Owlflight (DAW, 1069) - Softcover

Dixon, Larry; Lackey, Mercedes

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0886778042 ISBN 13: 9780886778040

Publisher: Penguin, 1998

Synopsis

Once the tiny village of Errold's Grove, located on the border of Valdemar at the edge of the vast Pelagiris Forest, had been a prosperous community, trading the unique plants and fungi which grew in the dense forest for use in dying textiles. But that was before the mage-storms came. The mage-storms had devastated the forest, transforming many of its creatures into hideous beasts, warping the very land, and shattering the laws of magic which had governed the world since time immemorial. Only the bravest souls ventured into the Pelagiris now, but young Darian and his parents were among those courageous few. Darian's parents were hunters who worked in the strange new forest with intelligence and caution, trapping the bizarre change-creatures which had been created by the mage-storms and selling their fantastic hides. But Darian had not accompanied them on their last expedition into the Pelagiris, a hunt from which they never returned. Now, a year after his parents' disappearance, Darian is a ward of Errold's Grove, apprenticed to Wizard Justyn, a bumbling old man who lost most of his powers when the world's magic altered. Justyn insists that Darian has "talent, " and that he will be a danger to himself and everyone around him if he isn't properly trained. But to Darian, still sorrowing over his parents' loss, magic is just nonsense, a waste of time and energy. The only place he finds solace is in the "dreaded" forest, where he can hide among the huge trees and mourn in privacy. And it is from this secret retreat on the edge of the Pelagiris that Darian sees an army of northern barbarians sack and burn Errold's Grove, and watches his mentor Justyn die in a last desperate attempt to savethe village. Pursued by barbarians, alone and helpless, Darian flees into the deep forest. But the vast and dangerous Pelagiris Forest houses more than the monstrous creatures created by the mage-storms. The Hawkbrothers, an old and magical race, dwell in the ancient woods, and Dar

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Review

Orphaned when his trapper parents failed to come back from the forest one day, young Darian is resentful when apprenticed to the damaged magician Justyn. He sees little point in the few tricks he manages to learn, and what has magic done for Justyn save leave him under-employed, sick and despised in a remote village? Then half-human invaders take the town and Justyn dies heroically helping people escape while Darian looks on in horror. Lost in the forest, Darian is rescued and recruited by the mysterious corps of Hawkbrothers... This is both a decent account of a difficult and disturbed boy coming to terms with his past and his future and a glance at new aspects of the world of the Heralds of Valdemar Mercedes Lackey has created in her other fantasy novels. Too often epic fantasy neglects the consequences of magical warfare for the peasants on the ground--the villagers' bad treatment of Darian and Justyn is a result of the necessary shattering of magic in earlier books, and Justyn is a brain-damaged veteran of those wars:

"But, like a lover scorned, his magic has left him as well. Much of what he had learned, the blow to the head had driven from his memory; he had trouble seeing mage-energies with any reliability, and the mind-magic he had was so seriously weakened he could no longer lift anything larger than a needle for more than a few moments".

This is a chastening and perceptive book about growing up and coming to realise that the people around you have reasons for being wrong. --Roz Kaveney

About the Author

Mercedes Lackey is a full-time writer and has published numerous novels and works of short fiction, including the best-selling Heralds Of Valdemar series. She is also a professional lyricist and a licensed wild bird rehabilitator. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband, artist Larry Dixon, and their flock of parrots.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0886778042
• ISBN 13: 9780886778040
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 352