The Wizard Hunters: The Fall of Ile-Rien

by Martha Wells

Overview

Once a fertile and prosperous land, Ile-Rien is under attack by the Gardier, a mysterious army whose storm-black airships appear from nowhere to strike without warning. Every weapon in the arsenal of Ile-Rien's revered wizards has proven useless.

And now the last hope of a magical realm under siege rests within a child's plaything.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780380807987
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/25/2004
Series:	Fall of Ile-Rien Series , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	300,843
Product dimensions:	4.19(w) x 6.75(h) x 1.16(d)

About the Author

Martha Wells is the author of five previous novels: The Wizard Hunters, the first book of the Fall of Ile-Rien, The Element of Fire, City of Bones, Wheel of the Infinite, and The Death of the Necromancer, which was nominated for the Nebula Award. She lives in College Station, Texas, with her husband.

Editorial Reviews

"It was nine o'clock at night and Tremaine was trying to find a way to kill herself that would bring in a verdict of natural causes in court, when someone banged on the door." So begins Nebula-nominee Wells's entrancing return to the world of The Death of the Necromancer (1998), and if the rest of the book doesn't quite fulfill the promise of that first sentence, it comes very, very close. On Ile-Rien, a world besieged by the mysterious and well-nigh invulnerable Gardier, Tremaine is recruited to help devise a spell that can break through the Gardier airships' impregnable shields. Yet instead of creating a weapon, the spell transports Tremaine and a small band of cohorts to another world with a secret Gardier base, giving them a chance to spy on the enemy of which they know so little. Tremaine makes an engaging and resourceful heroine, if a reluctant one, while her well-drawn fellow adventurers add plenty of human interest. Where the book falters is in the repetitive action, as various characters fall into the hands of the Gardier, then escape, return to rescue comrades left behind or to attack, get recaptured and escape again and again. Wells's ability to keep the reader wondering what will happen next, however, more than compensates for this relatively minor flaw. (May 20) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

A mysterious enemy known as the Gardier has launched a full-scale attack on the land of Ile-Rien, penetrating the country's defensive magics with their powerful airships. Called in to assist Ile-Rien's sorcerers with the operation of a magical sphere belonging to her family, playwright Tremaine Valiarde finds herself transported to another world where users of magic are hunted and killed and where the Gardier have established a secret base from which to launch their attacks. Set in the same world as the Nebula Award-nominated Death of the Necromancer, Well's first volume in this new trilogy features fine storytelling and a unique mixture of magic and early 20th century science. Her memorable tale is good addition to most fantasy collections. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

First of a new trilogy and sequel to The Death of the Necromancer (1998), set in a world where magic and alchemy both work. Ile-Rien and the city Vienne are under attack from mysterious antagonists known as the Gardier; their black airships are invulnerable to the Rienish wizards' most powerful spells, their bombs have devastated the city, and their terrifying spell causing electrical and mechanical devices to explode cannot be countered. When crime lord Nicholas Valiarde discovered the Gardier, his sidekick, Arisilde, Ile-Rien's most powerful wizard, built a strange magical sphere before both he and Arisilde vanished in a blaze of light and were presumed dead. Now, five years later, Tremaine, Nicholas's suicidal daughter, stumbles upon the original sphere dusty and neglected in a cupboard. Activated by the wizard Gerard, it transports him, Tremaine, and several others to another world where, on a fog-bound island riddled with caves and studded with the ruins of a gargantuan city, they discover a Gardier base. This world's natives have no advanced technology and fear magic-all wizards here are evil psychotics-but they do have elemental "gods" and a burning desire to eject the Gardier. Tremaine learns that the sphere might be alive-and, while being pursued, forming an alliance with the natives Giliead and Ilias, being captured, escaping, resisting the Gardier and discovering their weaknesses, she uncovers abilities she never knew she had, and develops a steely resolve to overcome their adversaries. Wrenches the Valiarde saga into a whole new dimension of wonder, tension, and excitement.

Kirkus Reviews