Harpist in the Wind

Harpist in the Wind concludes Patricia A. McKillip's Riddle of Stars trilogy. Like the two books that preceded it (The Riddle-Master of Hed and Heir of Sea and Fire), Harpist is a grand adventure filled with evocative language and great beauty. A great battle is waged to determine the fate of the realm, but it unfolds in a way unlike any other war I've read before. And there is a satisfying resolution to the mysteries that preceded this book. Morgon of Hed and Raederle of An have become two of my favorite fantasy-literature characters. I find McKillip's 'magic system' particularly inventive and I am very enamored of her descriptions of the natural world, especially light and the way it reflects in various ways. Harpist in the Wind is an excellent conclusion to the Riddle of Stars, and the trilogy overall has become one of my high-fantasy favorites.