The Dark Shore

Lee's first novel plays a moderately imaginative variation on the archetypical fantasy plot of lawful vs. corrupt magic. In the Seven Dominions of Irth, Charm (magical power) is both the currency and the source of energy. Each of the dominions is ruled by a Charm-wielding Peer, but suddenly all are menaced by a Dark Lord whose deadly creations are immune to Charm. Lord Drev, Regent of Irth, must flee from his high abode to take refuge among the lowlife and to rally his friends for battle, a process well under way but far from complete at the end of the book. Everything about this debut is at least competent: world-building (the flying cities are particularly well handled), characterization and narrative technique. It is also prolix, with a great many details that occasionally slow the pacing without developing setting or character, and it never achieves genuine page-turning velocity. (Apr.)