Book six in The Gates of Heaven series plunges straight into a detailed world. I had not read any of the previous fantasy volumes, so suffered from lack of understanding of what was going on, initially. THE SANDS OF ETHYRN conceal a ruined tower complex in a drought-stricken land where an altar and scroll are uncovered, with a talisman jewel which puts the elderly king into a trance when he touches it. There is an earlier chapter, but it is hard to get into and about a different character in a different age, so new or young readers may like to skip to a more accessible part of the tale.

Ra'daf is a young scribe who isn't pretty enough to be a court lady, so she's allowed to use her wits and sit among scrolls all day. She has a gift for translation so is asked to decipher the venerable scroll found at the altar, in the hope that it can save the king.

Meanwhile, in a past time, order is breaking down, with village men conscripted so not enough are left to protect homes and farms from raiders. A young man called Lael is grabbed by a slaver who needs countless men to work on a giant tower, planned to reach heaven itself. Raban the builder has discovered how to crush fossilised shells to make lime mortar to bind sand into bricks, and the tower is already awe-inspiring. His quarries are running short of sand, and a wizard named Sha'kath shows him that plenty is to be had in a place called Ethryn, far off but the wizard can arrange transport. The wizard knows that the sand dropping through the hole he creates is coming from the future. In that future, young Ra'daf sees the sinkhole develop at the ruins and wonders exactly where the sand is going.... Power-hungry Sha'kath has his own reasons for wanting the sand in Ethyrn desert used; this uncovers stone gryphons which, by travelling between times, he means to awaken and put to his bidding. Peril arrives on swift wings.

This interesting premise reminded me of Shelley's poem 'Ozymandias' in which the boastful ruler's giant statue is a wreck in the desert. The landscapes of both times are well described and there are several sacred sites around the world, one of which is addressed in each book. THE SANDS OF ETHYRN will be better for those who have followed the series by C.S. Lakin, but once you get to know the characters, you can read it as a standalone. At that point I started to like this clever fantasy quite a lot.