Product Description
From the author of Aurian and Harp of Winds comes the latest entry in this remarkable saga.The flame-haired Lady Aurian is not only a mage
of great power, but also a heroine of great verve and spirit.Now, with the birth of her child, she has finally regained her powers and been reunited with her soulmate, Anvar, but the Archmage Miathan's curse still follows her.And until Aurian wins the last of the ancient Artefacts, the mystical Sword of Flame, her victory over the powers of darkness is far from assured. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

supply your own ending
First I read Aurian... and it was pretty good. Then I read the second installment and I thought, well, one more and it'll be over. The third, Sword of Flame, seemed headed for a neat ending, but alas, in the last few pages Furey manages to turn us around for a fourth volume. I was so frustrated that I sat down at the computer and wrote my own ending. You may want to do so too; or you could stop after reading "Aurian" and move on to some more productive activity, such as rereading Tolkien. Furey's problems as a writer have been accurately described by other reviewers of this book: for one thing, she needs to reduce her vast number of adjectives, and she'd be wise to stop telling us what the bad guys are thinking. And then there are the cliches. And people's inexplicable motivations and compulsions (Aurian's mother is a whole catalog of these). And... oh well.

Unnecessary Sequel
I think this book could have been condensed into one of the other sequels.Sword of Flame just made me NOT like Aurian more because she became more self-centered and EVERYTHING relied solely on her.As the book cheesily states, she is "the One".She has a strong cast of supporting companions that I'm sure could have competently taken care of their problems without her, but the author makes it so that Aurian waltzes in, fixes everything and gains adoring fans along the way.Although the author tries to make her more flawless, Aurian becomes more flawed.You can call her ambitious and wishing to fulfill her quest, but there were times I wished she would step back and take more time with her son and lover, who should've gotten more attention than her new friends!It was like once she had a new toy, she was bored with the old..even though she occasionally came back to them.Though I am aware of those not wishing fantasy books to become cheesy romance novels, the relationship she possessed with those she claimed dearest to her made it seem as if they were merely friends, like the rest of the gang.If the author was going to take a step that way, I don't see why she couldn't have made it more heartwarming.However, I did enjoy the previous two books, Aurian and Harp of Winds, and this one for its detailed descriptions (though it did get long-winded at times) although it doesn't leave me as curious to know how everything fares out, for I'm sure the One can make everything right anyway.Nevertheless, I, like many others who can't stand not to finish a story (no matter how disappointing), have hope for the last sequel, Dhiammara.Overall, the writing is definitely not bad, aside from those items I've noted, and I hope to read some more improved books from Ms. Furey.

What a next chapter!
Wow! after reading Aurian and the 2nd book - Harp of Winds, I couldn't wait to read this one, and I wasn't disapointed. Its just as rich and exciting and passionate and magical as the other two. Aurian, like anyone has her good days and bad days, but her heart is in the right place, and after all she has been through, you wonder how she can have the strength to stand, let alone fight, but fight she does, and gives the reader another fabulous adventure.

A bonus volume.
This is the third book in The Artefacts of Power tetralogy (after Aurian and Harp of Winds, and before Dhiammara).

Reunited at last, the Mages Aurian and Anvar are ready to set off again in search of the last Artefact of Power, the legendary Sword of Flame. Together with their new friends, they travel to the Xandim fastness, where the shortsighted Windeye Chiamh can help them locate the lost artefact. There they'll have to face the demented former Healer-Mage Meiriel who has but one obsession, to kill Aurian's son. Meanwhile, rebellion is slowly fermenting among the Xandim people.

At the same time in Nexis, young Zanna is trying to rescue her father from the clutches of the fiendish Archmage, while as always, the cupid Eliseth is coming up with more devious ploys to thwart Miathian and seize the power of the Cauldron of Rebirth.

The Sword of Flame is what you could call a typical middle volume, in which many events take place but where the overall story in itself isn't really getting much further. Mark you, I found it quite enjoyable, but as a whole, I was less impressed, less taken aback than I had been by the richness of Harp of Wind. I guess I read it faster because I was in a hurry to jump to Dhiammara, the final volume. Consider this one a bonus.

A "flaming" story!
Sword of Flame is a very exciting book!! But i thought that the final battle was overwith to fast!!
The whole serie about Aurian is very good, and I hope that someone will make a film out of the books soon!! ... Read more

Product Description
Three unlikely heroes must penetrate a land of sorcery and secrets to save a world hurtling toward chaos.

From the dazzling imagination of Maggie Furey comes an astonishing new epic of a wondrous world on the brink of collapse...and the daring trio who will risk the deadliest odds to save it.

The world of Myrial is racing toward apocalypse.For aeons, its mysterious Curtain Walls have functioned to separate realm from realm, and race from race, so that each cordoned area remains a sanctuary for its species.But now the miraculous walls that have provided order for so long are disintegrating with disastrous results.

