Eagle-Sage

The third and concluding volume of the LonTobyn Chronicle will appeal to those who like their epic fantasy based on politics, economic forces and historic motifs rather on than fairy tales and romance. Mages who physically bond with avian familiars serve pastoral Tobyn-Ser. Its neighboring realm, Lon-Ser, has developed complicated technology. Divided into three megacities called Nals, which maintain a precarious balance through economic and political cold war, Lon-Ser is devoid of magic. Lon-Ser and Tobyn-Ser enjoy a peaceful trade alliance, but the introduction of capitalism and technology into the magical sylvan paradise brings problems: its forests are rapidly disappearing due to a now-lucrative logging trade, and ""free"" mages have allied with a People's Movement to stop such incursions; most mages, however, remain allied to either the Order or the League, two coalitions engaged in a longstanding power struggle. Then, for the first time in 400 years, an eagle is bound as a mage's familiar--the appearance of an Eagle-Sage always portends war. Jaryd, the new Eagle-Sage, and the others of the Order accept the portent but puzzle over with whom the war will be fought. When Cailin, a young woman of the League, also binds to an eagle, it appears that Tobyn-Ser will be split by some sort of civil conflict. Characterization, although present, plays second fiddle to ideology in this epic. It's as if Robert Jordan began channeling Will and Ariel Durant. Agent, Harold Roth. (Apr.)