Mother of Winter

Five years have passed since Californians Gil Patterson and Rudy Solis were transported to the alternate Universe that includes the Keep of Dare. There they helped the wizard Ingold Inglorion learn the true nature of the strange creatures known as The Dark, and find a way to banish them from the world. Gil is now a Royal Guardswoman and Ingold's lover, and Rudy is a wizard-in-training and the father-to-be of Queen Miralde's child. But if the refugees who dwell in the Keep believed that the departure of the Dark would allow them to return to their homes in Gae and the other cities around it, they're doomed to disappointment. The world is growing colder, as Gil predicted it would, and refugeeing to the warmer lands in the south is impossible owing to the plague and civil war that has broken out there. And though the Keep was designed to be self-sufficient, it turns out that the increasing chill has awakened a new enemy--what Rudy calls "Los Tres Geezers": three nonhuman, unbelievably ancient wizards dwelling in an ice cave deep under a mountain far to the south. Their spells, designed to destroy humanity so that the Mother of Winter can awake and reseed the world with life similar to themselves, not only cause interference in the wizardly communications net but have inspired the growth of a weird fungus known as slunch, which kills conventional vegetation and causes mutations in any living thing that eats it. Then word comes that the other surviving wizards in their isolated keep are under siege by the mutants and can offer no help. As Gil, Ingold, and Rudy gradually learn the truth about the slunch and the "Geezers," it becomes clear that another perilous journey into the ravaged southern lands will be necessary: Ingold must find the foe, face them on their own ground, and defeat them, or the world will grow even colder than Gil had predicted, while Rudy--the only remaining wizard who's free to act--must stay behind to protect Minalde and the other people of the Keep. This sequel to Hambly's Darwath Trilogy Time of the Dark, The Walls of Air (The Darwath Trilogy Ser), Armies of Daylight (Darwath Trilogy)) is packed with chills (real and metaphorical), thrills, fascinating three-dimesional characters (Ingold is strongly reminscent of Tolkien's Gandalf), suspense, and a vividly imagined world unlike any other I've ever encountered in fantasy: not only has it suffered what is baldly described as a "collapse of civilization," but it's monotheistic (the Church of the Straight God is in fact a constant threat to the wizarding community, which it has never fully accepted), the northern kingdom at least is sexually egalitarian (Gil is hardly the only female warrior in the Guards), and despite its Medieval trappings, it seems to be geographically closer to the New World than to the Old, with wolverines, porcupines, raccoons, bison, coyotes, antelope, and other distinctly American creatures roaming its wilds. (There are also dire wolves, mammoths, theria

This is a great and entertaining book! The Characters all have well thought out personalities. The same goes for the plot. I enjoyed the book very much.

This return to the world of Darwath is even colder than the the original trilogy, as the ice age predicted by Gil has truly begun to descend. Not only is the weather growing colder but everything is more hostile as mysterious slunch grows over all ground, gradually destroying every plant it comes into contact with and being basically indestructible. The remnants of the realm are still sheltered within the (hopefully) impregnable Keep of Dare and while Rudy attempts to help his love Minalde hold the Keep together in the face of divergent factions Gil and Ingold Inglorien search for the Mother of Winter, the cause of these recent ills. As with Hambly's other works I especially appreciated the gritty realism. This is no fairy tale world where everybody lives lives just as good as we do in 21st century America (but they happen to have kings, swords, dragons, and magic). Perhaps this realism is achieved because two of the characters are native Californians who can directly comment on the differences to their former life, and suggest improvements (such as in sanitation). Furthermore, while the characters we follow are well connected the political situation isn't one of absolute control so there is a healthy bit of uncertainty about what will happen, even if proper solutions are discovered. No longer even considering returning to Earth, Gil and Rudy have fully settled into life in the keep. I only recently started reading the series, but I already feel as though these are old friends along with Ingold and Minalde. In some ways the book is a bit of a mystery, as you're not sure what is going on in the first pages, but you follow the efforts of Gil, Ingold, Rudy, Minalde, and Minalde's now five-year-old son Tir to unravel the mystery of the slunch and the keep itself. If you have read the original Darwath Trilogy this is indeed a worthy successor that will keep your attention to the last page. If you've not read the first books then please start with them: The Time of the Dark, The Walls of Air, and The Armies of Daylight. I would also recomend Hambly's Windrose Chronicles (for more Americans crossing into fantasy realms), and her Sun Wolf and Star Hawk trilogy.

I absolutely loved the original trilogy and have read it multiple times. Just when you thought there wouldn't be more to add to this series Hambly pumps out another good story. This is a book in and of its own...it isn't necessary to read the earlier books. But there are reoccuring characters from the earlier books and having read those made this more enjoyable.

This continuation of the adventures of Ingold, Gil and Rudy takes place approximately 5 years after the defeat of the Dark. If you wondered what happened to our heros, this answers many of the questions. The interplay between the characters makes them more real than most characters in books. You just know they are fictional, usually, but not in Hambly's books. They have real emotions and they react in a truly human manner. Ingold may be Archmage and seemingly all-powerful, but he's human, too. He can be happy or excited or angry or hurt just like anyone else. Gil is just as lost and confused as anyone when dealing with an unknown element--in this case, her feelings for Ingold--a really human relationship which her background has not prepared her for. I can hardly wait for the next adventure of our favorite Archmage and his partners.