SORCERY RISING

SORCERY RISING
By Jude Fisher
Earthlight (Simon & Schuster) - June 2002
ISBN 0743220919 HB
ISBN 0743220927 Trade PB
Fantasy Fiction

Reviewed by Rachel A Hyde, MyShelf.com
Buy a US || UK Copy

At the Allfair, many different peoples from the world of Elda converge to trade every year. There are the Eyrans of the North; a hardy, seafaring folk, the Istrians from the South who swathe their women in al-concealing clothes and keep slaves and the mysterious wandering Footloose with their barbaric clothes, magic spells and gypsy ways. But this is going to be an Allfair like no other for it is going to bring together some volatile elements. Katla Aransen and her family have come from the windswept islands of the far north to trade their knives and they soon fall foul of the strange Southern ways of the Issians. The Vingo clan's brutal son Tanto is going to bought a bride and encounters the cruel Tycho Issian who is looking for a match for his daughter, and womanizing King Ravn Asharson of the Eyrans is also on the lookout for a match. But magic is afoot and Virelai and his strange cat are going to add an explosive charge to the unstable mixture and nothing will be the same again.

The valiant Northeners clash with the decadent South - Vikings against Arabs to put it in familiar terms - might not sound politically correct but it all seems to make for an entertaining book. This is one of those novels that seems to be interesting even when the characters aren't doing anything scintillating and which, though fairly predictable, is the sort of book that keeps the plot boiling merrily and the pages turning. It isn't original but it doesn't copy anything in particular; it isn't epic but the characters that are in it, even the stereotypical ones are thoroughly introduced to the reader, which makes the book live. I'll certainly be reading the next instalment - it has something of a cliffhanger ending - and if you enjoy fantasy then this one ought to have plenty of appeal.