The Lightstone - Softcover

Zindell, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0765349930 ISBN 13: 9780765349934

Publisher: Tor Fantasy, 2007

Synopsis

On the island continent of Ea it is a dark time of chaos and war. Morjin, immortal fallen angel and Lord of Lies seeks to enslave the entire world. The one thing that may destroy him is the legendary Lightstone, an object lost in the mist of time. A call is sent out by those still free to seek this grail and give Men hope after ages of despair. It is a quest that none have seen the like of in ten generations. And most believe is doomed to fail. What hero is man enough, brave enough...or foolish enough to embark on such a mad quest? Valashu Elahad, the seventh and youngest Valeri prince of the royal house of Mesh is such a man. With his faithful companion Maram by his side Valashu will journey to the farthest reaches of Ea to try and reclaim this mystical object, to free the world of Morjin’s evil and save his people from sure destruction. Along the way he will discover truths about friendship, courage...and love.
And come to discover a power that threatens to sunder his world.

About this title

Review:

David Zindell's massive epic fantasy The Lightstone is only the first volume of The Ea Cycle and is characterised by the same grandeur and vividly imagined scenes of glory and dismay as his space operas--the sequence which starts with Neverness. Like them, it is remarkable for scale, ambition and a capacity to evoke sinister beauty; in their case a thousand exploding suns; here a desperate battle in the underground throne room of a Dark Lord and the burning of a great library. There is a sense in which this is fantasy-by-numbers--young prince Val is sent on a quest for the long-lost Lightstone--the cure for the world's pain. He is harassed in his dreams by a demon who was once a bright being and is joined by companions who collect magical bric-a-brac as they go. Zindell though, is trying to work with the inherent strengths of mythic structure, bringing to the tale a sense of urgency and spiritual depth, rather than cynically exploiting the clichés. Val is a man who lives consciously with the myths he is re-enacting--heroism is not just heroic acts but an emotional space that goes with the acquisition of doomed love and mortal enemies. This is an impressive start to an interesting cycle. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

Praise for Neverness:

‘Zindell makes you think’
New Scientist

‘Philip K. Dick would have been proud to conjure up such philiosophies’
Manchester Evening News

‘A thick, lush, vivid, panoramic view of evolved humans in an evolving universe far in the future’
Twilight Zone

‘Excellent hard science fiction... a brilliant novel’
Orson Scott Card, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

About this edition

• Publisher: Tor Fantasy
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0765349930
• ISBN 13: 9780765349934
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 448