The Chronicle of Secret Riven: The Keeper of Tales, Book 2

This installment picks up 1,000 years after the events depicted in The Mapmaker’s War, and it bears little obvious connection to its predecessor. In a sedate, leisurely manner, Domingue spins out the childhood and adolescence of the titular Secret Riven, daughter of a historian and a translator. Secret spends much of her early years mute but always listening, able to understand plants and animals. As she matures, she finds her words, excels in school, and makes friends with the dashing Prince Nikolas. One mystery remains: the origins of a manuscript given to Secret’s mother for translation, and the reasons for its later disappearance. Lush descriptions and a mythic tone don’t disguise this literary fantasy’s lack of action, limited resolution, and paucity of concrete answers. It reveals its purpose reluctantly; in Secret’s world, anything can happen, but little actually does. Agent: Jillian Manus, Manus & Associates Literary Agency. (May)