Prophecy: Child of Earth (Gollancz S.F.) [Paperback]

Three cheers for Elizabeth Haydon! One great book (Rhapsody: Child of Blood) might be a fluke. But its sequel, Prophecy: Child of Earth, keeps on developing great characters in a believable fantasy world without sacrificing the momentum of a terrific story. Best of all, Haydon promises to bring the current adventure to a conclusion in the next book, so no need to fear TNS (the never-ending saga).

Prophecy continues the stories of Rhapsody, the Namer who uses song, herb-lore and affinities with fire and starlight to heal and protect, and her adoptive family: Achmed the Snake, an obnoxious former assassin and King of the savage Firbolg race, and Grunthor, his huge, cheerfully cannibalistic sidekick. Rhapsody travels in the company of the mysterious Ashe, who becomes much less mysterious as the story progresses. She meets a dragon, trains with a Lirin swordmistress who once carried Rhapsody's fiery sword, Daystar Clarion and races to prevent the assassination of the Patriarch of Sepulvarta. Meanwhile, Achmed and Grunthor discover secrets of their mountain stronghold and learn more of their own powers. Together they repel renewed attacks by the F'dor, a demon seeking apocalyptic destruction. But they have not yet identified the demon's host or disarmed all of its agents, and time is running out.

Fans of epic fantasy will find Haydon a worthy successor to Tolkien, ranking with Robin Hobb and Guy Gavriel Kay. Just don't start reading too late in the day--once you've begun, you won't want to stop. --Nona Vero, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The three heroes of RHAPSODY face up to their destinies and split up to carry the war against the demon who seeks to wake the dragon at the earth's core forward. This is fantasy with a richly detailed world, a sustained multi-volume story and characters who you can immediately fall in love with.

SALES POINTS The fantasy series that is set to dominate the first decade of the 21st century. The sequel to RHAPSODY; the book that swept all the reader's polls in the US in 1999. Vision and imagination to match the best of Eddings and Hobb. Our next Terry Goodkind - topline fantasy from the US. 120,000 copies in Hardback in the USA. Tube and Press advertising.