Ayla and Jondalar set out on horseback across the windswept grasslands of Ice Age Europe. To the hunter-gatherers of their world--who have never seen tame animals--Ayla and Jondalar appear enigmatic and frightening. The mystery surrounding the woman, who speaks with a strange accent and talks to animals with their own sounds, is heightened by her uncanny control of a large, powerful wolf. The tall, yellow-haired man who rides by her side is also held in awe, not only for the magnificent...

The world of Ea is an ancient world settled in eons past by the Star People. However, their ancestors floundered, in their purpose to create a great stellar civilisation on the new planet: they fell into moral decay. Now a champion has been born who will lead them back to greatness, by means of a spiritual -- and adventurous -- quest for Ea's Grail: the Lightstone. His name is Valashu Elahad, and he is destined to become King. Blessed (or cursed?) with an empathy for all living things, he...

The Custodians tells of a visitor to a French monastery, and of one specially built tiny room which is constructed precisely on the intersection of mysterious force fields, so that anyone who enters is able to foresee the future. Paradise Beach is the story of a wall-screen whose image of the sea attunes itself to the individual perceptions of the onlooker. Piper at the Gates of Dawn is set towards the end of the next millennium when the stories about the coming of the mysterious white bird of...

The pace, as always, is white hot – as are the special effects. As readers will know from Book Two, the Shining One Xanetia can melt her enemies with a touch. Fortunately, she is on the side of our hero, and so is the god Edaemus, whose (literally) volcanic rage will be useful in the continuing fight to save the Tamul Empire from the ravages of sinister King Cyrgon of the Cyrgai. Cyrgon has called forth Bhelliom’s equal in supernatural power, Klael, the very essence of evil. And while Sparhawk...

The Saints of the Sword. Emperor Biagio, once a madman, now wants peace. However, his cruelest minions are amassing an army to usurp his throne. Biagio sends the governor's illegitimate son, Alazrian Leth, who has magical talents, on a mission to convince outlawed priest Jahl Rob and the Saints of the Sword to search for the exiled ruler of Aramoor and the mysterious people called the Triin.