Author: Jenna Lindsey
Publisher: iUniverse
Paperback, 252 pages
Review Requested
No spoilers

from the back cover~

What if a daydream was an alternate reality? What if that reality became a nightmare?

“Travelers,” Ninehtah said at last, “create bridges between worlds; bridges of time which we cross when our next lifetime is fully formed. As we become incompatible with one world, we split apart and then gradually become whole.”

“What went wrong?” asked Jinnie.

In, The Traveler, Jinnie is magically transported to Ispell, to the other half of a dual existence and to the real love of Griffin. Her memory of her life on Earth, however, is as absent as her memory of her life on Ispell. She feels like an actor in a play who knows the story, but his forgotten the lines.

Without warning, Jinnie is pulled to a new life on a different world. Haunted by dreams of Griffin, Jinnie regains her memory only to be pulled even further away from the life and love she desires. Resolving to understand what’s happening to her and why, Jinnie finally discovers the horrible truth behind her strange existence, and the wrenching emptiness underlying the words, “I love you.”

Review~

This is a good, casual read for anyone interested in alternate worlds and time travel. I found the plot line fairly engaging and the characters somewhat intriguing, though I would have preferred a more in-depth exploration of their personalities. The different worlds Jinnie travels to were well-constructed. I’d like to see Ms. Lindsey explore those worlds in future stories, especially that of Yar with its complex social web consisting of the Mithlanen, Daskiny, Toranise, and Dysan.

The nausea and sickness that Jinnie experiences when about to Travel was believable (makes sense to make Traveling costly in some way) and made you feel her pain, confusion and discomfort.

The novel is fairly well-written, though there were a few places along the way where Jinnie’s constant vacillation between strength and weakness, and the too-frequent “I love you’s” between Jinnie and Griffin became frustrating and annoying. Still, it was enjoyable to read in a light sort of way, and I’d read more of Ms. Lindsey’s books in the future.

Favorite character: Ninehtah

Quote: “Know this much: regret nothing.” – Ninehtah

Rating:

Reading next: Naamah’s Curse by Jacqueline Carey

Interested in being a Guest Reviewer? Use the handy contact form and let me know.

from the hardcover dust jacket~

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy when the World and Time themselves hang in the balance, a wind rises in the mountains of mist…

…and Rand al’Thor is cold. Though the spring festival of Bel Tine comes tomorrow, it is a year without spring, a year when green things fail and hope is dying.

It is a year of strangers; of a lady; and a gleeman with his tales of heroes; and a peddler with news of the present–of war with Ghealdan, far away, and of the rising of a false Dragon–the savior whose coming, foretold and dreaded, will bring a new Breaking to the World. But the worst strangers are monsters Rand thought only legend–the bestial Trollocs, and the horrifying Halfmen, whose eyeless gaze is fear.

They want a boy on the brink of manhood, born within a certain span of months. They want Rand himself, or his burly, deliberate friend Perrin, or the prankster Mat.

It is a world where nothing is what it seems. Not Nynaeve, the village wisdom, who can Read the Wind. Not Moiraine, the lady from outside, whose beauty hides a terrifying identity and a Power that seemed only yesterday to be the stuff of legend. Not the lady’s companion, Lan, whose chameleon cloak is stranger than the fluttering, multihued garment that proclaims the gleeman’s trade of old Thom Merrilin. And not Egwene, the innkeeper’s dark-haired daughter, caught between childhood and womanhood, between love of Rand and determination to become all that her destiny would make her.

The villagers know only that Trollocs hunt them. They have no way of knowing that the Dark One, imprisoned by the Creator at the moment of creation, is stirring in Shayol Ghul.

It is a time for prophecies to be fulfilled. The Wheel of Time is weaving a Web in the Pattern of Ages, a Web to entangle the World. It is a time when Time itself may die, when the Eye of the World may be blinded. What was, and what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

First printing: 1990

Cover art by Darryl Sweet

Note: a new genealogy database has been started in the Genealogy Compendium, focusing on documenting the Aes Sedai.

from the cover~

Once there were great magicians born to the Maghuin Dhonn, the folk of the Brown Bear, the oldest tribe in Alba. But generations ago, the greatest of them all broke a sacred oath sworn in the name of all his people. Now only small gifts remain to them. Through her lineage, Moirin possesses such gifts–the ability to summon the twilight and conceal herself, and the skill to coax plants to grow.