Mingling climates are causing unrelenting rains or deadly droughts, while warlike races are preying mercilessly on the helpless and meek.And the carnage will only grow worse unless a seasoned woman-warrior, a brazen firedrake, and a venerable Dragon with amazing telepathic powers--all trusted members of the Shadowleague--succeed where everyone else has failed.For they must first locate the heart of Myrial, where the secret for undoing this disaster resides.In order to reach their goal, however, they must overcome treachery, intrigue, and evil--and a mysterious figure from the past whose actions threaten to tear the Shadowleague apart.
Amazon.com Review
This fast-moving adventure opens Maggie Furey's second fantasy sequence, "The Shadowleague"; her first was the "Artefacts of Power" tetralogy. The Heart of Myrial is set in a particularly artificial-seeming fantasyland, which proves to be not a world but a technomagical construct, divided into isolated regions by sorcerous barriers of force. Thanks to the machinations of a bad guy who may have good motives, these "curtain walls" are now failing--the first symptoms being clashes between the enclaves' different environments, leading to prolonged descriptions of truly lousy weather. In theory the barriers are guarded by and can be penetrated only by Loremasters of the Shadowleague, a secret inner circle of representatives from this patchwork world's various species: humans, dragons, centaurs, wind-sprites, insectile aliens, and more. In practice the Shadowleague is almost impotent.

Against this complex background, various characters struggle across the landscape through terrible weather. A woman Loremaster and her irrepressibly feisty firedrake companion play leading parts in the large cast (many of whom suffer death or worse). After tortuous regroupings and plot twists centered on a particular city that houses a key magical shrine, the book concludes with a gory invasion of nasties through the holed curtain wall. It reads well enough, and of course there's more to come. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

non stop action in a strage and new world but the emotional side is a little overthought
I tend to go through reading cycles. Until very recently I was firmly stuck reading historical fiction-and I didn't want to read anything but that. But then one night I picked up a fantasy book instead and ever since then I've been on a hunt for great fantasy novels.

More than anything I liked the concept of Maggie Furey's "Shadowleague" series. A world where each species has its own little country with the perfect climate for it and landscape, bordered by energy walls that keep weaker species from becoming the pray of stronger ones. And a league of telepathic warriors-from all the different species of the world, who keep the diverse occupants of the world in check.

But something is very wrong. "The Heart of Myrial" starts off with impending calamity. The curtain walls that separate the realms are failing and the different weather systems mixing has caused havoc nearly everywhere. The Shadowleague is planning a conference of the most senior Loremasters to decide on a course of action-but they can't start until the dragon representative arrives.

Veldan, a human, and Kaz a firedrake (a large, fire breathing lizard) who is the only one of his kind every found, are charged with bringing the Seer of the dragons to the home of the Shadowleague in Gendival. But the long trek through the human occupied country of Callisoria has been hard on all three. Veldan is still recovering physically from a brutal wound and emotionally from a failed mission and is lacking in confidence. And Aethon, the dragon needs sunlight to survive-and it hasn't stopped raining in Callisoria for weeks.

A mudslide takes out all three and more loremasters are sent to help. But there's bad blood between Elion-who lost his beloved partner in the same fight where Veldan was hurt so badly, so Shree, a wind-sprite who is partner to the head of the shadowleague goes along to mediate. At the same time the ruler of Callisoria is preparing to be sacrificed to intercede with the God Myrial and save his people from starvation, illness and floods. And a mysterious man lurks in Callisoria-a man with a plan that could end up destroying the whole world.

This is one of those books where there's no good place to stop reading for the night because it is quite literally, from page one, non-stop action. There are way too many characters and storylines to go into here so I'll keep it simple. Bands of people are thrown together as things get worse-and the most unlikely combinations of creatures may be what saves the world....

Great plot right? The only real issues I have with this book is that the author really over thinks a lot of the writing-the detailed explanations of people's feelings can get annoying and pretty fake feeling. The other problem is that there are a lot of made up fantasy creatures in this book (most are old school but there are new ones) and whenever Furey is trying to list their capabilities is comes off like a list of powers on the back of a super-hero toy box. but it wasn't bad enough to make me stop reading.

Is you don't like complicated plots, lots of characters and lots of storylines then you shouldn't read this book. If you're looking for something really fast paced then this isn't for you either-the whole book only encompasses about three days. If you do like these things though, this is a pretty good, but not great, way to spend a couple of afternoons.

Three stars.

Good, but with some amateurish touches
Maggie Furey has created a world whose premise is inherently interesting.Myrial is an artificial construct world created by a mysterious people called the Ancients, about whom little is known.It is a world populated by many differing races, each separated from one another by magical "Curtain Walls" which cannot be passed through by any known means.Only her Shadowleague, a clandestine group of telepaths known as Loremasters, drawn from each of the various races, have the knowledge to pass through the walls, and their knowledge and existence is jealously guarded from the outside world.

Furey's writing style is quite readable.Her descriptions are quite vivid and excellent in helping the reader to "set the scene" and visualize the world she has created.Her choice to use many multiple viewpoints to describe her world, some of which only last for a single chapter, is an interesting one--in fact she probably could have gone farther with this than she did--and it really helps to make her world feel like a fleshed-out, real, thriving world.

