The Barbed Coil (Paperback)

Unique in JVJones' as yet short list of work (all those who join me in waiting for the much delayed 'Sword from Red Ice' will know this lady does not rush her art) this book includes our own modern world. Jones' stories have all featured a male and a female lead, their lives and aims interlinked but quiet independent. In 'Coil' the female lead is Tessa McCambfre of San Diego who is transported be means of interdimmensional fate to the Harbour City of Bay'Zell located in a world of knife wielding thugs and terrifying magics. You have probably read books with a similar device before, but JVJones' takes on all such Fantasy standards with an original and powerful approach.

'Coil' was written in-between the 'Book of Words' and 'Sword of Shadows' trilogies and this shows. Her style, first seen in 'Words', is developed and achieves a greater individuality but we don't yet see the intensity found in the latest books.

If you have enjoyed Jones's other work and this has slipped you by, then that is a omission well worth redressing. Likewise if you are new to the author and wish to try the writing out without committing to a multi-volume work I recommend this book to you as the being among the highest quality Fantasy writing available.

One day, to flee her responsibilities, she takes her yellow Honda Civic and drives without stopping until she comes to a clearing in the Cleveland National Forest. There among the trees are piles of safe deposit boxes, and a intricate, mysterious golden ring. As she puts it on, she's transported into another, exotic world.

More exactly in Bay'Zell, a port city of the province of Rhaize. Bay'Zell is a dangerous place for a young woman on her own and soon she finds herself harassed by two rogues. Fortunately, a piratical but handsone man named Ravis comes to her rescue and decides to take her under his wing.

Quickly she learns more about the continent on which she's just landed: Izgard of Garizon, the bearer of the Coil, is about to invade Rhaize to gain access to the sea. With the help of his monstruous horde of Harras, he's slaughtering all who stand in his path to quench the Barbed Coil's thirst for blood. And so Berick of Thorn, who conquered Garizon fifty years ago, is slain. His son Camron will hire Ravis to get revenge and assassinate Izgard.

Tessa finds herself caught up in these events. Taking refuge in Emith and his mother's cosy cottage, she'll soon realise she also has a part to play. Emith, who was Deveric, the late king's counselor and scribe's devoted assistant before he too was murdered, starts teaching her the art of painting illuminations, as patterns are the catalyst of this world's magic. But his skills are limited, and he sends her to the Annointed Ilse, where his former master Avaccus lives.

The Barbed Coil is a good, fast-paced adventure novel. I was a bit skeptical at first, but as the story flowed, I started to grow fonder of the characters, particularly of Emith and his mother, and of Angeline too, Izgard's courageous young wife. J. V. Jones's elaborate decriptions of the use of pigments and vellums are passionating and the gathering of momentum at the end is most suspenseful. I even caught myself holding my breath as I ploughed through the last pages.