Cuando Auraya fue elegida sacerdotisa, nunca imaginó que apenas una década después se convertiría en una de los Blancos, los representantes más poderosos de los dioses. Desgraciadamente, Auraya goza de poco tiempo para acostumbrarse a los excepcionales poderes mágicos que le otorgan esas divinidades. Unos misteriosos hechiceros vestidos de negro han llegado desde el sur y acosan a los suyos, corren rumores de que se está levantando un ejército para desafiar a los Blancos. Auraya y sus nuevos compañeros tendrán que trabajar incansablemente para sellar alianzas y para unir los pueblos del continente del norte bajo un mismo estandarte. Se avecinan tiempos de guerra, y si Auraya no logra dominar sus nuevas dotes mágicas a tiempo, ni el apoyo de los dioses será suficiente para salvarlos.

Epic Fantasy once used to be my favourite genre, and books like this remind me why; the author has a strong sense of world-building. She interweaves the various characters’ lives, societies and religions in a way that makes them wholly believable. And amid all this, there’s an interesting love story. I was particularly taken with the Dreamweaver, Leiard, haunted in a possibly life-threatening way by ‘linked memories’. I have Books 2 & 3 to look forward to and hope I enjoy these equally, although I don’t feel this series is as compelling as Canavan’s ‘The Black Magician Trilogy’. ( )

3.5 ( )

An interesting start but for me this novel didn't really grab me or feel like the plot was moving. ( )

Try as I did, I just do not enjoy Trudi Canavans writing style. She is on a list for me of authors who have great stories, ideas, and worlds in their minds, but who cannot write them well.
I do enjoy the story she is trying to tell as there were so many great fantasy elements to it that I love; sorcery, new imaginative races, battles, magic, etc. However her writing just ended up distracting from those great things.
While she had new races, they all had the same characteristics of her humans. The best part of new races is that they would think, act, and feel different. Otherwise why have them? Authors like Tolkien, and Hayden, and Williams do this wonderfully.
I think if I had read this book years ago, I would have liked it better, before I had read some amazing other fantasy authors.
Overall a good fantasy story, but in no ways a great one. ( )