However, there are several amateurish touches that get in the way.Her characters' use of the word "lifemate" instead of "husband/wife" seems jarringly 21st-century in her medieval-themed world dominated by sword and sorcery. Her various races include such exotics as centaurs, wyverns, solar-powered dragons, air-elementals, insect creatures, demons and angels, and yet somehow every race talks, thinks and acts exactly like humans do.Kaz in particular seems to be inspired by Steven Brust's jhereg Loiosh.(This is a pet peeve of mine in fantasy, btw--nonhumanoid characters should *not* act exactly like humanoids, or else they're just humans in a different shape.)The revelation of Elion's past trauma was clumsily handled by info-dumping, as was the revelation of the nature of the world and its current problems -- although part of the reason for this may have been the shifting viewpoints; she jumps around so much that it would be difficult to give us the whole story from any one character.So far it's good enough that I'll probably finish it out, but I don't know if I'll pick up the rest of the series.

Whew...
The back of this book was completely misleading. I assumed that this book would be centered on the three characters Veldan, Kaz, and Aethon, but boy was I wrong. The story starts off with them, sure, but then you are introduced to a slew of other characters, and the whole book follows each of their stories and how their paths cross.

This sounds like a problem, but it really wasn't. I did find myself frustrated occasionally when I wanted to know what happened to another character but had to wait and read a boring story of another. But after the beginning you do get interested in all of them, so the frustration ends quickly. If you read her Aurian books, this is a little different. In those there were also many subplots, but you could easily distinguish the main characters. This book is like one huge subplot though, and even though Veldan and Kaz are on the cover, I still don't get the feeling they are the main characters. I'm hoping that'll change in the next book.

This book moves very slowly time-wise. Everything occurs in about three days, and sometimes its difficult to line up what each character is doing in order. I'm sure thats on purpose though, and it definetly keeps you on your toes.

The characters are very likeable in my opinion, especially Kazail the firedrake. I've noticed Furey is very good at characterization, not making a person completely bad or good, and gives them the ability to change. One thing I preferred about this book over her last series is less wimpy characters. For those of you who read the Artefacts series, you should know what I'm talking about (I can't stand whiners). I'm crossing my fingers that it'll stay that way.

And for all you romance lovers, there isn't any in this book, although some future possibilities seem to be forming. Overall, I really did enjoy this book, even though it had a few flaws. I'm even more glad that I have the next two handy. If you did read her last series (and liked it), I would recommend you pick up all three. Otherwise, try the first one and see how you like it. I think all fantasy readers should give it a shot though.

Solid Read... Well-tied together
This book sat on my shelf for almost two years before I picked it up.Than I read it over the course of a single day and I was mighty pleased to discover it!The story is told from the perspectives of many of the characters, good and bad, and this isthe greatest strength of the book.It was extremely interesting how nothing and nobody was pure good or pure evil, and how all their motives were well justified.Some people may not like that, but it's real, and I was impressed by how well Maggie Furey pulls it off.It's very interesting when you see how two essentially good people could hate each other and each believe the other was of poor character when the truth lay somewhere inbetween.Whilst the worlddid not grip me, it is quite unique and different to the fantasy norm and there does seem to be plenty of potential in it. However, it is the characters that pull the story along at a ever increasing rate, especially as all their lives are intertwined in so many clever and surprising ways.The ending is a cliffhanger that will leave you wanting more, and I highly recommend this.As an avid fantasy reader, it is better than a lot of the tripe associated with the genre.Also, it's not too predictable, as I have far too many different ideas as to how the trilogy could be wrapped up!(Beware, the story does start a little slowly...)

Yes, No, and Okay
This is a good book.It was good enough for me to get the second and third as soon as they came out in soft back.However, it is not as good at the Aurian books and kind of reminds me of the four Aurian book (Dhiammara) which I did not care for that much.

I happen to like her writing.The charaters are intersting, the story is intersting, but please read all three books one after another.The first two kind of end in the middle of stuff, and there are a *lot* of questions that are not answered until book three.But it comes out as plesant, and full in the end, much worth reading.

But not enough to lsoe sleep over. ... Read more

Product Description
Obsessed with possessing Aurian, a swordswoman with powerful unawakened magical powers, the corrupt Archmage Miathan--maddened with jealousy over her rejection--plots to destroy her, unleashing cataclysmic forces from a lost age. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (74)

One of my favorite fantasy series!
I am on my third time reading through all four books in this series and I've now talked my boyfriend into reading them as well because I know he'll love them. They are action packed and have many interesting characters both good and evil. I'd highly recommend this series for people who love fantasy.

