The Assassins of Tamurin

Synopsis

she Was Only Eleven Years Old And An Orphan, Yet The People Of Lale's Village Hated Her And Drove Her Into The Wilderness. Cast Out, She Followed Her Destiny To A Place Of Dark And Shadowy Purposes, A School For Foundling Girls In The Land Of Tamurin. There Lale Found Affection, Sisterhood And A Home...and A Profession That May Cost Her Everything She Loves. Driven By The Darkest Sorcery, She Must Conceal The Truth Of What She Truly Is...

publishers Weekly

in This Well-crafted And Absorbing Romantic High Fantasy Debut, Set In A Land Resembling Ancient China, Lale, An 11-year-old Foundling Girl, Is Driven From Her Village Of Riversong To Take Refuge With Makina, The Ruler Of Tamurin. Makina (aka The Midnight Mother) Runs The School Of Serene Repose For The Selected Girls Who Are Her Adopted Daughters. At 17, Lale Is One Of The Promising Pupils Dispatched To The School Of Three Rivers, To Be Trained As A Ninja, As Part Of Makina's Longstanding Plot For Both Personal And Political Vengeance On Terem Rathai, The Ruler Of Neighboring Bethiya. Lale Later Arrives As An Actress At Terem's Capital, Where She Attracts The Ruler's Eye And Is Raised To The Status Of His Established Mistress, But She Can't Change Sides Completely Or She'll Die A Horrible Death By Sorcery. However, Her Love For Terem Grows, For He Is Attractive In Both Person And Politics, And Makina's Plots Increasingly Sicken. Eventually, The Course Of True Love Zigzags Around Invading Armies, Magic, Misunderstandings And Newly Rediscovered Ancestries To The Expected Happy Ending. That Ending May Be Somewhat Rushed, With Nilang The Sorceress Acting Like A Dea Ex Machina And Terem Being Almost Too Forgiving, But Even Critical Readers Will Have Enjoyed The Fine Narrative Technique, Superior World-building And Characterization. The Author Is Also To Be Commended For Heroic Resistance To The Temptation Of Turning The Story Into A Trilogy. (jan. 2) Fyi: S.d. Tower Is The Pseudonym For A Canadian Husband-and-wife Team. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.