cover image The White Tribunal

The White Tribunal

Paula Volsky. Spectra Books, $27 (508pp) ISBN 978-0-553-37846-7

The White Tribunal, the all-powerful witch-hunting body headed by self-righteous Premier Jurist Gnaus liGurvohl, tortures and executes young Tradain liMarchborg's father and brothers on trumped-up charges, then throws the boy into prison. Thirteen years later, Tradain escapes. Through an illegal alliance with supramundane presence Xyleel, he wreaks vengeance on the false informers and on the Tribunal itself. The alliance must end in Tradain's damnation, however. Volsky (The Gates of Twilight) creates a world in which magic is very real--and greatly feared by the ruling theocracy. Her treatment of the supramundane realm is generally impressive, reminiscent of the work of Colin Wilson in its able handling of ineffable alien mindscapes. Although the repressive rightist political context is melodramatically sketched with stock situations, and the prison scenes beg comparison to the many actual accounts of such imprisonments (and suffer by the comparison), the novel still is wonderfully enjoyable. The main theme--that vengeance fails to satisfy because of the intractable mindset of the evildoer--is provocative and thoughtfully enlarged upon through confrontations and dialogue that ring startlingly true. The last few pages seem hurriedly written, neither conclusive nor poetic, but otherwise the book is nicely plotted, with fine, intelligent symmetries. (Aug.)