Moirin has a secret, too. From childhood onward, she senses the presence of unfamiliar gods in her life–the bright lady and the man with a seedling cupped in his palm. Raised in the wilderness by her reclusive mother, Moirin learns only when she comes of age how illustrious, if mixed, her heritage is. The great-granddaughter of Alais the Wise, child of the Maghuin Dhonn and a cousin of the Cruarch of Alba, Moirin learns her father was a D’Angeline priest dedicated to serving Naamah, goddess of desire.

After Moirin undergoes the rites of adulthood, she finds divine acceptance…on the condition that she fulfill an unknown destiny that lies somewhere beyond the ocean. Or perhaps oceans. Beyond Terre d’Ange, where she finds her father, in the far reaches of distant Ch’in, Moirin’s skills will be a true gift when facing the vengeful plans of an ambitious mage, a noble warrior-princess desperate to save her father’s throne, and the spirit of a celestial dragon.

First Printing: 2009

Cover art by John Jude Palencar

Annagarian ~

• The Lady
• The Lord

Essalieyan ~

• Arianne – The Winter/Summer Queen
• Calliastra
• Cantaros – God of Just War
• Corallonne
• Cormaris – God of Wisdom
• Kalliaris
• Laursana
• Mandaros
• Miara
• The Mother
• The Oracle – Fate/Destiny
• Reymaris – God of Justice

Allasakar, the Lord of Night

The Ten Houses are ruled by a single House member, who is always referred to as “The -house name”, e.g., the ruler of House Terafin is called “The Terafin”. Houses are not familial via blood ties but solely by sworn loyalty to the House.
The southern Annagarians find this inexplicable given that their clan loyalties are all blood relations.

I’ve listed the Houses (with known ruler names) as located in the 6 books. I’m still trying to pin down the 10th…..anyone know its name? 

• Berriliya - Devran
• Darias - unknown
• Fennesar - unknown
• Kalakar - Ellora
• Korisamis - unknown
• Morriset - unknown
• Tamalyn - unknown
• Terafin - Amarais Handernesse
• Wayelyn - unknown
• 10th House??

Looks like HBO has given the go-ahead to produce a season of one pilot and nine episodes based on Martin’s popular A Song of Fire and Ice fantasy series.

Break out the swords, a mug of ale, and the big books for a re-read!

So far, the books in the series are as follows:

• A Game of Thrones
• A Clash of Kings
• A Storm of Swords
• A Feast for Crows
• A Dance with Dragons

Check out the full story from the Hollywood Reporter HERE!

Check out the CAST!

p.s. I’m liking Sean Bean as Eddard Stark *grin*!

Holler out if you like or dislike the casting choices…

Overview of the courtesan guild of Terre d’Ange, the Court of Night-Blooming Flowers, also called the “Night Court”.

Places within the Empire of Essalieyan and other areas either shown on the map or mentioned in the Sun Sword sextet books (most of them to be found in the North).

The Empire of Essalieyan ~

• Averalaan
• Averalaan Aramarelas
  • Halls of Arannan
  • Avantari (the Palace)
  • The Common
  • Merchant Holdings
  • Order of Knowledge
  • Terafin Manse
• Andaran Sea
• Antia Ocean
• Breodanir
• Free Towns
• The Menorans
• Sangarin Forest
• Sea of Marafel
• Western Kingdoms

Rawn assigns different meanings to gems in her Dragon Prince/Dragon Star series.

{Some Sunrunners see a person’s colors as gemstone colors. For example, Rohan’s colors are diamond, sapphire and amber.}

Also, some jewels absorb the power of their owners and can be used while Sunrunning (Sioned’s emerald) or performing sorcery (the gems in the diarmadhi mirrors).

Agate (any color)  — Persuasiveness, Seduction
Amber (yellow) — Protection against danger
Amethyst (violet) — Nobility
Carnelian (red) — Heals anger, Joy, Luck
Coral (red) — Healing, Many Children
Diamond (white) — Beauty, Cunning
Emerald (green) — Hope, Healing, Renewal
Garnet (red) — Constancy
Jade (green) — Luck, Wealth
Moonstone (white) — Wisdom
Opal (white) — Power
Onyx (black) — Happy marriage
Pearl (white) — Purity
Ruby (red) — Virtue, Success in war
Sapphire (blue) — Truth
Topaz (yellow) — Longevity, Intelligence