Kate Forsyth, The Shining City

The Shining City

Kate Forsyth

Roc, April 2006, $7.99, 544 pp.

ISBN 0451460804

Half human, half satyricorn, Rhiannon killed one of Righ Lachlan's favorite Yeoman Guards, Connor the Just, in order to save her satyricorn mother. She is now in the Sorrowgate Tower prison awaiting trial for murder, along with the Laird O Fettercain who Rhiannon helped capture. His crimes include murder and necromancy, as he tried to raise his dead brother. The Laird's servant seatie Deidre is placed in the household of Joanna the Mild, Connor's sister and the head of the College of Healers.

Rhiannon's lover Lewen, an apprentice witch and squire to Lachlan, promises her he will be there for her, but Olwynne NiaCuinn bewitches him with a love potion leaving Rhiannon desolate. At her trial, she is found guilty, but Lachlan is going to pardon her, but before he can do that, well placed conspirators act to free the imprisoned laird, unseat Lachlan and spirit away his heir. Rhiannon is the only one who can help undo some of the damage the conspirators caused, and she is willing to do it if it means freeing Lewen from Olwynne's spell.

Book Two of Rhiannon's Ride is a fine fantasy that magically charms the audience. Fans of the Shannara series and the works of Raymond E Feist will love THE SHINING CITY, a work where species of myth and legend live side by side with humans. In fact, there is so much inter-species mating that it is hard to tell who is a pure-blood anymore. This is a character driven work, but there is just enough action to please all fantasy lovers.