highrider, rapier wielding heroine extraordinaire. Much like Sonja, Tiana is brash and impulsive yet wise beyond the common perception of most. She is the foster daughter of a pirate captain named Caranga and captain of her own vessel, "Vixen." While she is a pirate captain, only the first chapter takes place on the open sea. The rest of Tiana's adventures take place inland searching for the dismembered body parts of the wizard Derramal. Her father Caranga also aids Tiana in her quest retrieving two of the pieces on quests of his own. While Demon in the Mirror is a rather short book (189 pages) it's absolutely filled with all the necessary action and adventure an epic fantasy tale embodies. My thoughts; Pros + Excellent characters all around. Tiana Highrider epitomizes the role of the female protagonist. Many other characters throughout the story are memorable despite only short appearances. The author's do an excellent job of introducing and describing each character and their role in the storyline. + Well written chapters with non-stop action. Sure to even keep those readers with a short attention span engaged in the story. Here's brief outline of what Tiana/Caranga confront in their quest; - poisoness serpents and lamia guards. - a cathedral of vampiric nuns. - an island of illusion wielding arachnids. - sky diving off of a cliff into a thunderstorm to literally "ride the lightning." - escaping capture and defeating a group of woodland savages. - single handedly defeating a ruthless band of brigands. - being buried alive in an undead infested island tomb. - exploring a long deserted city of living shadows. - evading and defeating three werehawk assassins. - infiltrating a deadly garden created by a genius wizard with a penchant for unique and dangerous plants. - single handedly turning the tide of a war between two countries through manipulation of a thunderstorm. - facing down two of the most powerful wizards in the realm. - deciphering the riddle of the demon in the mirror and ultimately defeating him. + Original and enthralling storyline. + Great cover art by the one and only Boris Vallejo. Cons - No map! A detailed and interesting tale such as Tiana's needs a map starting with book one. It's clear that the author's took the time to list and layout the world but just didn't include an illustration of it. Each chapter takes place in a different part of the world and without a map it's near impossible to understand exactly where Tiana is and why. If you're going to create a world as detailed as the one in the book you absolutely need to include a map. (Note: Book 3 - Web of the Spider, includes a full map of the land as well as a glossary and gazetteer. If you want to better understand and appreciate the story I would suggest having Book 3 as a reference before you begin reading Book 1.

This book is Vol 1 of the War of the Wizards. It starts with Tiana, warrior supreme as the front cover says, searching through the just captured Narokan ship for the reason why it was so heavily defended. She soon finds what she is supposed to (after dealing with a poisoned door knob, the cobras in the door, and a lamia), and the plot to free the sinister non-being, Lamarred is underway.Plenty of action involving vampire nuns, leaping off a mountain into a thunderstorm, being buried alive in a ghoul-haunted tomb and so on leads up to our hero's triumph.I must confess I found it hard to quite comprehend the nature of the non-being, but the authors in the Glossary at the back of Vol 3 admit to similar difficulties.If you like this sort of thing (as I do), you'll find this volume and the two succeeding ones very entertaining.