cover image A Rising Moon

A Rising Moon

Stephen Leigh. DAW, $16 trade paper (352p) ISBN 978-0-75641-120-6

“The Moonshadow has returned to battle” in Leigh’s second and final Sunpath Cycle epic (after A Fading Sun), set in an intricately constructed world of magic and conquest. Formidable warrior queen and magic user Voada once successfully harnessed the immense power of the ghostly Moonshadow to temporarily dispel the conquering Mundoans from her land of Albann. Now the Mundoans are back, led by the aging but dutiful Cdr. Altan Savas. Voada’s 18-year-old daughter, Orla, once enslaved by the Mundoans, is now free and vowing vengeance. Orla, who possesses even more power than her mother, rises to the rank of chief magic user and joins forces with Eideard Iosa, military commander and nephew of Voada’s war chief. Together they take on the Mundoan war machine while Orla struggles to keep the dominating Moonshadow from engulfing her. Orla’s epic chronicle of revenge ripples with elaborate magic, layers of logistics and war planning, politics, betrayal, and factions vying for power. It’s sure to please any reader of high fantasy. (Nov.)