Ice Will Reveal: The Time of Turning Back, Book 1

For her first novel, Dvorin offers a straightforward traditional, quest-driven fantasy. Orphaned siblings Jarrod and Whisper Thornn, though close during childhood, choose diverging paths as adults. While pious Jarrod becomes a Temple Guardian, Whisper learns the arts of theft and deception from the cunning Mins Delacor. After a breach opens in the magical Boundary protecting their homeland, Jarrod embarks on a difficult journey to stem the apocalyptic Blight, along the way facing both life-sucking wraiths and tests to his faith in the Goddess. Whisper, meanwhile, has been assigned to seduce a precious ring away from a sorcerer. Her mission dovetails with Jarrod’s after Mins’s death, and brother and sister find themselves pooling their very different resources. Strong female characters distinguish an adventure that otherwise leaves too many loose threads to be tied up in later outings. (Dec.)