WeatherWitch
Cecilia Dart-Thornton
Tor, Nov 2006, $27.95, 336 pp.
ISBN 0765312077

Asrathiel was born into a family that has known much tragedy. As a young girl, her mother slipped into an enchanted sleep unable to awaken. Her father left her in the care of his father to journey to the uncharted lands to find a way to break the spell. Rich in weather magic known as bri, Asrathiel is the youngest at nineteen to become a weathermage. She feels set apart from the rest of humanity because she is immortal and invulnerable. She wants to travel to distant lands and wield the pure magic sword Fallowblade that is her birthright though not all of its properties are known.

She accepts a posting as a weathermage at King's Winterboune where weathermasters are still respected. The king of Slievmordhu Uabhar wants to be high king of Tir and he sees the weather masters as an impediment to his ambition. He has several people spreading lies about them to the population and many turn against him. When Asrathiel meets with him she doesn't trust him but she has no idea that he is about to plunge the world into civil war or has an ultimate plan for her and her colleagues.

WEATHERWITCH feels likes an in betweeners book that is setting the stage for the last novel in the Crowthistle Chronicles. In many ways it is a coming of age tale as the heroine must decide what she wants as she outgrows her girlhood dreams yet yearns for something even she isn't sure of what it is. There are some cute scenes between the protagonist and the urisk, a seelie being of magic that attaches himself to her and vexes her as he well as amuses her and shares her immortality. There are many sub-plots left dangling which will hopefully be answered in Fallowblade.

Harriet Klausner