Helpful Score: 8
I'm surprised that there aren't more reviews of this book here. It seems popular and I was in a queue of 13 people in december 06 before I found it in a used bookstore. I picked it up because Kim Harrison (whose Hollows series I have enjoyed), is the pseudonym of Dawn Cook. This series is very different from that one though and is more geared towards a fantasy/YA audience.
Alissa has lost her father at a young age, and has grown up with her mother in the foothills. She is half-plains and half-foothills and because there is a great deal of animosity between the two she is outcast by both. Alissa works on a farm but has a habit of staying up all night looking at a certain direction. Something is pulling her, and her mother is sure that Alissa has inherited her father's magical abilities. One day her mother packs up her things and sends Alissa out of the house towards a place called the Hold, but Alissa is convinced that magic does not exist and does not want to go. Unfortunately she has no choice and has to hurry in order to avoid winter. On her way she meets a plainsman named Strell and while they do not get along they become reluctant travelling companions. Meanwhile the Hold is under the power of a Keeper named Bailic who has killed off all other Keeper's and who has killed Alissa's father as well. He is in search of a book under Alissa's father's keeping called the "First Truth" and will do anything to obtain it.
This was an enjoyable read, though Alissa and Strell seem quite young and naive at times, and are often having silly arguments. The book is also the first of a series so the end leaves a lot open, and the speed of the book seems slower to me than it possibly needed to be; a lot of time was spent over arguments between Alissa and Strell, their trip to the Hold, their day to day activities in the Hold.. but then, this probably makes the story more realistic as well that their adventures are not wrapped up quickly and easily. I will continue and read the next book - Hidden Truth.
Alissa has lost her father at a young age, and has grown up with her mother in the foothills. She is half-plains and half-foothills and because there is a great deal of animosity between the two she is outcast by both. Alissa works on a farm but has a habit of staying up all night looking at a certain direction. Something is pulling her, and her mother is sure that Alissa has inherited her father's magical abilities. One day her mother packs up her things and sends Alissa out of the house towards a place called the Hold, but Alissa is convinced that magic does not exist and does not want to go. Unfortunately she has no choice and has to hurry in order to avoid winter. On her way she meets a plainsman named Strell and while they do not get along they become reluctant travelling companions. Meanwhile the Hold is under the power of a Keeper named Bailic who has killed off all other Keeper's and who has killed Alissa's father as well. He is in search of a book under Alissa's father's keeping called the "First Truth" and will do anything to obtain it.
This was an enjoyable read, though Alissa and Strell seem quite young and naive at times, and are often having silly arguments. The book is also the first of a series so the end leaves a lot open, and the speed of the book seems slower to me than it possibly needed to be; a lot of time was spent over arguments between Alissa and Strell, their trip to the Hold, their day to day activities in the Hold.. but then, this probably makes the story more realistic as well that their adventures are not wrapped up quickly and easily. I will continue and read the next book - Hidden Truth.
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