ILLUMINATION

By: Terry McGarry

Review by Robert L. Thompson Jan 23, 2002

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Illumination is Terry McGarry's first novel, although she has had many short stories published previously. It is a very entertaining first book and just different enough in plot, environment and writing style that it will entertain a jaded "Swords & Sorcery" fan, while still satisfying a hardcore fantasy reader like me.

Eiden Myr is a fairly sparsely populated, fairly prosperous, mostly agrarian world with a dark ages level of technology. There is no royal class, no King or Queen, and apparently no need for one. Most people are pretty peaceful and capable of governing themselves quite well.

What government there is beyond local elders etc.is done by wandering and resident Mages. On Eiden Myr, though, the magick is not done by individuals, but by triads, each composed of an Illuminator, a Wordsmith and a Binder, each a vital part to the whole of casting the "spell".

The triads keep everyone pretty healthy and safe, they insure that crops are good, and can even mend broken items if the item is worth the effort. Most Mages pitch-in with mundane work when they are not busy with Magely tasks or training apprentices. All, in all, they are a very valuable part of society, yet most of them don't consider themselves to be elites.

The Ennead is a Triad of Triads that is the elite of Eiden Myr if anyone is, and is the ultimate authority among the mage class, although most people, including Mages will go their entire life without seeing one of them or even have to be bothered with any rules or edicts put out by them. The Ennead mostly stays in their hollowed out mountain (The Holding) studying and controlling the "Great Storms" that would wrack the land without their interference.

The main character of the story is Liath, a young, very powerful Illuminator who just finished her apprenticeship. The day after she passed her Testing, she fails in her first attempt to use her craft as a full fledged Mage. Her power is still there, she just can't bring it to bear; So, she heads toward the Holding to see if the Ennead can "fix" her.

After some pretty significant adventures and mis-adventures on the way, she gets to the Ennead, who in effect say: "We can't "fix" you the way things are now.... But there is a little something you can do for us, and maybe if you succeed, THEN we may be able to help." "You see, there is this Evil Renegade Mage who is on the verge of messing up life as we know it, and if you can bring us a small piece of his skin, a lock of hair etc. we can stop him, and bring him back to the side of good...."

And here Liath's REAL Adventure begins. Along the way, she meets plenty of good people, a few really great people, a few petty or stupid people, and a very few really bad people. There are plenty of plot twists, and all is not always as it appears to be.

The book was very entertaining and in several ways a fresh breath in the Fantasy Genre. However, there was one thing that kind of irritated me: Sometimes it was a little difficult to know if a certain scene was a dream or hallucination, a remembrance of things past, a glimpse of the future or really happening in "real time". Sometimes the typeface changed to delineate these things, but sometimes not.

Although not indicated in the book, there are at least two more books set in Eden Myr. A quote from the Author's website:  www.eidenmyr.com :
"The next books, The Bindsman's Road and Triad are now under contract to Tor Books. They will continue in the milieu of Illumination, forming a three-book story arc, but each is a self-contained tale. There isn't too much I can say yet without giving too much away, except that supporting characters from Illumination will be featured more prominently."

That is pretty good news- Although I thought this book was slightly flawed in execution, it was a very good story and some very interesting characters. The end of this book seemed like it might be the end of everything in some ways, but it raised more questions than it answered.

I'll look forward to reading future works by the lovely (see her picture on the book's jacket) and talented Ms. McGarry.