More like a soap oprah than a fantasy
I liked how the writer of this book drew me in and enjoyed the book untill Aurian got to the academy.From there on it wasnt much more than a soap oprah.This book was more distastefull than enjoyable.The only reason I finished it was because I liked Anvar (he reminded me of my husband) and because a friend let me borrow it.
It also had way way to much drama in it.I like having peroids to rest and enjoy the story but this was just one drama episode after another.It was like a bowl of soup that had to many crackers in it, dry.
I find the Dark Angel books much better than this.

aurian: a choice read
Ms. Furey has written a dungeons and dragons fantasy that will keep you up at night as she includes few stopping spots. The action is attention grabbing and doesn't let go.When you finish book 1 you want book 2 RIGHT NOW, and the same for books 2 and 3then in book four she pulls out all the stops.An excellent read but keep your dictionary handy, as she has an excellent vocabulary and uses it. A mixture of Tolkien andPratchett, with a wild imagination thrown in on top.

Couldn't reistAurian
I think I agree with most of the reviews here who tell you this is a standard plot, and garden variety fantasy.I give this book ...and it's sequel 4 stars for it's characters.So...they're a little cliche'd but I loved them.I especially fell for Aurian!I love a strong female lead and Aurian provided me with that (Luna readers would take to her and enjoy her romances).She was incredibly compassionate, fairly open-minded, strong-willed, stubborn and extremely tough.I just really liked her...I also like the rest of the cast and even felt a little sorry for poor old Miathan.I think Fury's strenth is her characterization.You grow to love her charachters so you feel their joys, pain and struggle.I've read the entire series and must warn that this is the best of the four novels.Only if you love this one would I reccomend reading the others.
In summary it's non-epic average fantasy with endearing charachters.If you like the human drama behind the fantasy and don't require a really complex world or a lot of originality in plot then pick it up.Especially reccomended for those who aren't into dark fantasy as this is really pretty bubblegum.

Aurian almost saves "Aurian"
I'm an avid fantasy reader, but anyone who's read more than five fantasy novels and also more than five "normal" novels knows that poor writers are often drawn to write fantasy. This is a case of that. Furey spends way too much time telling us what people are thinking instead of showing it through action and dialogue; she spends way, WAY too much time in the most unpleasant place in her universe (the dark wizard Miathan's brain--WAY too much information on what HE thinks!); and Furey falls prey to every stereotype and cliche in the genre (and there are a lot of those). I could go on and on about her debilities as a writer. But, BUT! Obviously a lot of people loved this book, and they're not necessarily wrong. The key is the character Aurian herself. She is a natural leader, a person with a sense of what's right and the courage to keep going in spite of everything that happens to her (and EVERYTHING happens to her). She's such a good leader that she even leads the reader. In the middle of this dank mess of a novel (and series---the next three installments only get worse) Aurian stands in the light. Maggie Furey is no Tolkien, but Aurian manages to be Frodo, Gandalf and Aragorn all in one, AND she's a strong female character. ... Read more

Product Description
In the sequel to Aurian, Lady Aurian, pregnant and bereft of her magical powers, and her lover Anvar return to the holy city of Nexis, bringing with them the Staff of Earth, a powerful weapon against the evil Archmage Miathan. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Fairly poor fantasy
I wasn't a huge fan of Aurian, but wanted to see where the series ended up. Unfortunately, this book suffers from the same problems as the first. Anyone who has ever had to write an essay/story has been told "show, don't tell". Unfortunately Furey never figures this out. We are told characters are mad/evil/in love without ever seeing why. Additionally, I was annoyed that the title was Harp of Winds, when the Harp doesn't show up until the last 30 pages.

Continueing on with the tale
Aurian can no longer rely on her magic and must fight in other ways to save not only her life, but her unborn childs. The settings are fantastic in this one, having the winged folk, and thier cities in the cliffs.

The Artifacts Of Power books are filled with one running main plot and several sub plots, making it an interesting and in depth series to read. However, by the end of the forth book all the loose ends are pretty much tied up.

The Magic continues!
This book is not as good as Aurian, but it is still brilliant. the action moves at a quick pace, but not so quick as to leave you running to catch up, and as usual the descriptions Maggie Furey gives us to explain the events are colourful and vibrant. The book is very easy to follow, even if you haven't read the first one, but who would read a sequel without reading the starter anyway? I loved it.

Well thought, well wrought.
This the second book in The Aterfacts of Power series (following Aurian, and followed by The Sword of Flame and Dhiammara).

After their harrowing ordeal in the blinding desert of glittering gem shards where they recreated the Staff of Earth, one of the lost Artefacts of Power, the Mages Aurian and Anvar find themselves victims of yet another treachery.

Aurian, now several months pregnant and so bereft of her powers, ends up in the stronghold of the Tower of Incondor, prisoner of Harihn, Prince of the Khazalim, whereas Anvar is taken hostage by Blacktalon, High Priest of the Sky Folk, in the high-peaked city of Aerillia. Both are in league with Miathan, who covets Aurian's child, on which he's put a terrible curse.

Shia the great cat might be their only hope.

