Lord of the Changing Winds
Rachel Neumeier
Orbit, May 2010, $7.99
ISBN: 9780316072786

In the land of Feierabiand in the woods by the small remote village of Minas Ford, teen Kes the healer gathers herbs, but stops to watch the beauty of the visiting griffins soaring through the sky before completing her chore. She rushes home to her worried sister farmer Tesme and their helper Jos as a horse River is about to give birth. With Kes' aid, the siblings celebrate the birth of the foal when a stranger asks Kes for help.

Kes senses the man is different and somehow has ties to the griffins. Bering a healer who uses herbs she goes with him to attend to healing the griffins. As she assists them without herbs and communicates telepathically; a mage and diplomat escorted by soldiers arrive to investigate tales of griffins coming across the mountains from Casmantium.

The insight into the griffin culture owns the opening tale of the aptly titled The Griffin Mage saga; the humans even the heroic lead healer pale in comparison. The story line is an entertaining fantasy; however in spite of a map, the deployments of large forces including the griffins flying across the mountain range were difficult to envision what it took these various groups to accomplish their respective missions; that is a key reason exiting Iraq in an orderly manner takes time. Still this is the tale of the griffins soaring through the skies over Feierabiand and their healer learning their ways and more to help them to fly with the winds they brought with them.

Harriet Klausner