The Turning Tide

As King William of Crosspointe secretly prepares for the immanent war with the Jutras (we learn a little of these preparations in The Black Ship), King William issues a task for his son Ryland. A most heinous task that will devastate the trust he has with his best friends, Fairlie and Shaye. Ryland is torn between his loyalties to his friends and his loyalty to his father. Sadly Ryland's obligations lie with the king, no matter that this incident will tear him apart. But what the completion of this task creates is something that no one would have ever predicted. It proves just how powerful love is. The king may have thought he was doing the right thing for Crosspointe, even if the deed is a horrendous one, but he never expected that deed to create something even more powerful and frightening. I was captivated from page one of The Turning Tide. The story starts off establishing the relationships between Fairlie, Shaye and Ryland. You get a strong sense of how close they are, and even learn that Shaye and Fairlie love each other. But shortly after Shaye reveals his love and Fairlie realizes that she returns that love, that tragic, yet amazing incident occurs. And wow, what a moment of reading that was for me. Intense. Engaging. Tear-inducing! I thought, yes, this is it! This is why I love reading. To have moments that just grab hold and suck you in, with either tears or laughter. When I first read The Cipher, I must admit that the world confused me a bit with the magical substance found in the waters of the Inland Sea called sylveth, and its uses and the majick created from it, and the ciphers, but as I read, it became more intriguing, and of course more understandable. I think this third installment in the Crosspointe Chronicles is an amazing addition. Each book adds something new, expanding the world, further enhancing the already vivid details. The sylveth adds such a unique spin on this magical world, something so terribly feared, is also the secret that keeps Crosspointe safe. And we learn so much more about sylveth, shedding a whole new light on the majickal substance. Encompassing the pages of The Turning Tide is another fascinating and compelling spawn-filled tale of politics, friendship, love and a whole lot of betrayal! I am eager to read The Hollow Crown to see how the incidents in The Turning Tide affect Crosspointe and its people. The Turning Tide is an apt title, for the tides were most certainly turned! Happy Reading!

I like the way Diana Pharaoh Francis has created a world and a story line that are all moving forward but with each book completely separate. The characters, and the hardships they endure in this book set is a solid plot made this book very enjoyable to read.

In this continuing saga we learn more about the intricacies of the royal family and how it relates to the people of Crossepointe. Not all is sunshine and servants in the palace and being royal could get you killed ... and has. Then there's the guilds and their scheming, manipulating, self-centered plans to screw everything and everyone for as much as possible before the world goes to *****! You find yourself hoping your favorite character isn't bumped-off or deformed during the story and you'll mourn along with the characters when decent folks get the axe... and you'll start up a bad guy hit list and wish you had powers of your own, they sooo need to get it!!!

I first read Cipher (the first book in this series) less than a week ago. I found the story to be engrossing and the characters to be so vivid. I've since read all three books currently available from this series and have loved them all. The real humanity of all the characters just amaze me. I have mourned the death of villains and worried about the success of hero's more in this series than any I've ever read. This book makes a new art of the shades of gray between right and wrong.

The Turning Tide is a simply fabulous book! If you enjoyed any of Francis' other works, or books by Patricia Briggs, Patrick O'Brien, Katherine Kurtz, or even Charles Dickens, you'll love The Turning Tide. The plot was full of twists and turns without becoming complex for its own sake, and there was not a single wasted detail. Francis' characters are interesting, sympathetic, intelligent, complex, and believable. Fairley was generous, intense, slightly naïve, and such a loving fighter for the things she believed in; she surpassed all the known stereotypes of metalsmiths and women in typically men's roles, that she will be one of those characters I remember for a long, long time. Shaye was intriguing: eminently capable with his tongue, his political connections, and his majick, he was still extremely vulnerable to his fear of rejection and his dogged determination. I was surprised by Ryland, who did things I found utterly despicable but was still completely sympathetic to me throughout because he did them for all the right reasons. King William wrung my heart for many of the same reasons Ryland did, although even more so because of the recent tragedies in his own life. The world of all of the Crosspointe novels is rich and vivid, and The Turning Tide continues to deepen and expand the beauty of both the visual elements of the milieu and the culture of Crosspointe until the 'setting' is more than just scenery, but a living, breathing character unto itself. The inner workings of the Rampling castle were sumptuous; the Kalpestrine and Merstone Island (home to the majicars) were eerie and awe-inspiring; and the Maida (temple) of Chayos was not only mystical but the style with which Francis wrote the scenes within the Maida and involving Chayos' priestesses were absolutely exquisite prose--intentionally and successfully evoking a wide range of emotions. More than just amazing and entertaining fantasy, I think this book really has the potential to be recognized as great literature. While all kinds of awful things happen at the hands of each of the characters involved, none of the point of view characters were clearly identifiable as villains. There were icky things that happened due to unseen forces, but mostly the people involved in the story all had valid reasons for doing everything they did and simply ended up at destructive cross-purposes with each other. The ethical and literary discussion possible after reading this book will make it far outlast many of the other novels I've read and even loved. The book's few down points for me were that I wanted a little more resolution on the specifics regarding the death of a main character (although it was well foreshadowed from the beginning and I just got so lost in the plot between whiles that I forgot about the foreshadowing). And there was one majickal/sexual element which while well written and subtle wasn't to my personal tastes (which are pretty conservative). Overall however, a remarkable and