Saturday, January 24, 2009

Maggie Furey

Do you like strong women characters in your books? Do you want adventure stories with lots of action and magic? The Fantasy worlds of Maggie Furey have these things and much more. Ms. Furey writes books filled with vivid images, powerful characters and plenty of magical action. Her worlds have plots that move quickly, leaving a reader wanting more.

Aurian is the first book of Ms. Furey’s series “The Artefacts of Power.” Aurian is a young woman mage. She is sent to the city of Nexis to get training. In this world mage-folk are the rulers and do not mix with normal humans. Aurian breaks these rules by befriending many humans. She falls in love with Forral who is a mortal warrior. When she becomes pregnant, Miathan the archmage gets angry. He uses the Cauldron, one of the recently discovered ancient artefacts, to kill her lover and place a curse on her unborn child. She flees the city with a slave named Anvar and ends up in the southern continent.

The second book is Harp of Winds. Aurian’s pregnancy is slowly taking her magic away. She and Anvar are negotiating the dangerous southern continent with several companions searching for the other Artefacts of power to thwart Miathan’s plans. On their search, they meet new races such as the Skyfolk. These are people with wings that add another complication with their own intrigues.

Sword of Flames continues Aurian’s and Anvar’s stories as they search for the Sword of Flame. They must contend with Miathan’s continued machinations and hatred. Aurian’s son is still trapped with a curse. Their companions and allies battle over two continents in an effort to defeat the evil mages. Then, enters the wild card of the Phaeries, which ends the book in a real cliff hanger for the conclusion.

Ms. Furey brings the series to a rousing conclusion with Dhiammara. Aurian defeated one of her enemies, but now must face the powerful weather mage Elliseth. She has many obstacles, including dealing with the soul of her first lover now residing in Anvar’s body. With her companions, she must travel to the southern continent again to fight Elliseth at the ancient dragon city of Dhiammara. The series is neatly wrapped up with some vivid battle scenes and a lot of action. Readers are left with memorable characters and a satisfying conclusion.

Ms. Furey begins the new series of “The Shadowleague” with the The Heart of Myrial. This is a new world where the different realms are separated by curtains of magic. The curtains are breaking down, creating massive climatic changes and allowing stronger species to cross into zones of weaker ones, resulting in chaos. The Shadowleague sends out a Veldan her firedrake Kazairl to find the heart of Myrial. It is the only place to solve the problem of the Curtain Walls. This is a fascinating beginning to a new series that will be as interesting as her previous books.

The second book, Spirit of the Stone, continues the story of the world of Myrial. Deadly winged monsters have attacked the city Tiarond, leaving death everywhere. While survivors flee the devastation, a group of warriors try to reach the kingdom of the Shadowleague with important information. They have the knowledge of a Dragon Seer with them that could save the world. Ms. Furey keeps the middle book exciting with plenty of action and setting readers up for the last book.

Echo of Eternity wraps up the series of the “Shadowleague.” The struggle to save the world of Myrial is still continuing. With the Curtain Walls gone, the scattered members of the Shadowleague try to gather together. A man with the knowledge of the Dragon Seer is missing. Two warriors and their firedrake companion seek him in order to save the world before it is too late. The author brings the trilogy to a satisfying conclusion with her usual vivid descriptions and interesting characters.

Maggie Furey is a talented Fantasy author of imaginative worlds. She creates strong women characters to sympathize with and interesting creatures to populate her worlds. Her style of writing is concise but filled with dazzling images, plenty of magic and tight action plots. Readers will find her books entertaining. The books are hard to put down. Check out her books for a great reading experience. Ms. Furey has a new book, Heritage, coming out soon that returns to the world of Aurian.

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