Animist

As predictable as it may be--a coming-of-age ramble quest through a weird world where bonded human-animal pairs battle dread black magical forces--this launch novel for Forward's new fantasy trilogy steps out smartly from her earlier Villains by Necessity. Upon graduation from the College of Animism, where he seems to have majored in manure shoveling, 16-year-old, five-feet-tall Alex first seeks out his Anim, an empathetic animal that will allow him to detect and elude the magicians who are bent on destroying the rational-scientific Animists, believers that all things have souls. Alex's Anim turns out to be the tiny rat Mote, one of Forward's most appealing characters, who constantly preserves Alex from blundering into annihilation. Rigged out with the customary complement of companions--Temith, a world-weary, old scholar; a glamorous Princess Celine to adore from afar; a Pattonesque giant saurian general--Alex and Mote take on the job of freeing the Rodeni, a small rodentlike race that has been enslaved for centuries by wicked Humani. Forward is capable of some luscious descriptive passages, especially in her scenes of the gloriously intelligent Delphini rollicking through sparkling tropical seas, and she draws both her people and nonpeople with taste and sympathy, leaving plenty of room for Alex's further adventures. (June)