Cephrael’s Hand by Melissa McPhail

Cephrael’s Hand by Melissa McPhail 

Blurb

"All things are composed of patterns..." And within the pattern of the realm of Alorin, three strands must cross:

In Alorin... three hundred years after the genocidal Adept Wars, the realm is dying, and the blessed Adept race dies with it. One man holds the secret to reverting this decline: Bjorn van Gelderan, a dangerous and enigmatic man whose shocking betrayal three centuries past earned him a traitor's brand. It is the Adept Vestal Raine D'Lacourte's mission to learn what Bjorn knows in the hope of salvaging his race. But first he'll have to find him.

In the kingdom of Dannym... the young Prince Ean val Lorian faces a tenuous future as the last living heir to the coveted Eagle Throne. When his blood-brother is slain during a failed assassination, Ean embarks on a desperate hunt for the man responsible. Yet his advisors have their own agendas, and his quest for vengeance leads him ever deeper into a sinuous plot masterminded by a mysterious and powerful man, the one they call First Lord.

In the Nadori desert...tormented by the missing pieces of his life, a soldier named Trell heads off to uncover the truth of his shadowed past. But when disaster places him in the debt of Wildlings sworn to the First Lord, Trell begins to suspect a deadlier, darker secret motivating them. Honor-bound to serve the First Lord in return for his life, Trell continues on his appointed path, yet each day unveils new and stranger secrets that eventually call into question everything he knows.

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My Review

This Book is like a roller-coaster ride. Character shifts, scene shifts and above all the plot surges forward in an amazing momentum Definatlely not a dull ride but yes... Keep some aspirins by your side table. :) How do I write a synopsis with multiple characters without giving up the story. The story is basically in 3 parts.

1) The first part deals with the declining race of realm of Alorin. Raine D'Lacourte is given the responsibility to save the nation from doom. He can but only with the help of Bjorn Van Gelderan. But there is only one problem. Bjorn is a traitor....

2) In the Kingdome of Dannym, Prince Ean suffered the loss of his blood brother in an attack. Where the shadows are more powerful than man and where no one knows who your real enemy is, into that land Ean forges to take revenge for the death of his loved ones. 

3)The third character is Trell, without any past. He cannot understand why the priest of the temple wants to save him from attacks. What is his destiny? Why is he important? He only knows one thing.. his life is never safe till the First Lord is after him...

Melissa has interwoven the characters to create Cephrael's Hand. A job well done indeed. 

Rating

Reasoning

The story is very detailed and intrinsic. For a 600 + page it is quite interesting. I read it in one day. So now you understand the aspirin bit :P. There are some problems I faced as a reader. Too many secondary characters and they are detailed. As a reader, I would love to stick to the main characters. Second problems were the names- both of places and characters. But looking at the genre, this is to be expected. But yes, they are a mouthful. There were times I wanted to keep it aside since I wanted to know what happens to Ean or Trell but a well lined up chars stopped me from reaching them. But the execution of the story cannot be questioned - it is well woven to keep you at an edge. 

About the author:

Melissa McPhail is a classically trained pianist, violinist and composer, a Vinyasa yoga instructor, and an avid Fantasy reader. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, their twin daughters and two very large cats.

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