Storm Bride

Bangs (Bibliotheca Fantastica) combines a clash of deities, cultures, and genders into a stand-alone secondary-world fantasy epic of the first order. Uya is a young woman of the Prasei, peaceful traders and fishers who live in and around the city of Prasa. Saotse has been adopted into Uya’s clan after being deposited on the shore by orcas acting at the behest of Oarsa, the Power of the Sea. When Prasa is overrun by the warlike Yakhat nomads who fight with Golgoyat, the Storm Power, the pregnant Uya is captured by the war leader of the Yakhat and imprisoned with his own pregnant wife. Meanwhile, Saotse escapes the battle and joins the remnants of the Prasei, soon learning of her own connection to a Power previously unknown to her. Bangs cleanly sketches the lives of her characters as well as their societies, with a well-drawn natural setting as backdrop. The joys, sorrows, and rages of individuals are keenly felt, as are the wilder emotions of the gods. (Mar.)