In this second volume, Maggie Furey takes the opportunity of Aurian and Anvar's confinement not only to develop background characters such as Vannor and his daughter Zanna, Parric, Forral's former horsemaster, or the Nightrunners, but also to introduce the reader with a whole cast of new characters, among which the winsome shapeshifting Xandim Chiamh and Shiannath, therefore letting the story unravel gently, without slowing the pace of action.

And all the while, the mountain is watching...

Readable, but confused
Really, the title of my review says it all. I bought the book (actually, the books, since I bought books three and four as well) while browsing in a secondhand bookshop, and mainly because I liked the jacket illustration (I am referring to the English version, which personally I like better than the American one), so I had no preconception, and added to that had not read book one (and couldn't obtain it in France) so I was not in the best of minds to pick up in the middle of the story. Well. I did like the characters-most of them, at any rate.
But two things really account for the score. First, the story. It's not that it's particularly bad, but there's too much in it, too many subplots that get you confused, don't get you very far-when you think about it very little of import actually happens because the story is spread out between so many characters (add to that an annoying tendency of the author-but then it's almost inevitable when you deal with several strands of plots- to cut off at the most interesting moment. that's fine by me, keeps me reading, but the thought of having to wait for fifty to seventy pages before Mrs Furey gets back to them was almost more than I could bear).
Point two, the stereotypes. It's not enough that the plot is somewhat redolent of a typical quest fantasy, and that the main characters on the good side-particularly Aurian and Anvar-are so much the clichéd heroes that they become bland at times- but the villains are really too much of a caricature to be believable. And some scenes are so naive (like the one between Anvar and the Cailleach) that they make you shake your head.
I'd like to add that despite that, I'm in the middle of book three, and I must admit that so far Mrs Furey seems to have made an effort on the cliché side, at least as far as the villains are concerned, but this, coming after the second book, I am afraid, sounds even less believable than the Dark-Lord-villain.
The subplots problem has remained the same. I think it's a good light read, and she does have talent for creating memorable characters-but the ones you keep in mind are, I think, more the secondary characters than the main ones. ... Read more

Product Description
Returning to the world of Myrial, Maggie Furey continues her heroic saga of The Shadowleague. When all is lost, it’s the actions of a few brave souls that will be remembered forever.

Echo of Eternity

The Curtain Walls have fallen--leaving the world of Myrial vulnerable to unknown enemies from other realms. A slaughter by brutal winged invaders has left the city of Tiarond reeling, and the laws governing reality itself no longer seem to hold. Under the rule of a renegade leader, the Shadowleague slowly gathers itself together from its tattered remnants and braces for a devastating attack meant to shatter it forever. Missing is a ring, the symbol of Myrial’s divine power--and a reminder to its new ruler of the part he played in the collapse of the Curtain Walls. It must be found before his secret is discovered.

Missing also is the one man whose mind holds the Dragon Seer’s knowledge of all tribal memories. Two warriors and a firedrake embark on an urgent mission to find him--before the Dragons do.

When all hope seems lost, a young boy points the way to an amazing discovery. Caverns beneath Tiarond hold ancient artifacts that just might be the key they’re all searching for--but which they may be sorry they’ve found…


From the Paperback edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Did the person who wrote this even read the first two books?
Like the first two novels in the series, Maggie Furey's conclusion to the Shadowleague trilogy, "Echo of Eternity" is a non stop action packed fantasy following multiple storylines as various groups to fix and survive the destruction of their carefully constructed artificial world.

As far as having all the correct elements of a fantasy book this checks out. And it's not really a bad book. Only it seems to have been written by a totally different person then the first two. Either that or the author totally forgot details from the first two books, making this book look incredibly sloppy.

I won't go into the elements because if you read the first two I'm sure you'll want to finish, but to those looking to start this series, head my warning. This series as a whole is inconsistent, overly sentimental, more than slightly corny and has more than it's fair share of compete character changes and massive issues over simplified at the last moment to wrap it up.

As a whole I'd give the series three stars.

Individually this book gets two.

way too long...
...and nothing happens.I read this book simply because i read the first two and wanted to know what happened at the end.

At over 500 pages, this book is a whole lot of nothing to wade through at times painful to read thanks to the chain of cliches that make up the ending.Part of the problem is there is no antagonist.Sure there are a few minor battles and "evil" characters, but with no set bad guy, there is nothing to drive the plot forward.You could make a case that the vampyres are the main bad guys, but by this point they are more annoying than compelling.There are only so many times the characters can swoon overhow horrifying these creatures are before you start to roll your eyes.Also, who is the main protagonist?Reading the back of the book you'd assume Veldan and Kaz are, but they're barely in the book at all.They appear in one chapter out of at least five before disappearing again for another handful of chapters (which is a shame because Kaz is one of the most interesting characters i've ever met).

It is a shame that such an interesting concept for a series resulted in this disaster.Ms. Furey has enough imagination to create vivid characters and unique worlds, but not enough to see her stories through.I had the same frustration with her Aurian saga:i kept waiting for the story to actually become entertaining.

