Aurian by Maggie Furey is the first of a four part series featuring Aurian who is Mage-born as opposed to simply being mortal. Being a mage means you have magic. This book has a good story line but while it moves well--it simply doesn't dole out enough information about places and people. The characters seem a little flat and I just can't identify with many of them at all. Although, it is a good start for a first author--maybe it will get better as the series progresses.

Aurian is a young girl whose mother is an Earth-mage who is trying to repair damage to a valley that Aurian's father destroyed when his fire magic experiment went horribly wrong. Being ignored by her mother, Aurian mainly raises herself with help of the animals in the area (Aurian having inherited some of her mother's power can talk to animals). Until an old mortal friend of Aurian's father shows up. Forral, as the mortal is called, is horrified at the way that Aurian has been ignored by her mother. He talks to Eilin (Aurian's Mother) and through his stubbornness and Aurian's (who takes a shine to Forral from the beginning) convinces Eilin to let him stay and take care of the girl. Things go fine until Forral discovers that Aurian has also inherited her father's destructive fire magic. To keep Aurian from using it, Forral teaches Aurian how to use a sword. All goes well until a misfortune in practice that nearly kills Aurian. Forral is so dismayed that he leaves for parts unknown and Aurian is sent to Nexius, where the rest of the mage folk live, to be trained in her powers.

Once the power hungry Archmage, Miathan, discovers how powerful Aurian is he begins to make plans involving using Aurian and her power to rule the world (of course). He has the weather-mage, Elispeth, (a schemer in her own right) treat Aurian horribly so that she would warm to Archmage and rely on him. The Archmage then makes a mistake by inviting Forral back to Nexius to be the head of the garrison there. Aurian and Forral strike their friendship up again and is deepens into love. Relationships between mortals and mages are "forbidden." One because most of the mages look down on mortals as inferiors and because mages will live (unless killed by violence or disease) forever until they decide to die. Mortals live such short lives that is a source of sadness for a mage to take a mortal mate. This of course upsets Miathan because he has now decided he must have her himself. Now, if children are born of a mortal parent and mage parent they can take after either parent. There are very few children born of mage mothers at all, because from the sixth month onward until the birth of the child the mother loses her powers. Well, Aurian ends up pregnant by Forral, but Miathan has cursed the child using the power of an ancient thought lost artifact the Caldron of Life (which can cause death in the hands of evil).

Miathan convinces Meiriel (the mage healer) that the child should be destroyed, but Anvar finds out about the deed. Anvar is Aurian's servant she saved him from being beaten to death in the kitchens. Anvar is also the son of Miathan and a mage in his own right, but Miathan stole his powers and has silence the boy so he cannot tell who he really is. Anvar alerts Forral to the plan and in the incurring battle Forral is killed and Aurian and Anvar run from the city. They end up being shipwrecked on a foreign shore and taken prisoner in the foreign land. Now they must find a way to return to Nexius and on the way they must gather the other three ancient weapons so that they can defeat Miathan.

There are many other subplots and characters in this 600 page book. Many involving Elispeth's planning as she tries to grab power for herself from the Archmage. Everything in this book seemed hurried. The relationships (this is a four book series) are quick everyone seemed to fall in love so fast. Now I understand one can fall in love in an instant ( I have fallen in love at first sight myself), but not everyone does and especially not if you are trying to get over a past love. She also doesn't do a good job in giving character to her characters, Aurian is alright, but we are told rather than showed that Aurian is a good person. She has a temper and seems to be spoiled. But she does do some good deeds that make us realize the potential for a decent human being is there. I actually care more about Anvar than Aurian. He is actually given a personality and I am really warming to him. I also like a minor character, a mage, D'arvan who has a twin Davorshan. They have the mage power but cannot manifest it. Davorshan becomes involved in Elispeth's plotting. D'arvan when he becomes bereft of his brother who drops him like a hot potato to help Elispeth is befriended by Aurian and her mortal friends. Davorshan eventually plans to kill his brother, he feels that D'arvan is in the way of Davorshan's power manifesting.

Also instead of letting Aurian discover from different sources throughout the novels what she needs to know about ancients and the missing artifacts, it is all dumped on her at once in a dream given to her by one of the ancient races, the leviathans–a whale.

This book is written as if in the beginning it was to stand alone, and then it was decided to make it a series. It does move well and I did enjoy it. It is a fair start for a new author, but it does have a few shortcomings. I am intrigued enough to continue the series (especially since I have already bought them). It may be that the writing gets better as we go along. I'll let you know how the second one turns out. If you are a fan of fantasy, like quest novels, and are stuck for something to read then this would probably be a good choice.



Recommended: Yes