Path of Honor
Diana Pharaoh Francis
Roc, Dec 2004, $6.99, 354 pp.
ISBN: 0451459911

Reisil is an ahalad-kaaslane (a witch) bonded with her goshawk Saljane, a powerful magical pairing that allowed her to kill one hundred rogue wizards at Mysane Kosk and caused the surviving wizards to flee into hiding. In the realm of Kodu Riik, Reisil thinks she will be accepted by the ahalad-kaaslane because she stopped the wizards, but the nobles fear her power as a threat to theirs.

To make matters worse, the people who she saved have turned against her when she fails to prevent the plague or heal those who caught the dreaded disease. Nokulas, magical creatures once human, are running loose and locals know firsthand the danger they can cause. The ruler has become a Nokulas, locked away so he can do no harm, but causing a leadership power vacuum that his evil son wants to fill. A man from another dimension finds Reisil hoping she will heal his wounded land, a by-product of what occurred at Mysane Kosk. The countries that border on Kodu Riik blockade the nation so that no one can cross into their countries, bringing the plague into their lands. Reisil must locate the hiding wizards to make them undo the damage they have caused to two realms in different dimensions.

PATH OF HONOR is the road that Reisil walks even when the trail proves life-threatening. Starving for affection and a need to belong, the wizards almost destroy Reisil by shamming how valuable she is to them. She knows she must save her beloved land or watch the destruction of those she cherishes. Diana Pharaoh Francis provides an appealing, magical fantasy tale featuring a stubborn independent heroine whose self-esteem is extremely low as she desperately needs someone to love her.

Harriet Klausner