Sorcery Rising: Book One of Fool's Gold.

A talented knife-maker with a natural affinity with the elements of the earth, Katla Aransen, the beautiful and rebellious daughter of an Eyran merchant, finds herself targeted by Istrian fanatics after she accidentally commits sacrilege and by Saro Vingo, a young Istrian noble who falls in love with her.

Jude Fisher (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings Visual Companion) inaugurates his Fool's Gold series with Sorcery Rising, the story of a rebellious young knife maker's adventures at the great Allfair, held yearly in the shadow of a sacred rock that her people, the Eyrans, call Sur's Castle, and the Istrians (their former enemies) call Falla's Rock. Though Katla Aransen's boldness in climbing the mount puts her in grave danger, old feuds and strange sorcery seem equally threatening in a tale that asks as many questions as it answers.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Eryan merchant's daughter Katla Aransen attends the yearly Allfair, at which the peoples of Elda trade and socialize, for the first time. Beside herself with excitement, she scales the sacred mount Eryans call Sur's Castle to better view the festivities. The mount, however, is contested between Erya and Istria, and Istrian law bars from it all women but the Istrians' goddess. Two irate Istrian elders spot Katla, who knows nothing of the law, and vow to capture and burn her. Meanwhile in another section of the Allfair, mystery and trouble brew among the Footloose. Three strangers have joined the magical tribe: an albino male; the Rose of Elda, who inspires blind lust in every man; and a black cat possessing more magical secrets than any other living thing ever has. Wherever the three go, the land's old magic is powerfully awakened, though something in it is twisted and wrong. This series opener sports unusual characters and intriguingly contrasts two societies' treatment of women and the effects their differing gender practices have on their respective cultures. Paula Luedtke
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An accomplished knife maker and skilled rock climber, Katla Aransen travels to her first Allfair to ply her trade. When she unwittingly climbs a rock sacred to the people of the Moonfell Plain, she unleashes a storm of events that changes her life and that of her father forever. Even more world-shaking events take place in the land of Elda, and a fugitive albino mage, a woman with no memory, and a mysterious black cat hold secrets that have the power to alter the fate of the world. Fisher's (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings Visual Companion) series opener provides a fast-paced introduction to a world of magic-wielding nomads, ice-bound havens of magic, and royal courts filled with treachery and intrigue. Fans of epic fantasy should enjoy this tale; For most fantasy collections.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.