The Wounded Hawk: Book Two of 'The Crucible' - Softcover

Douglass, Sara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0765342839 ISBN 13: 9780765342836

Publisher: Tor Fantasy, 2005

Synopsis

The Middle Ages. Finally, the Black Plague has passed, and for a while it seems evil has been defeated. Europe recovers; prosperity returns, trade resumes, and people slowly recover from the effects of the plague. Then, just as the Church relaxes its guard, war spreads across Europe. Widespread heresies challenge the authority of the Church. Revolts and rebellions threaten to topple the established monarchies and overturn the social order of Europe. And then the plague returns, worse than ever.

Thomas Neville, a neurotic warrior-priest, eventually discovers the cause. The minions of the Devil have been scattered throughout European society during the confusion of the Black Death. His task is to discover the identities of these shapeshifters so that the Church can move against them--but it is dangerous. These are master shapeshifters, perfect at their craft, and Neville can never be certain of whom he should trust.

About this title

About the Author

Sara Douglass was born in Penola, a small farming settlement in the south of Australia, in 1957. She spent her early years chasing (and being chased by) sheep and collecting snakes before her parents transported her to the city of Adelaide and the more genteel surroundings of Methodist Ladies College. Having graduated, Sara then became a nurse on her parents' urging (it was both feminine and genteel) and spent seventeen years planning and then effecting her escape.

That escape came in the form of a Ph.D. in early modern English history. Sara and nursing finally parted company after a lengthy time of bare tolerance, and she took up a position as senior lecturer in medieval European history at the Bendigo campus of the Victorian University of La Trobe. Finding the departmental politics of academic life as intolerable as the emotional rigours of nursing, Sara needed to find another escape.

This took the form of one of Sara's childhood loves - books and writing. Spending some years practising writing novels, one of Sara's novels was published in Australia. BattleAxe (published in North America as The Wayfarer Redemption), the first in the Tencendor series, and found immediate success in Australia. Since 1995 Sara has become Australia's leading fantasy author and one of the country's top novelists. Her books are now sold around the world.

Review

"An extraordinary novel,...meticulously researched for an authentic 14th century atmosphere, not just in terms of aesthetic details, but in terms of the character's beliefs and philosophies of life."-SFX Magazine on The Nameless Day

"Douglass recreates the Aegean world and a Pre-Celtic England in a sweeping epic that grabs your attention at the first page."-Romantic Times Book Club (4 ½ stars) on Hades' Daughter

"Douglass once again combines mythology, fantasy, magic and romance to produce a consistent, well-rounded story full of seriously flawed characters both abhorrently evil and enthrallingly empathetic."-- Publishers Weekly (starred) on Hades' Daughter

"Douglass is a powerful voice in high fantasy that readers can equate to the likes of Robert Jordan, Marion Zimmer Bradley and Anne McCaffrey."-Romantic Times, 4 ½ stars on Enchanter

"With three races, licit and illicit loves, prophecy, fraternal hatred, and enough battles for several campaigns, Douglass has whipped up enough raw material to avoid shortchanging readers throughout her vast undertaking."--Booklist on Enchanter

"Epic storytelling on a par with Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan."--Library Journal on The Wayfarer Redemption

"Storytelling at its best, with fast-paced action, gritty realism, powerful characters, magic and romance."--Romantic Times on The Wayfarer Redemption

Edition details

• Publisher: Tor Fantasy
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0765342839
• ISBN 13: 9780765342836
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 624