Elizabeth Lynn's Chronicles of Tornor are richly characterized but have no connecting characters, her style changes per book to fit the period described, and she muses challengingly on both gender and orientation. the cumulative effect of all the life journeys depicted is one that encourages careful reflection on some weighty matters: what makes a person, what makes a community, what makes a civilization?this third novel in the trilogy takes a wider look at the themes Lynn has previously established, eschewing the rather chamber piece-like qualities of the first and the pastoral sentiments of the second. she chooses instead to show how components of the past, as established in those two preceding novels, have been transformed into key elements of a now richly imagined and contrastingly complex present. the protagonist Soren is a crowd-pleasing creation: a plucky young lady with emerging psychic powers (perhaps), destined to experience the wider world. she is surrounded by a host of engaging, warmly depicted supporting characters; they all live within a narrative that is often traditional, but at times genuinely mystifying. despite the host of progressive values on display, a central thesis appears to be the necessity of force in maintaining the careful balance of community and forward movement towards which any civilized society should always be striving...an idea first illustrated within the first novel (although one that was compellingly critiqued) and in some ways rejected in the second novel. with this third novel, it becomes clear that Lynn has been guiding and transforming her themes and ideas all along; these shifts in perspective clearly parallel the growth and maturation of both her central protagonist, and the world itself.
overall, a wonderfully absorbing achievement.