Skip this series.Or if you're still interested, borrow it from the library so don't have this clunker staring you in the face when you're done.

Good, good, good!
I have not finished this book, but I can say that I like it, just as much as I enjoyed the other two. The story is original, the characters are believable, and it is a story I can follow without continously asking myself, "Ok, now what's going on?"
I have not read her other series, but I think I just might once I am done.
I highly, highly recommend this book, heck, the whole series!

Neat if a bit to Neat
I liked this book.This is the best out of the three.Prehaps is it beacsue she had somewhere to go and an end.All of the qestions are wrapped up, all of the answers are given.The ending is a many segmented thing, and I guessed at a coupel parts of it because they were rather obvious.

My only problems lay in the fact that it is incredably neat.Everything is answered, resolved, and everyone is happy.Many charaters have made a hundred and eighty degree turn from what they first where.

But I enjoyed it.I enjoyed the answers, the resolutions, and the ending.Buy the series and read it.Read them one after another and you will be pleased.

wonderful concluding novel
Maggie Furey completes her trilogy in fine form.She even leaves openings for further novels in her world of "Myrial".While I prefer her "Aurian" series more, this trilogy is worth a read and even a re-read. ... Read more

Product Description
The Curtain Walls safeguarding the kingdoms of Myrial tremble on the point of collapse. If they fall, the world will fall with them. Its fate lies in the hands of the Shadowleague, but they have been shaken to the core by the return of the renegade Amaurn. Claiming what he believes to be his rightful place - at the head of the Shadowleague - the man who long ago betrayed the Loremasters must first persuade them to follow him. He has already deposed the Achimandrite, but now a greater challenge awaits - and his sinister past is far from forgotten. In the kingdom of Callisiora, in the mountain city of Tiarond, those who managed to survive the vicious attach of the winged Ak'Zahar remain trapped in the Temple. The new Hierarch, Gilarra, knows that time is fast running out for her and her people. Unaware of the great catastrophe that threatens to tear Myrial apart, only a miracle can save them. THE EYE OF ETERNITY is the triumphant final volume in this magical fantasy trilogy. Find out more about this title and others at www.orbitbooks.co.uk ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The Eye of Eternity (Shadowleague)
This is an excellent read, thoughtfully penned and incredibly rich in colour and depth.

Maggie Furey is a brilliant author and I would thoroughly recommend her work to all those who are addicted to the genre. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (1)

sorceress web
there are five otheres in the sreies and i have not been able to get the otheres which i'm sure is as good as this one .any idea how to get them??? ... Read more

Product Description
From Maggie Furey comes this stunning new novel that continues the epic saga of Myrial. Here the survivors of a ravaged city attempt to save their fragile and miraculous world from apocalyptic doom.

Spirit of the Stone

On the world of Myrial, the mysterious Curtain Walls have begun to fall and the realms and races that have been carefully separated from the beginning of time are now confronting each other, with terrible consequences. Hideous winged creatures have attacked the city of Tiarond, turning its streets and public squares into a killing ground. As bewildered groups of survivors flee the city in all directions, others make the treacherous journey to the sacred Temple, where the ancient power that can save the world lies hidden.

Meanwhile, two women warriors and a brazen firedrake journey to the realm of the Shadowleague, taking with them a Dragon Seer’s telepathic knowledge that might be used to repair the Curtain Walls. Yet not even that will be enough. For before the Shadowleague can act to save a rapidly unraveling reality, it must decide if it will trust a ruthless exile with a bloody past who can bring order to Myrial--or hasten its harrowing descent into annihilation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

A world falling apart; characters switching sides-all and all a fun read
"Spirit of the Stone" is the second novel in the Shadowleague series. It picks up exactly where the last novel led off and is just as action and character packed as the first book was.

When we left them Veldan, Elion, Kaz, the Hierarch of Callisoria (who has the memories and spirit of Aethon, seer of the dragons in his head) and Toulac a telepathic middle aged female warrior that Kaz and Veldan stumbled upon where crossing the border back into the lands of the Shadowleague. The Humans in Callisoria's capital city Tiarond are besieged by flying blood suckers who came through the failing curtain walls-while some flee to the lowlands for safety. Lord Blade, now revealed as the reneged Loremaster Amaurn is also on his way back to the Shadowleague to try and take over to solve the crisis he isessentially responsible for. And in Tiarond a band of young thieves are trying to sneak their way into the only safety left-the great temple of Myrial.

All the while the curtain walls are crumbling, the ring needed to control the calamity has been stolen by one of the winged abominations and the weather is getting worse. Every species on the planet is having their little world disrupted by predators or terrible weather-and the only real hope of stopping it is to get to the knowledge of Aethon inside the Hierach's head.

But the head of the Shadowleague is resistant to believe such a thing could be possible-and grieving over his lost partner, a being that was supposedly impervious to harm. It just may come down to the strangest of partners-and the luckiest finds beneath the city of Tiarond, that gives any hope of saving this unique world.

