Monday, January 11, 2016

Off the Bookshelf: WIND AND SHADOW, by Kathy Tyers

Whew! Done. Book 1 of the one-book-a-week commitment for the year. I even went so far this year to list the first 10 books or so of what I plan to read on Goodreads, so you can hold me accountable.

What's nice is that it's a book I've wanted to read for a long time. Honestly, I've had this and the next book in the series sitting on my nightstand for at least 2 years, giving me the evil eye, whining in my sleep, demanding to know when I'll get to them. It's a rough life, having so many books waiting to be read that the riches turn into a burden.

I'm only partially joking.

WIND AND SHADOW is the 4th book in the series Kathy Tyers started many years ago with her landmark novel, FIREBIRD. The first three books have gone through quite a few shifts and changes and publishing houses, and now she's written two more books, following through on the promises and prophecies mentioned in the previous three. This series is set in a far future where conflicts familiar in recent movies are prevalent -- basically the tension between ordinary Humans and augmented Humans with talents. Can the changed Humans be trusted? Can the unchanged Humans be trusted? Who is going to make the first strike against the other? In the middle of all this are the gifted Sentinels with their Code, their devotion to the prophecies and to the guardian of their souls, and the Caldwell family, with their gifts and problems and the heavy burden of figuring in those prophecies .......

I think the sign of a really good series is that even with a break of at least 10 years since reading the last book, it didn't take long to pick up on who is who, what's going on, and remember the events of the previous books and what's at stake. If you're lucky (or maybe not so, because why did you wait so long?) you're on the verge of starting the series, with the waiting thrill of discovery and being drawn into the universe of Firebird and Brennan Caldwell and now, their descendants. ENJOY!

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