The Third Book of The Magravandias Chronicles The sudden death of the Emperor Leonid has plunged the empire of Magravandias into chaos. To preserve order, Valraven Palindrake, Dragon Lord of Caradore, reluctantly pledges his support to the young Crown Prince, Gastern. Concerned for the fate of her adopted country, Varencienne Palindrake, Valraven's wife and Leonid's daughter, embarks on a perilous journey to Magrast to confer with her mother, the Empress Tatrini. But en route, she is captured by the dark magus Taropat and his student Shan, who hope to use her as a pawn in their own intricate game to revive three lost implements of power: the Dragon's Eye, the Dragon's Breath, and the Dragon's Claw. As Magravandias descends toward a holocaust of bloodshed and warfare, a dark cabal of Firemages schemes in secret to engineer the coronation of their own chosen successor. And in Caradore, the twin children of Valraven Palindrake summon ancient magics to open the Way of Light and place a True King on the throne. With the unexpected death of the Emperor Leonid, the Magravandian Empire descends into chaos and mayhem as warring factions seek control. Against this backdrop, the conquered heirs of Caradore struggle to survive and to wrest their ancient heritage from those who would lay claim to the power of the sea dragons. Constantine's conclusion to her trilogy (Sea Dragon Heir, The Crown of Silence) provides a satisfying wrap-up to a story of forbidden love, broken loyalties, and magic. Her sensual prose should appeal to fans of Tanith Lee and Terry Goodkind. A good addition, along with its series predecessors, to most fantasy collections. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Constantine concludes the saga of the Magravandian Empire, in which she has effectively and compellingly combined high fantasy and court intrigue. The sudden death of Emperor Leonid has created a succession crisis in Magravandias, one complete with factions armed with swords and spells. Chief among the spell-slingers are the Firemages, as disagreeable a cabal of magically powered thugs as ever one would not wish to meet. The children of the Dragon Lord of Caradore, led by the mother of the whole brood, Tatrini, have to reply to the Firemages in kind. The book takes a great many pages to get to the inevitable happy ending, but on the whole those are interesting pages, and Tatrini is, more than most of her numerous offspring, a fascinating protagonist, whether or not she was intended to be. Constantine has been growing more polished as a stylist and more exuberant in action scenes, and altogether this book can be unequivocally called intelligent entertainment. Roland Green Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved “A story redolent of myth, magic, and political intrigue.”— Booklist “Storm Constantine is a myth-making Gothic queen, whose lush tales are compulsive reading. Her stories are poetic, involving, delightful, and depraved. I wouldn’t swap her for a dozen Anne Rices!”—Neil Gaiman Storm Constantine has written over twenty books, both fiction and non-fiction and well over fifty short stories. Her novels span several genres, from literary fantasy, to science fiction, to dark fantasy. She is most well known for her Wraeththu trilogy (omnibus edition published by Tor), and is currently at work on a new set of novels set in the world of Wraeththu, beginning with The Wraiths of Will and Pleasure (Tor, 2003). Wraeththu are magical and sensual hermaphroditic beings, who when their story first began, almost twenty years ago, broke startling new ground in the often staid fantasy/sf genres. Her influences include myth, magic and ancient history and the foibles of human nature. She uses writing and fiction to bridge the gap between mundane reality and the unseen realms of imagination and magic. She strives to awaken perception of these inner realms and the unexplored territory of the human psyche. Aside from writing, Storm runs the Lady of the Flame Iseum, a group affiliated to the Fellowship of Isis, and is known to conduct group members on tours of ancient sites in the English landscape, in her husband's beat up old army Land Rover. She is also a Reiki Master/Teacher, has recently set up her own publishing company, Immanion Press, to publish esoteric books, and teaches creative writing when she gets the time. Neil Gaiman, author of the Sandman series, once said: 'Storm Constantine is a mythmaking, Gothic queen, whose lush tales are compulsive reading. Her stories are poetic, involving, delightful, and depraved. I wouldn't swap her for a dozen Anne Rices!'