Spear of Heaven - Softcover

Tarr, Judith

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0812530349 ISBN 13: 9780812530346

Publisher: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc, 1995

Synopsis

Obtaining permission to accompany a powerful mage on a quest to a high mountain kingdom, willful heiress Daruya is horrified when her kingdom is threatened by evil forces on the eve of her departure. Reprint.

About this title

About the Author

My first novel, The Isle of Glass, appeared in 1985, and eventually won the Crawford Award, as well as being a finalist for the Locus Award for Best First Novel. My YA time-travel science fiction/fantasy/historical novel, Living in Threes, appeared as an ebook from Book View Café in 2012, and is now in print. My new novel, a space opera, will be published by Book View Cafe in 2015. In between, I've written historicals and historical fantasies and epic fantasies, some of which have been reborn as ebooks from Book View Café. Various of my novels have been finalists for the World Fantasy Award and the Locus Award, and I've had short stories reprinted in Year's Best anthologies and collections of classic fantasy, science fiction, and alternate history. I live in Arizona with an assortment of cats, two dogs, and a herd of Lipizzan horses.

From Publishers Weekly

Tarr's usual blend of magic and cultural and gender exploration seems forced in this slow-moving sequel to Arrows of the Sun that matches its rhythms to the stately build of political and romantic alliances. Daruya, granddaughter of the emperor, wants to get out of the palace and do her ambassadorial duty, but one of the "Worldgates" has collapsed, and her grandfather forbids her to go on a risky overland mission. So Daruya sneaks out, as does her four-year-old daughter, Kimeri. Since both are heirs of the Empire and direct descendants of the Sun God (with the appropriate inherited magical powers), neither love nor misguided priests nor outmoded political systems are remotely capable of standing in their way as they explore the world beyond the imperial palace and, eventually, use their magic to battle mages who would topple Worldgates willy-nilly. While this fifth book in Tarr's Avaryan Rising series boasts better writing and more penetrating observations than typical sword-and-sorcery fare, it is undermined by Daruya's frequent railing against her own heart, a chorus of lament made all the more tedious since it's glaringly obvious that love will triumph and all will be well by book's end. Fortunately, the spirited Kimeri and the shadowy warriors who bodyguard the imperial heirs are much less predictable than Daruya's fate, and much more fun.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0812530349
• ISBN 13: 9780812530346
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352