From School Library Journal:
Grade 5-7?Keld and Elylden have no idea what future awaits them when their mother Anna sends them to the village of Adnor to find the blind potter she once studied with so that Keld can learn his trade. Unbeknownst to them, Anna is also leaving their cottage, just ahead of the villagers who have come to accuse her of witchcraft. She heads up and somehow through the mountains to return to her home, the world of the Nedoman. This place of wisdom and beauty is a sharp contrast to the harsh, cruel world she leaves behind. Here, she is Teyapherendana, about to be entrusted with the sources of all of the knowledge of the Women of the Nedoman, but Eddris, the regent holding the position until Teyapherendana comes of age, has been scheming to replace her forever. At Eddris's bidding, Anna has spent the last 20 years among humankind, although only a morning has passed in Nedoman. Realizing that these time shifts have greater implications for his grandchildren, Anna's father, the great wizard Stilthorn, enters this world to find and protect them from Eddris, who is also hunting for them. Thus the story becomes a race against time and fate. This is a complicated but compelling fantasy. Morals and principles with implications for today's world as well as the imaginary one are as important as the magical elements. There are many threads to the story but only enough room to introduce, rather than fully explain, some of them. Intriguing characters and urgent situations take precedence over the kind of background and description common to many fantasies, but in this case sacrificing detail makes for a more compact and cogent tale. A brief epilogue ties up some loose ends, and could easily be the source for a sequel.?Susan L. Rogers, Chestnut Hill Academy, PA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews:
Keld and his younger sister Elylden are sent by their mother Anna from their home in the hills to the city of Adnor to seek out a blind potter. Once there they discover that the blind potter has been dead for two hundred years, and the city, ruled by the evil Blygen and his new sorceress wife Eddris, is choked with poverty, corruption, and despair. They also become aware that their mother has a mysterious heritage and has given them some unusual abilities. After meeting their grandfather Stilthorn, a wizard, they become his bait to lure the powerful Eddris away from the city and into a confrontation. McKenzie (Under the Bridge, 1994, etc.) leaves elements of the plot somewhat murky; the children's background and the world of their heritage is never clear, and their abilities even less so. The denouement is vague; readers won't knowand may not carewhether Eddris is dead or merely chased off. (Fiction. 10-13) -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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