cover image The Stone and the Maiden: The House of the Pandragore

The Stone and the Maiden: The House of the Pandragore

Dennis Jones. Eos, $23 (432pp) ISBN 978-0-380-97801-4

Despite its conventionality, Jones's fantasy debut follows a story line sufficiently compelling to carry most readers to its end. The brave and beautiful Mandine Descaris, heiress to the royal throne of the Ascendancy, faces the Tathars, a horde of barbaric horsemen who are ravaging her country. Leading the Tathars is the sorcerer Erkai the Chain, master of a dreaded form of magic: the Black Craft. In company with the valorous and virtuous captain Key Mec Brander (her eventual consort), Mandine seeks a magical talisman, the Signata, that can defeat Erkai. But the Signata has appeared only three times in the past 4000 years, so finding it promises to be a long, arduous quest. Mandine's half-sister, Theatana, meanwhile allies herself with the ambitious Lord Bardas and does her best to deceive Mandine and take the throne of the Ascendancy for herself. Jones's prose is graceful and his pacing brisk. His principal characters lack original, nuanced personalities, however, and the medieval setting never blossoms into a fully imagined, unique world. Nonetheless, the author's persuasive plot should keep most fantasy readers engaged. (Aug.)