Like the first book this novel takes place over the course of maybe two or three days-but those days are packed. There are at least five storylines at any given time, so it does get complicated. If you found the first book hard to follow, don't even try this one.

Furey struggles with the same over described emotion in this book and there's a new problem-role reversal. Some characters, for no reason at all, seem to have had total changes of heart about things that they had set in stone beliefs about. The good guys become bad, the bad guys become good. It's a little annoying.

But when it comes right down to it, this is a fun book to read. I'm allready started on the last book in the series and I'm starting to think that this series and Furey's other "Aurian" saga are connected-so maybe I'll check those out too.

Three stars.

Pint-sized dragon steals the show!
Let this review cover both SPIRIT OF THE STONE and THE HEART OF MYRIAL, since I will not find the time to review both separately.

This is a very good fantasy series.It reminds me a bit of the Rosemary Kirstein series of Steerswoman novels in that it is fantasy with a science-fiction world for a backdrop.It appears that the world of the novels was set up in a perfect balance countless ages before by some super race.Climate was perfect, and various different races and peoples were set on different islands with barriers between them called "curtain walls.'Now the balance of this world has gone way out of kilter and the world is headed for destruction.Even now the weather is so bad crops cannot be grown and starvation stalks some of the lands.

In this setting, we have several most interesting characters on a dire mission, related to an effort by the "Shadowleague" to save the world.Naturally, there's a quest element -- the world cannot be saved if the heroes of the Shadowleague cannot come to a greater understanding of how the world got the way it is, and how it is controlled.Ironically, there is a scientific, central control center for the world which is totally misunderstood by the superstitious and ignorant peasants who now run everything.So this science center is NOW used as a magical temple for the priest class.I mean, sometimes you just want to THROTTLE these fools.

The character that is SO MUCH FUN and really steals the show is Kaz, the firedrake.This character is a pint-sized dragon.Bright red, covered with scales, and with the toothy dragon's jaws and head.HOWEVER, the firedrake is only about the size of a rhinoceros.Big, yes.But not huge, if you get my drift.The firedrake is an intelligent character in the story who communicates with telepathy.He is also a magical creature and a fire creature -- he can launch jets of intense flame for 25 or thirty feet -- the heat is enough to even melt metal.He also has quite a personality, always sneaking off to eat a sheep or two.I mean, this firedrake is a big guy, and those fires need to be stoked, you know?

Just for the record, the books have a few REAL dragons -- and I mean, these guys are really huge.Like about the size of a small freight train.Fortunately, to avoid going too far overboard on dragons and their firedrake cousins, the real dragons take something of a background role in the novels.

Great fun, fast moving, very imaginative -- and Ms. Furey writes VERY well.Some of the other reviewers have complained there's not enough action, but action is a trade-off against characters.To build interesting characters you need lots of dialog, and to supply this the endless action occasionally has to be put on hold.For my part, I think the balance between action and characters is pretty well maintained in the book.

I recommend both Heart of Myrial and Spirit in the Stone.Am looking forward to reading the third one ASAP.

Spiritof the Stone: book 2 of the Shadowleague
This is a good continuation of the first episode. Some interesting characters are introduced that I found are worth caring about. There are intriguing plot twists and tensions between characters that obviously aren't going to be solved in the scope of this book.

A Middle Book
Book two falls into teh same hole that many second books do.It is a bridge, bad stuff happens a lot, everyone is unhappy, everything is confusing, and you, the reading, have not a clue what is going on because the ends are still hanging and its quite fuzzy.

I did not dislike the book, but when I put it down I debated if I would get the third one because I felt lost.The book just started, and it just ended, in the middle of what was gonig on.I found no satasfaction, just more questions without answers.

Do not think that it is not worth reading, but I advise that you have the third book on hand and just open and start reading it as soon as you finish the second.

pretty good for a middle book
I love Maggie Furey's work and this book doesn't fall into the usual "middle book" morass.The story is great, the characters are well-presented, and the writing is wonderful.Furey deserves a lot of credit for her work and this series shows it. ... Read more

Product Description
Maggie Furey's glittering epic sweeping from Aurian through Harp of Winds and Sword of Flame, climaxes as Aurian draws near to a deadly enemy lurking in a city forgotten by time. . .

Bearing the Staff of Earth and the Harp of Winds, the Lady Aurian secretly returns to the holy city of Nexis--ten years in the future.Now its marbled towers are desolate, its river port ravaged, its magefolk a mere legend.Here she must begin the search for her vanished soulmate, Anvar, and her lost child. . . and hunt down the evil adversary who stole from her the Sword of Flame, last of the four great primal weapons.But Aurian's final battle awaits her far away in the southlands.For there dwells her old nemesis, the crazed Archmage Miathan--and there, in the ancient city of Dhiammara, broods a dark magic that could shatter forever the destined redemption of her world.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (26)

A slight dissapointment
The book seemed to be cut off at the end with too many questions unanswered.It was as if the author planned another volume or so and was told to finish the story in this volume. Otherwise a good read

Well if you read this far may as well wrap it up.
This book, aside from not really providing closure, just wasn't very good.Aurian (1st in the series) was great...so was Harp of the winds for that matter.Sword of flame was so-so and so was this novel.This series started out with a bang but dwindled to sparks and smoke.I was surprised to see others say that this installment was too grim....I'd say it wasn't grim enough at all.Too many charachters brought back to life over and over again.I stopped caring if anyone died as either

A. They will cheat death (literally), ignore the call come back to life.
B.Eliseth will use the grail and restore them to life as her puppet.
C. They won't really be dead...that spark of life will remain and Aurian will heal them.
D.This is just another red herring and they only appear to be dead/dying.

