Illumination

I finished reading this book about a month ago. And i was hesitant to write a review. I'm a good enough book shopper that i rarely buy things that I don't like, and so sometimes it is hard for me to tell if a book will stick to me, find a spot in my mind, claim it and keep it for its own. Tonight, in the shower, i found myself thinking about this book, and i realized it had done just that. It'd nested. It'd become one of _those_ books, the ones that you stick on your shelf and smile at when you pass by, the ones that make you look forward to a rainy day so you can reread them. I found its lack of fantasy tripe refreshing, no namby pamby elves, no dragons, no magic objects, none of the things that so many fantasy books rely on so they can avoid finding an original plot. I won't lie, it's a tough read, the situations and the characters are demanding -- they want your undivided attention. And they'll get it, too, if you give them a chance. It's one of those books. And that's a very good thing.

Terry McGarry has created a rich world in Eiden Myr, and filled it with fascinating characters. Her creations trancend what I have seen as a simplified, "cutesy" genre for the past decade or so, and return to it a level of quality that has been missing since we last left Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea. It is refreshing to read a Fantasy from an author who realizes that intelligent adults also need fantasies on their level; Illumination is a rich work of literature.I will add the Characters of Liath Illuminator, Heff the blacksmith, and Kazhe, the devoted to my list of unforgettables, alongside the Hobbits and Paul Atreides. This is a highly enjoyable journey. Join it.

I must say, I enjoyed `Illumination' very much! The writing was really excellent throughout and there were descriptive passages that just made me despairingly jealous. I wish I could write like that! The world-building--all that history just sitting there through most of the story. Excellent! Well done! I particularly liked how the things I questioned early on turned out to be the things that _should_ be questioned. And yet, the pieces were all integrated into a whole that made sense, that promised that this was a world with history, a society with a past and a depth that grounded the story so that I was willing to set small questions aside and continue trusting that things would come together as the story unfolded. Although there were some things I figured out quite early, there were still plenty of things that were unexpected and that gave added pleasure to the tale when they were revealed. What I particularly liked was the slow building of facts, laid layer on layer, the cultural truths revealed to the reader in synchronization with the unfolding of the world of Eiden Myr.Liath, the stubborn, was a great choice for the main character. She was clearly caught up in things too big, in things she didn't want to understand, in things that would tear her whole life apart and yet, because she was stubborn and determined she had to continue and by continuing eventually--though slowly and painfully and resisting most of the way--come to take a stand. Some of the small things I liked were the way the author handled women and pregnancy, the casual way that we discover certain things that are simply not a big deal in this world, that when there's fighting people talked of sending children away, but not women, the way everything works in threes and nines. As a first novel it was _more_ than impressive. I look forward to the sequels!!

Not since Tolkien's amazing works or Donaldson's depressing vision has there been a world created with such a depth of history as Ms McGarry has compiled for us in ILLUMINATION. The first book of a series, which I hope will be long and successful, gives us a glimpse into a world steeped in a tradition whose origin is lost to the past. Liath (whose very name--pronounced Lee-ah--presents a riddle), a very normal citizen of this world, will find herself struggling with these traditions when her very normal world fails her. Reconciling the truths she learns on her way to solving her personal problems leads her to challenge the society she once wanted desperately to protect. McGarry does not prop up her world with magic, making every sword have a will of its own or every ring grant omnipotence. The magic of the triad and the Ennead sits as a background, as natural as our belief in science--so much a part of everyday, and yet hardly given a thought. The magic of McGarry's world consists of no more than song, bookbinding, and illumination, and yet the influences the magic has on the daily life of her characters is so important that the reader is compelled to see the world of Eiden Myr through their eyes. From the colors of their clothing to the their view of the lay of the land, the author thought through the ramifications of her world so well, built such believable structure and richness in detail, that the reader can almost reach out and touch the soil of Eiden Myr. But ILLUMINATION is just the beginning. Many mysteries remain at the end of this first book, many plots have been seeded that do not come to fruition just yet. Patience is required as we await the next installation. But the joy of finding a new world--not just some simple faux-Middle Ages Europe filled with not-Celts riding almost-horses, but a world with a complex history--that will keep the reader digging for more answers and begging for more clues.

In the land of the Ennead, the triad consists of a binder, an illuminator, and a wordsmith. They are the basis of Society's good health. When the weather needs a little change, or when somebody is sick, or a birth is hard the triad eases the suffering and makes the person well again. When death is near the triad takes away the suffering so the soul can leave the body peacefully. Liath has trained all her life to be an illuminator but after she earns her badge, the light fails her. She travels to the home of the Ennead, the most powerful mages in the land, in the hopes that they can bring out her light. They fail but tell her that a renegade mage working in a triad can help her if he is brought back into the fold. She seeks Torrin but when she finds him he is nothing like the evil man the Ennead has described. He tells her things about her world that frightens her, but something about him attracts her even though she should feel nothing but revulsion for him. The time will come when Liath must separate the truth from the lies but when that happens will she have the courage of her convictions and act accordingly. ILLUMINATION is a rich and complex stand alone epic fantasy that mesmerizes the reader. The society that Terry McGarry describes feels so real that audiences will believe she has visited that world. The characters are so complex and colorful that nobody could doubt that these people once lived, loved and laughed. Thanks to the author's skill, we have a variation of the Atlantis legend subtly adapted for this fabulous fable.Harriet Klausner