Vyrkarion: The Talisman of Anor

The third Chronicles of the Karionin installment assembles familiar elements into an unoriginal mélange. A chance encounter with a dying wizard leaves highborn healer Alanna Cairn to bear the eponymous Vyrkarian, Talisman of Anor, a living crystal of enormous power that Alanna lacks the training to wield effectively. The only person who can teach her is the notorious Jerevan. Meanwhile, Rhys Cinnac, “He Who Should Not Have Been Born,” whose mixed heritage provides an unfortunate and unpleasant racial subtext to his villainy, plots to take the throne of Ilwheirlane for his own. Armed with his own living crystal, magic, and an army, Rhys appears unstoppable. The legitimate Ilwheirlane heir, young Nahar Aubrey, is all too dependent on the adults around him, including the hapless Alanna. The story that results is depressingly predictable. (June)