Magic has deserted the men, the Sun Mages, of the Yellow
City. No one knows why or how the laws of magic have
changed. Now power flows only from the hands of women.
Untrained and untried, the women's power is still not
stable enough to be a viable help to a country plagued by
drought, hordes of insects and rats and the general
uneasiness at the change. Now new assaults have begun on
the populace. Gigantic sea creatures rise from the waters
and destroy whole villages. And something less tangible has
risen, something dark, something better suited to the world
of dreams and nightmares. A shadow falls on the people.
Seductive and insidious, it lures them with promises of
euphoria, and when they are far too entangled in the web to
escape, dealing them death.
Raeshaldis is one of a small handful of women just learning
how to harness her power. Shaldis had been cast out by her
family two years before when they realized she was one of
the Crafty Women. Now there's been an attempt on the life
of her grandfather, a vicious bully she grew up loathing.
Nevertheless, for the sake of her family, she returns home
to help. Once there, she's caught in a tangle of power
plays and deception. Shaldis realizes that once she's
helped her family, she must escape or remain bound to them
for the rest of her days.
In the Yellow City, a group of landchiefs have decreed the
king must reconsecrate himself to the gods in the Ceremony
of the King's Jubilee. A series of deadly trials will be
held to prove he's truly the king chosen by the gods. Oryn,
the king, realizes that when he took the tests the first
time, he was aided by the magic of the Sun Mages. So far,
not one of the Crafty Women has the power to keep him alive
through the trials he must face. Oryn suspects that at
least some of the land chiefs have come to the same
conclusion. If Oryn dies during the trials, the land will
be ripped apart. Fighting will erupt with chiefs battling
for the land.
The Raven Sisters know they need to work together to be
successful in their endeavors to save the king and heal the
land, but circumstances send each on a different path -- a
path they must all walk alone and in fear. Aid comes from
new and unsuspected quarters, as does betrayal and death.
One of them will be strong enough to face the Dreamshadow.
One will claim the power to save the king, if only she can
get to him in time. One will lie helpless as the man she
cares most for faces almost certain death. However, in the
end, they will all come together in the CIRCLE OF THE MOON
and claim their rightful powers.
This is a follow-up to Hambly's SISTERS OF THE RAVEN. Both
books are powerful celebrations of women realizing their
own power and self-worth. CIRCLE OF THE MOON is self-
contained and doesn't leave you with a "to be continued..."
although you know it will be, as there are still more
stories of the Crafty Women yet to be told. These two books
are Hambly's best fantasies in years.
Returning to the wondrous world of Sisters of
the Raven, Barbara Hambly presents a suspenseful and
adventurous new novel. Now the survival of the Yellow City
depends on a fledgling group of women who must develop their
own magic abilities—before the demons of the past return to
kill again…The laws of magic have changed—no one knows how
or why. And with that change, new perils have arisen: deadly
water-monsters from the depths of the Seven Lakes and a
plague of madness in the desert. In the strongholds of human
safety, anger and greed bloom as nobles and landchiefs fight
for power. Raeshaldis, the only woman formally trained in
the old systems of male magic, allies herself with the
beautiful concubine Summerchild to found the Circle of the
Moon—a motley group of women whose powers are unknown and
unreliable. Faced with an attempt by the landchiefs to oust
the King and with the efforts of her family to re-enslave
her, Raeshaldis must play a deadly guessing-game with
untested spells and questionable allies, while an even more
terrible threat awaits...
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