Heartwood (TRICKSTERS GAME, 1)

After the darkest night of the year, imagine it never got brighter. Faced with the unimaginable, Darak sets out to both return balance to his world and save the brother who's caught up in the struggle. The characters are richly drawn, from the haunted Darak to the dark and oh so enticing Morgath. One of my biggest problems with fantasy novels is that the women seem to just be there to worry about the hero, hope he likes them, and get rescued. In Heartwood, Griane is as strong as Darak. They're delightful characters to revisit again and again. Heartwood was a fantastic read.

The best fantasy writers not only invite us to explore the magical, but guide us along the way with credible, world-building skills and sympathetic, recognizable characters that engage our imagination, but never tax our belief. Such is the case with Barbara Campbell's HEARTWOOD. I read this book over the course of a weekend in spring but for all I knew, I was not sitting in my backyard with the drone of cars and leaf-blowers and other modern "conveniences" competing for my attention. Instead, I was transported to the land of the Oak-Lord and the Holly-Lord where a Midwinter battle determined the advent of spring or the curse of a world locked in the frozen grip of winter. And it is "heart" that is the key word in this novel. While the fantastic descriptions will delight and frighten, the characters, from the troubled hero, Darak, to the wise, but aging Tree-Father,Struath, to the sadistic villain Morgath --all-- are "known" to us on some level. And that, in my opinion, is this author's greatest gift. Even the god Trickster, cunning, conceited and unpredictable as he is, reminds us of the times we wonder if our Maker doesn't have an unusual sense of humor. If you want to experience a seemingly lost world where the changing seasons are greeted with hope, awe and wonder versus large appliance sales, read HEARTWOOD. I can't wait for Ms. Campbell's next book.

Heartwood offers us a world where magic, shamans, spirits and gods are not metaphors to explain reality, but ARE reality. Heartwood tells the story of the spring that will not come because the battle between the sacred trees of the people has not gone according to custom. The balance of nature is off and a brave band of folk go off into the endless winter to see if they can set it right. On their journey they meet gods who walk the earth: a delightful Trickster, whose charm and sense of humor can almost make you forget the mischief he makes; a villain who can shape-shift by taking over the bodies of any living creature; a spirit-guide who offers assistance to the aging shaman. These classic elements of so many earth-based religions are here treated as reality, with sometimes terrifying...and always exciting...consequences.

The tribe of the Oak has suffered tremendous losses due to plague but they still intend to observe the midwinter ritual where the Oak-Lord and the Holly-lord battle. Oak defeats Holly so that spring will arrive. Darak the hunter is not looking forward to this ritual because his beloved brother Tinnean will become Tree-Brother, apprenticed to the Tree father and will owe his allegiance to his master instead of his family. When it is time to travel to the dimension where the First Forrest lives, Darak refuses to join them and witness the loss of the brother who will be part of yet separate from the tribe. Something goes wrong at the ritual and the Oak and Tinnean disappear. Tinnean's body is inhabited by the Holly-Lord while the Oak and Darak's brother are in the land of Chaos, put there by the spirit of Morgoth, the evil Tree-Father, who held the position before Strauth killed him. Darak and his allies prepare to do battle to bring Tinnean back into his body and finish the rite so spring will return. Think Jean Auel and Judith Tarr and readers will have some idea what HEARTWOOD is all about. The setting feels prehistoric with magic an everyday occurrence. Darak is a strong stubborn man who loves deeply and wants to keep those he cares about close to him safe; when his brother is in danger he is willing sacrifices himself to free his sibling from the enemy. Barbara Campbell creates characters readers will care about and produces a storyline that grabs reader interest. Harriet Klausner