Raederle follows a typical Heroes journey, in this case from an aristocratical girl to a superhero witch out of some Celtical myth, very similarly to witch Sybel in Forgotten Beasts of Eld. And similarly, we still don’t know what’s behind all those mysteries, in contrast to many other books where it’s perfectly well clear what the antagonist is up to. Not only because it has a similar, distant and refined narrative voice (as many books of these two authors have in common), but mainly because LeGuin switched the main protagonist role from Ged, a classical male wizard hero to Tenar, a strong female protagonist on a journey of self-discovery.

Review: This book reminds me a lot of Ursula LeGuin’s second EarthSea-book, The Tombs of Atuan. Like Morgon, she has to wrestle with ghosts, the dead kings of An. They convince the captain of Raderle’s guard to set off with them to find and rescue Morgon-the-damsel-in-distress.Ĭlashes with shapechangers are expected, but Raederle has to accept that some of her ancestors are not only witches but also shapechangers which might alienate her from Morgon and also from her family. Raederle is accompanied by two other strong women: Lyra, the heir of Herun’s Morgul, and Morgon’s teenage sister Tristan. There’s a lot of political unrest with an ongoing war, rulers leaving their country, and the land-rulership of Hed passing to Morgon’s brother Eliard. That cover picture embraces Raederle as a warrior princess, only in 1980’s style. Which means that she has a magical gift that she develops continously as her quest to seek for Morgon progresses.

She is not only heir to the throne of An but also the titular heir of Sea and Fire. Its main protagonist isn’t Morgon anymore but switches to his betrothed one Raederle. Synopsis: This second book in the trilogy sets off one year after the events of book one. This is a commemorative read, Patricia McKillip passed away just recently.

Moon-Flash by Patricia A. McKillip