In this gritty fantasy swashbuckler from Kearney (Hawkwood's Voyage
), the first in a new series, the inhabitants of Umer, a world forsaken by its creator, live passionately, with no hope of life after death. Legends speak of an elder race, the Weren, whose blood lives on in the mutated Urmen, "shattered travesties of humanity," and in young Rol Cortishane, raised on stories of those ancient days by his grandfather Ardisan. When an angry mob turns on the old man, accusing him of witchcraft, Ardisan urges Rol to sail to the city of Gascar to seek the mysterious Michal Psellos. In Gascar, Rol learns about his Weren heritage, gains a magic scimitar and falls desperately in love with Rowen, an assassin trained by Psellos. Kearney's crisp, often lyrical writing shines brightest when his characters take to the sea. Readers who fancy the creak of ship's timbers and the flash of live steel, the taint of dark magic and the lure of long-buried secrets, will gladly sail away with Kearney's latest novel. Agent, John McLaughlin. (Nov.)
