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View our feature on Carol Berg’s The Spirit Lens.
A brand new fantasy trilogy from an author who "brilliantly brings out her characters" (Denver Post).
For Portier de Savin-Duplais, failed student of magic, sorcery's decline into ambiguity and cheap illusion is but a culmination of life's bitter disappointments. Reduced to tending the library at Sabria's last collegia magica, he fights off despair with scholarship. But when the King of Sabria charges him to investigate an attempted murder that has disturbing magical resonances, Portier believes his dreams of a greater destiny might at last be fulfilled...
Though Colorado is home, Carol Berg's roots are in Texas, in a family of teachers, musicians, and railroad men. She has degrees in mathematics from Rice University and computer science from the University of Colorado, but managed to squeeze in minors in English and art history along the way. She has combined a career as a software engineer with her writing, while also raising three sons. She lives with her husband at the foot of the Colorado mountains.
Anonymous
Posted February 11, 2012
Lol
0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted December 6, 2011
As always, Carol Berg delivers a strong, original story
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Ronin27
Posted May 28, 2011
Berg has an artistry to her writing that draws you in and envelopes you in her characters and their world... as pleasurable and succulent as an expensive meal served with a fine wine... a writer's writer...
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Indil
Posted March 27, 2010
I Also Recommend:
Once again, Carol Berg has created a world with believable magical and political systems and wonderful characters. Though some of the "secrets" are obvious or predictable, her characters always have depth that easily overcomes any shortcomings, and her writing is compelling. I was torn between reading it all as quickly as possible and slowing down to allow myself to savor every sentence. Well done! When's the next one coming?
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.The world of sorcery and magic may be coming to an end as increasingly historians and philosophers as well as King Philippe of Sabria turn to natural science for answers. When the ruler begins to close the collegia magica, the faculty and staff picture a threat to their lucrative way of life. Many of the mages believe assassinating the monarch will end this nonsense.
Portier de Savin-Duplais has failed at everything he has attempted including flunking out as a magic student. He gets by with cheap tricks and illusions as he knows he cannot charm a flea to live on a dog; instead he is a low life curator at the last collegia magica in Sabria. However, a despondent Portia battling depression is stunned when his cousin a zillion or so blood lines apart, King Philippe assigns him with the investigation into what the monarch thinks is a plot to murder him. Portier is euphoric as he feels his greatness will be fulfilled although his companions Ilario the chevalier and Dante the rogue sorcerer seem to keep tearing down his superego.
This is a super opening to what looks like a great alternate Renaissance fantasy. The cast is strong regardless of their significance, but especially the lead protagonist who seems like he suffers from Bipolar disorder and his zany companions. Fans will appreciate this strong beginning as science and sorcery collide when three undercover agents investigate the divine and unholy collision of murder, magic, and physics.
Harriet Klausner
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Overview
View our feature on Carol Berg’s The Spirit Lens.
A brand new fantasy trilogy from an author who "brilliantly brings out her characters" (Denver Post).
For Portier de Savin-Duplais, failed student of magic, sorcery's decline into ambiguity and cheap illusion is but a culmination of life's bitter disappointments. Reduced to tending the library at Sabria's last collegia magica, he fights off despair with scholarship. But when the King of Sabria ...