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Dennis Jones is a brilliant new voice in fantasy fiction. The Stone and the Maiden, his first foray into the genre, has been enthusiastically received in Canada and the US, and readers of this first book in The House of the Pandragore trilogy can’t wait for the next instalment. It’s easy to see why: The Stone and the Maiden is a spellbinding tale of peril, passion, sorcery and high adventure. There is the legend of the Signata, a mysterious sacred treasure that appears as suddenly as it vanishes, yet it is the only hope in the lands of the Ascendancy, a world menaced by an ancient and merciless evil. That evil is the force known as Deep Magic, a power long ago banished from the world, but brought back by Erkai the Chain, a master of the dreaded Black Craft. It is up to Mandine Dascaris, heiress to the throne of the Ascendancy, and to the young soldier Key Mec Brander, to find the Signata. To fail means the annihilation of their world. To succeed may mean the loss of their own lives. An unforgettable tale of high adventure, The Stone and the Maiden is ultimately the thrilling story of two lovers who, haunted by their passion and their joint fate, must overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. Epic fantasy at its most richly imagined best, it is a wonderfully entertaining read.
The sudden resurgence of an ancient, malevolent force threatens to consume the lands of the Ascendancy, forcing two unlikely allies into a desperate search for a legendary relic. Mandine Dascaris, the rightful heiress to the throne, and Key Mec Brander, a soldier caught in the crossfire of political and magical upheaval, must navigate a world rapidly succumbing to the influence of the Black Craft. Their objective is to locate the Signata, a sacred treasure capable of countering the encroaching darkness unleashed by the sorcerer Erkai the Chain. The narrative follows their perilous trek through a landscape defined by shifting loyalties and the looming threat of total annihilation, framed through a third-person perspective that emphasizes the scale of the conflict.
The premise suggests a classic epic fantasy structure that relies on the interplay between grand-scale magical threats and the personal stakes of its central characters. The narrative focus on a legendary artifact and a looming ancient evil aligns with established genre conventions that prioritize world-saving quests. Readers likely encounter a dense, atmospheric setting where the mechanics of the Black Craft serve as the primary catalyst for the escalating tension. The dynamic between the two leads functions as the emotional anchor for the broader geopolitical conflict, ensuring that the stakes remain grounded despite the high-fantasy scope.
Page Count:
422
Publication Date:
2000-08-07
Publisher:
HarperCollins
ISBN-10:
0006485081
ISBN-13:
9780006485087
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