The Outcast

Reviewed by Stefannie Vaughan for Reader Views (5/ 07) Tarod, a former adept with incredible powers locked within his soul, is neither man nor a demon. Inhuman. He is a man who stopped time alone in one place to save himself, and live alone. Shunned by the Circle and all those he knew except for one girl. Her name is Cylann Anassan, an outcast drover-girl with an open mind and very stubborn attitude. Cylann had some talent herself when it came to powers which helped her out in the long run. She was sucked into a dimension where time no longer existed, along with her conceded tagalong, a boy named Drechea Rannak, heir Margrave of Shu Province, from Shu-Nhadek. He, on the other hand, had no talent except for being vane, dependent, and pampered. With every man for himself, clues were unlocked and secrets unfolded, then time was restored, and the Circle of adepts brought back, but all was still not well. Louise Cooper has a remarkable technique of writing, sucking you into the story, with vivid details, making it a real page-turner. She gets right to the main points, keeping your full attention and keeping you on your toes. "The Outcast" was a book about loyalty and what really goes on behind closed doors, a mystery that takes place in a fantasy world, and a book that you won't want to put down if you like suspense with a new twist lurking in every corner. I did not want "The Outcast" to end. The ending was left open, leaving you wondering what happened to everyone. What were all their troubles for? Was it worth it? Did everyone win? A great book makes me want to read the next one in the series to answer all my questions.

In this second book we find Tarod 'prisoner' in a castle with the time stopped, he himself provoked this stasis. His soul is trapped in a jewel and he waits...Until Cyllan, the drover girl he had met in the first book is caught by a warp and ends in the shores of the castle. Tarod and Cyllan get to know each other, but mainly they discover Tarod, his true nature and what a startling nature that is! Cyllan becomes very loyal to Tarod, and eventually the stasis is broken and they are again loose in the world...This book is more fast paced than the previous and the relations between the characters are very interesting. We begin to see that it's wrong when only one side rules (in this case order), there needs to be an equilibrium.

Louise Cooper is a great author, I'm in the process of reading all her books (to bad they're so hard to find). But I think The Outcast will always be the best. It's fast paced and the plot is spellbinding. I read this book before the Initiate but I still caught on to plot okay, yet its not redundant. The character development is so good that it makes you fall in love with the good guys(Chaos) and forever despise the bad ones (I can't even make myself type the evil -O- word, that's how much I hate them). This book brings out the best and worst in a person's emotions, at times I wanted to cry and other times I wanted to kill. The plot revolves around Tarod, who in the previous book, was almost executed before he stopped time, living soulless, timeless, and alone in the castle while the rest of the world lived on, until Cyllan and the Heir Margrave, Drachea, broke through the barrier. A barrier of mistrust, misunderstanding, and dislike quickly arises between the three of them. Until one of them (I won't say who) breaks through it so they can work together to restore time and Tarod's soul then leave the castle and live together and not bother anybody. But something interferes (I won't say what) and screws up their plan. You'll just have to read it to find out.

Tarod has lost the soul stone and is trapped in another demention. Then Cyllan and Prince Drachea come to that demention. Cyllan must deside if he is really evil and helps him try recover the stone but what will happen? I love this series. This book took me a long time to find but it was worth the wait and I didn't put it down until I'd read it three times the same day.

I never read trilogies in order; I stumbled onto this one as the first book that I read of Louise Cooper's stunning Time Master trilogy, and I still believe it to be the best. Cooper's Tarod is a fascinating anti-hero, evolving throughout the series from a loyal disciple of Order to the God of Chaos that is his true heritage, with the repeated examination of his humanity thrown into the mix. In this second offering of the trilogy, Tarod, one-time Initiate of the Circle, an order of sorceror-priests devoted to the service of the ruling gods of Order, has been betrayed by friends and lovers and his own nature. Having been revealed as a creature of Chaos born in human form, the ring which contains his powerful soul has been stolen from him and is locked away in the mysterious Marble Hall of the Castle of the Star Peninsula. The Castle itself is lost in a timeless limbo in which dawn never completely breaks and days have no meaning, thanks to Tarod's sorcerous attempt to save himself from the Circle's exorcism. Alone and soulless, Tarod has been swiftly losing any semblance of human behavior and seems to have finally become what others have called him: a demon of Chaos. Enter Cyllan Anassan, the peasant girl he met briefly in book I. She and Drachea Rannak, the spoiled heir to the Margravate of Shu Province, have been cast on the shores of this haunted castle, and must uncover the mystery of Tarod in order to escape. Along the way, Cyllan, the primary narrator of the story, must make her own personal exploration of good and evil, love and hate, fantasy and reality. Cooper explores again the themes of dichotomy between Chaos and Order, the greater dichotomy of social class, and the difference between appearance and substance of truth. It ends in a stunning climax that is only the beginning of the greater climax of the series that culminates in book 3.