Sidhe
D.M. Paul
Reviewed by Jenny Salyers
An
elderly archeologist has
found a rare cache of artifacts in the area thought to be where the
Sidhe,
otherwise known as the faerie race, where thought to have originated.
The most
intriguing of the finds is a staff. It is considered to possibly be one
of the
two legendary great staves of power. The artifacts have been taken to
the
multi-leveled city of Cloudview, to be authenticated
by the Cloudview Museum of
Natural History. Unfortunately, before the exhibit opens and the
artifacts
examined closely, the staff is stolen.
The thieves, Agents of the
Sidhe queen, disappear with their stolen treasure into the wilds of the
Park
that composes the entire thirteenth level of the massive city.
Deep in the Park’s forests, elf
scout Kestrel Greenleaf has discovered that something amiss. After
discovering
a trail of magic, she follows it to try and determine its source. Her
travels
take her to the realm of the Sidhe. The Faerie queen’s enchantment has
assembled an army horde of enthralled monsters. Along with triggering
the
growth of the seed contained in the ancient staff. The staff, unknown
to all
but the Faerie queen housed a seed from the legendary First Tree. This
is the magical
tree that all life came from according to legend.
Kestrel returns to inform her
elders of her findings. She finds herself being thrown together in a
dangerous
mission with Enob the High Wizard from Graylok, the sentinel Fox, and
two
agents from the Incantation Enforcement Agency Kase and Murdodox. Their
mission
is to obtain a branch from the poison trees in the heart of a vile bog,
fashion
it into an enchanted arrow, and pierce the young First Tree seedling
before its
roots take hold of the soil beneath the
massive city.
Can the intrepid group get the
arrow made and make it past the Fairie Queen’s army in time to save the
city of
Cloudview?
Sidhe is author D.M. Paul’s
third installation in the One Wizard Place series. He does a
wonderful job of bringing characters
we have been introduced to in the previous stories and introducing new
ones to
bring about a full fledged and strong group trying to save the city of Cloudview. Like the past two
books Sidhe has a strong
fantasy setting and a well written story. I enjoyed the chance to
explore the
magic enhanced Park level of Cloudview, which was only briefly
mentioned in
past books. The book was a nicely paced fantasy setting that both
younger
readers and older fans of the genre will enjoy reading.