King of Shards

Launching the Worldmender series, debut author Kressel draws heavily on Hebrew legend and biblical lore to build a robustly imagined fantasy world modeled on Gehenna. Events begin on the earthly plane with the abduction of New Yorker Daniel Fisher from his wedding, moments before the completion of his vows. In Gehinnom, a desert otherworld to which he is spirited away, Daniel is informed by his demon abductor, Ashmedai (or Caleb, in human form), that he is a lamed vavnik, one of 36 righteous persons who sustain the universe. Hoping to save Daniel from Mashit, another demon who wants him dead, Ashmedai recruits a select entourage that includes Marul Menacha, a witch, and Rana Lila, a builder ignorant of her own mystical pedigree. Kressel advances his plot briskly through a series of alliances, betrayals, separations, and reunions, and the veiled motives of several of his characters keep his story pleasingly unpredictable. His skill at extrapolating traditional religious lore into the stuff of fantasy bodes well for future books in the series. Agent: Michael Harriot, Folio Literary Management. (Oct.)