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Cephrael’s Hand

Melissa McPhail
Outskirts Press, Inc. (2010)
ISBN  9781432759674
Reviewed by Charline Ratcliff for RebeccasReads (12/10)

The annual literary awards program that RebeccasReads hosts is coming up and I was asked if I would be willing to review “Cephrael’s Hand” by Melissa McPhail. I always enjoy reading a good fantasy and even though my “free” time is limited and this book is a whopping six hundred and thirty-four pages I quickly accepted. Just to let you know, “Cephrael’s Hand” is the first in the “A Pattern of Shadow & Light” series. In other words don’t expect this book and its tale to finish together and don’t expect to read it in one sitting…

So, there are three major parts interwoven throughout “Cephrael’s Hand.” First is the realm of Alorin. Alorin, and its Adept race, are dying because of a genocidal war that happened three hundred years earlier. Only Bjorn van Gelderan holds the knowledge to revert this decline but, unfortunately, he’s the same man who was branded a traitor for his heinous betrayals during those Adept Wars. Raine D’Lacourte, an Adept himself, has been charged with the saving of his race but to do so he must first locate Bjorn who isn’t really interested in being found…

Next we move on to the kingdom of Dannym where the sole surviving heir to the Eagle Throne, Prince Ean val Lorian, faces a tenuous and tempestuous future. Lorian’s blood-brother Creighton is slain during a failed assassination attempt against the Prince, and now Prince Lorian is determined to find the responsible party. His quest for justice leads him ever deeper into a sinuous plot masterminded by the one his people call “First Lord…”

Lastly we visit the Nadori desert and meet Trell, a well respected soldier, who has no recollection of his life before he came to be known as Trell of the Tides. As he heads off to try to uncover the mystery of his past disaster befalls him, placing him squarely in the debt of those who are sworn to serve the First Lord…

I finally finished “Cephrael’s Hand” and I have to say it was a fantastic read. It was interesting. It was well written and, believe it or not, it was descriptive without becoming verbose. I was pretty much on the edge of my seat as I read wondering what was going to happen next. Melissa McPhail is an extremely talented writer and she did a phenomenal job of cohesively winding these different strands throughout “Cephrael’s Hand.”

Needless to say, I give “Cephrael’s Hand” a five-star rating and am anxiously awaiting the release of Book Two…

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