Fire Dance

January 15, 2018
Forbidden enchantments and hidden machinations fill this well-plotted dark fantasy. Characters return from Myer’s first work, Last Song Before Night, the events of which form the backstory for this volume. Lin Amaristoth, now court poet of the Kingdom of Eivar, is sent on a mission of aid to the neighboring kingdom of Kahishi. King Eldakar of Kahishi is hoping that Lin’s different perspective and magic will be of assistance in discovering the force behind a series of eldritch attacks on small border villages. Lin and members of her retinue struggle to understand the byzantine plots of the court and learn whether the mysterious, magic-wielding Fire Dancers are really to blame for the attacks. In Eiver, Elissan Diar is named the newest archmaster of the Academy that trains poet-mages; soon after, Diar’s “chosen” begin studying dangerous magic at night. Valanir Ocune, Lin’s mentor, works in secret with his few allies on Academy Isle to thwart Diar’s plans. Subtle cultural elements are reminiscent of the medieval Arab world. Fans of epic fantasy and court intrigue will enjoy following the characters as they discover pieces of the truth.

April 15, 2018

Lin Amaristoth is seer and court poet of the Kingdom of Eivar, and as such, she is called on to assist in the neighboring realm of Kahishi, whose border villages are under attack. King Eldakar wants Lin and her contingent to discover if the Fire Dancers, a secretive group known to possess their own magical skills, are responsible. As Lin digs deeper into the mystery of the burnings, her mentor Valanir Ocune is watching the new archmaster of the poet-mage Academy, Ellisan Diar. When Diar's protégé begins to delve into darker magical territory, Ocune bands with the allies he has left to stop Diar, while Lin faces her own mortality in the fires of prophecy. Court intrigue and shadowy power spread through a richly described world, with strong characters and intricate prose to construct this absorbing plot. VERDICT Myer's sequel to Last Song Before Night is as powerful as its predecessor and will please fans of epic fantasy.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2018

Lin Amaristoth is seer and court poet of the Kingdom of Eivar, and as such, she is called on to assist in the neighboring realm of Kahishi, whose border villages are under attack. King Eldakar wants Lin and her contingent to discover if the Fire Dancers, a secretive group known to possess their own magical skills, are responsible. As Lin digs deeper into the mystery of the burnings, her mentor Valanir Ocune is watching the new archmaster of the poet-mage Academy, Ellisan Diar. When Diar's prot�g� begins to delve into darker magical territory, Ocune bands with the allies he has left to stop Diar, while Lin faces her own mortality in the fires of prophecy. Court intrigue and shadowy power spread through a richly described world, with strong characters and intricate prose to construct this absorbing plot. VERDICT Myer's sequel to Last Song Before Night is as powerful as its predecessor and will please fans of epic fantasy.--Kristi Chadwick, Massachusetts Lib. Syst., Northampton

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2018
In the sequel to Last Song Before Night (2015), Myer pursues the theme that magic might cause more problems than it solves.Lady Lin Amaristoth, now Court Poet of Eivar, travels to the kingdom of Kahishi, a powerful ally to Eivar experiencing a series of guerrilla attacks from the renegade Fire Dancers, in the hope that she might discover the mysterious magic aiding the rebels. Lin navigates a complex web of uncertain loyalties at the court of the Zahra while struggling to come to terms with the knowledge that she is dying from the spell that the poet Darien Aldemoor placed on her as part of their quest to reach the Otherworld. In the Academy of Poets, High Master Myre has died suddenly, and a newly appointed Archmaster, Elissan Diar, is conducting strange and dangerous rituals with a coterie of students, much to the dismay of last-year student Dorn Arrin, who eschews magic in favor of pursuing his music, and first-year student Julien Imara, ignored and disliked for being both female and plain. Will the fragile alignment of King and Academy that Lin worked so hard to establish survive her absence? Second volumes are tricky, and Book 1 was nearly self-contained; it was hard to tell where this series would or could go next. Myer quashes all concerns with this follow-up: Her world opens like a flower, revealing fresh landscapes both beautiful and dreadful. With a few villainous exceptions, her characters are convincingly nuanced blends of good and bad, forced to make terrible choices for personal survival or to save loved ones. The cliffhanger ending ensures that there is more magic, adventures, and angst to come.Worth waiting for.

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