THE RING OF ALLAIRE - Softcover

Dexter, Susan

3.82

416 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345292731 ISBN 13: 9780345292735

Publisher: Del Rey, 1981

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Tristan is a young wizard with dark hair and green eyes--but no cozy boarding school for him--he’s been home-schooled by the old wizard who discovered him as an abandoned infant under an apple tree on Midwinter’s Night. There’s no one to tell Tristan who he is or what abilities may be his. If not for Thomas, his smart-ass cat familiar, he’d be utterly lost. And now for the on-the-job training! One ordinary afternoon, Tristan returns home to find that his master has vanished, leaving his unprepared apprentice to take up the entwined quests for the legendary warhorse Valadan and the lost princess Allaire of the Nine Rings. He’d be no one’s first choice, but Tristan’s the only one left to assemble the essentials of the quest--a wizard, the Warhorse, the heir to Calandra’s throne--infiltrate Nimir’s fortress of Darkenkeep, and steal Allaire from beneath the Winter King’s icicled nose. In their hundreds, the other wizards have tried--and died. Tristan’s training is exemplary. His will is indomitable. His confidence, however, is nonexistent, and his magic is flawed and unreliable. The fate of his world depends on him--whether he thinks himself equal to the task or not.

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About the Author:

I was born in Greenville, PA in 1955. I started writing early, scrounging unused diaries and notebooks and writing “books” in them. Illustrated too, because I was drawing even before I was writing. In the late 1970s, inspired by a couple of wretchedly cold winters in western Pennsylvania, I set out to write fantasy short story in a “Write Your Own Book” I had been given, which had a knight on horseback on its cover. It still does, and it’s still empty because by the time I had finished outlining I could see there was no way The Ring of Allaire was going to fit in there. My novel about a wizard’s first quest was published in 1981. Thinking titles for a sequel, I came up with two, and so I knew I would “commit trilogy”. And The Sword of Calandra and The Mountains of Channadran continued Tristan’s saga. (I like to say that my wizard is just like Harry Potter—but Tristan was home-schooled.) I have recently reworked and expanded this trilogy, once known as “The Winter King’s War” into “Wizard’s Destiny”. Way back, I thought of writing a fantasy as a way to break into illustration. I did get a couple of things into Niekas and lots to Fantasy Newsletter, and I did maps for all my books—but at the same time I kept up with Fine Art and Fine Craft. I paint with pastels and I weave and hand-spin. My educational background’s in Commercial Art, the fiber arts were learned as I went along.. I have exhibited at the Trumbull Art Guild (Warren, OH), the Nissen Gallery (Warren, OH), the Bottlebrush Gallery (Harmony, PA), the Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts (New Castle, PA, the Ellwood City Arts & Crafts Fine Art Show (Ellwood City, PA), the New Wilmington Heritage Fine Arts Show (New Wilmington, PA), the Pittsburgh Area Science Fiction Convention (Confluence) Art Show, the Canfield Fair Fine Art Show(Mahoning County Fair, Ohio), the Buhl Day Art Show (Sharon PA), the Valley Arts Guild (Sharon, PA), the World Fantasy Convention Art Show, Inspired by Nature Show (Villa Maria, PA)many a Northwest PA Arabian Horse Show, and far too many craft shows to list. I taught writers workshops for years in book stores, and I have instructed at the Mahoning County Career & Technical Center, Canfield OH, the Valley Arts Guild, Sharon PA and the Villa Maria Evergreen program, Villa Maria PA. And lo, these thirty years later, I finally painted my own cover art. My Wizard, my way.

From the Inside Flap:

Master magician Blais was dead, murdered by the evil ice-lord Nimir. Now there was only Tristan, an ill-trained apprentice, to carry on the quest to rescue Allaire, a princess held in enchanted sleep in Nimir's frozen halls. Though a thousand master mages had already failed in the quest, Tristan must succeed -- or all of Calandra would be doomed by Nimir's greed.
First Tristan would have to find the wonder-horse Valadan, who had vanished long ago. Then he had to secure the aid of the one knight among many who was a true Heir to the Throne. Together, they must overcome the Guardian dragon of Nimir's realm.
After that -- well, there was still the tenth ring to be found, since Allaire was powerless without it.
Nothing, of course, was ever that simple. There were complications . . .

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