Amazon.co.uk Review
Book one of "The Sacred Texts" is set in a world considerably more urban and urbane than traditional fantasy quest epics. Dirigible balloons ("airibles") coexist with Machiavellian plotting, Borgia-like malevolence, and deadly rivalry of great families resembling the Montagues and Capulets of
Romeo and Juliet. There's magic too, forbidden but still furtively used: each clan has its secret corps of "Wolves", black magicians who conduct cruel sacrifices and may become physically monstrous from spell backlash. Young heroine Kait is a trainee diplomat and secretly a shapeshifter--that is, accursed and marked for death if ever exposed. After a horrific clash of wizardry and assassination that almost wipes out her clan, she takes ship in search of the ancient "Mirror of Souls" that legendarily can bring back the dead. But legends may be booby- trapped: Kait and other characters become guided by helpful spirit voices, gods with their own agenda and no love of humanity, and the Mirror's
real function may be altogether different. Meanwhile, a long-dead sorcerer who opposed the gods with his own white-magic cult awaits rebirth.... The magic and its transforming side effects are exhilaratingly horrid; the novel ends with a whopping cliffhanger. Whatever next? Highly readable. --
David Langford
Product Description
Kait Galweigh is a diplomat - working to keep the Galweigh Family powerful, honorable and respected. Her particular task is to ensure that the arranged marriage of her flighty cousin, Tippa, is not compromised either by Tippa's own foolishness or by those who would see the Galweigh's fortunes founder. At a ball in celebration of the New Year and Tippa's marriage into the Dokteerak dynasty, Kait overhears the Paraglese of the Dokteerak and a member of the Sabir clan plotting against her Family. That she can hear the two men at all is thanks to a secret that she has kept hidden in fear of her life. Kait is Karnee - a monster in the eyes of the world - a shape shifter who in moments of crisis will transform into a wolf. In her life as a diplomat this other self is a blessing and a curse - she can, hear, see and smell with an acuity that show up the lies of politicians and kings, but her curse is that should she ever inadvertently reveal her skill, she will doom herself to a vicious death. DIPLOMACY OF WOLVES is the story of Kait and of Ry, a Sabir prince, also Karnee who would have her by his side despite the fact she is his enemy. It is also a story of a world that hides its glorious magic under a cloud of misinformation and misuse.