I think my disapointment stems from the strong start this series had. Aurian was a great lead and several other lovable characters developed in the course of the story.I think perhaps Fury tried too hard to hold on to some of the characters and I think she intoduced to many irrelevant elements to the book (time travel, switching bodies).I actually found those plot devices to be distracting from the story.
Also the ending was ANTI-CLIMATIC!This was an adventure that spanned roughly 20 years and was hard won.However our two main advesaries are killed off rather easily.Makes one wonder how they lasted that long!
Anyway the first two books really are good, the real strenth in the series is characterization....you'll love the cast, it's fairly light fantasy and has some good romance.My advice:Read Aurian...if you love it then continue.It's never that good again but on the other hand it's never really terrible and you do get to spend some time with the cast!

dhiammara
I think, the story is good enough in detail and story lines that I really didn't believe that it would be the last in the series (even though the back cover clearly states In this fourth and final volume....). the conflict in the story in lady aurian when she lost her child and the lady who serectly return to the town knew where the child was . I like the book because it was touching. It taught me to listen to people who are in a higher ranking that you are.

What's next?
Overall, I enjoyed the series, but as other reviewers have stated, the last book also left me waiting for more.Unlike her other series based on the Shadowleague, in which she ties up loose ends, this one seems incomplete.The death of the mage Eliseth was anti-climatic, and what happened to Sara?Did I miss her demise?I feel that she left too many loose ends, especially regarding the children of all the main characters, the Phaerie, the great cats, and Nexis, endng the book as if the finale is still to come.Is there any chance that we will meet the characters again in a new series?After looking forward to the completion of the series, I was disappointed.

What next?
I loved this book, just like I loved the others but I totally agree with the other reviews. There were a lot of loose ends left at the end, like what happens in Nexis with D'arvan, Maya and the Phaerie, what became of the cats on Steelclaw, and what about Shia and Khanu? I really think Maggie should give us another book or two to wrap everything up. And a movie would be great! ... Read more

Product Description
THE WEB: 2027 depicts a world very different from ours. Life is dominated by the Web - a global cybernetwork of virtual worlds. And no-one's lives are dominated more than the children's - most of their schooling is in the Web and nearly all their leisure time is spent there. The Web has become big business. But there are pressure groups who see its influence as insidious, evil even. The actions of one ageing technocrat are about to make the worst fears of the doomsayers come true. And the children of the world are in the front line. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Great Book even if it is a bit childish on the side
Another great collection of Sci-Fi Novels, a collection of Six stories that join into one big story... All of them have separate storylines which all coincide towards the end.

A great read for anyone on holiday and nothing much to do... Reads easily even if it is a bit on the childish sidemost of the time, a great read for kids getting into Sci-Fi and I certainlyenjoyed it...

A bit of a change from Asimov ;Þ ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Maggie Furey, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 845 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Product Description
The Web is the internet of the future; a vast network of virtual reality sites that have become the playground for the children of the world and the stage for mankind’s first contact.A contact that will be made with our children. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Visions of an exciting hi-tech future WOW!
In here are 5 different stories from 5 different authors. But somehow they all are connected by the same themes and characters. I managed to read this book within a week. I found it to be well written and easy to understand. It contains short sentences that are easy to absorb. I suspect it may have been written for teenagers. I'm bewildered as to why no one has reviewed this classic book. It's an honour and privilege for me to review it. While it may have been aimed for a younger market the themes in it are ageless and timeless. Mature readers will appreciate it too. What I loved about it was how my current net experience, while relatively plain, simple and uneventful, is correlated to this future vision of spectacular marvel. In one word, it's fascinating how it views the future of virtual reality and the (hopefully) future eventuating of how the Internet will prosper and develop to encompass our daily lives. I just loved how it projects people into simulated worlds like a cat with nine lives. From history to future space everything and anything is imagined within the Web 2028 and with vivid, exciting detail that humans can only dream of happening in their wildest fantasies...Overall I recommend this book. While I'm normally a sci-fi fan who liked Star Wars, X Files etc. this book appealed to me. I recommend it for all ages especially the young. I dare say it's better than Harry Potter as it's relevant to the current Zeigiest way of life and modern pop culture. Who wants to read about witches and magic when you can summon visions of a promising and idealized utopian high tech future. [Forget} Potter and Lord Of The Rings, read this book NOW!!! ... Read more