Jane Lindskold, Wolf's Blood

Wolf's Blood

Jane Lindskold

Tor, Mar 2007, $27.95

ISBN: 0765314800

The plague that eradicated the sorcerers who ruled the Old World was contained by the magical gates to this one realm only. That is until now when Firekeeper and her allies inadvertently open the gates between the Old and New Worlds. The plague arrives in the New World and begins the devastation of magic practitioners.

While leaders of government and commerce want more gates opened as they foresee an economic boom, the mages want the deadly to them portals shut. As the nations of the New World are divided with civil war imminent; Firekeeper, feeling guilt and fear, searches for the first case of the plague in the hope to destroy it.

Raised by wolves, Firekeeper is a terrific lead character as she knows she must stop what she wrought, but has doubts she is capable of succeeding yet steps into "hell for her heavenly cause." That is the spin that makes this complex fantasy so good as the heroine believes in her cause while so many others oppose her position as trade between both sides of the gates mean economic boom (think contractors in Iraq). Though newcomers would be better off starting with the first Wolf book (see WOLF'S EYES) and working through the remainder of the saga, long time fans will take immense delight in the climax as Jane Lindskold provides a strong finish to a fabulous series.

Harriet Klausner