cover image Kar Kalim

Kar Kalim

Deborah Christian. Tor Books, $23.95 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-312-86341-8

Departing from the high-tech SF of her debut novel, Mainline, Christian now tells a story of wizardly conflict and violence. Inya, sometimes called the Dark Lady or the Midnight Rider, Master of the tower called Moontooth, is an ancient and powerful sorceress. Though she is easily duped by her ambitious student Murl Amrey, she eventually manages to exile him on the other side of a magic portal in the land of Styrcia. Years later, Amrey returns, more powerful than ever thanks to his wizard-stone, one of the legendary magic-focusing crystals native to Styrcia. As Kar Kalim, self-styled ""Conqueror of the World,"" Amrey subjugates Inya and makes her his concubine. He then sets out to conquer the rest of her world, as he has already done to Styrcia. Narrated by Inya, the story is less compelling than it might have been. Inya's easy capitulation and last-minute realization of her many errors make her an unconvincing heroine, and Amrey himself never becomes a fully rounded creation. (Aug.)