MOTHER OCEAN, DAUGHTER SEA

In fantasy, witches often suffer the same fate as most vampires—trite, formulaic death by cliché. Happily, Marcellas's lyrical, spellbinding debut, with its full-blooded characterizations, sidesteps the common pitfalls of "witch" fiction. Brierley Mefell, a young shari'a witch, lives on Yarvannet, a world of two suns, believing she's the last of her ancient race. The Yarvannet earls have not burned a shari'a witch in nearly 200 years, but Brierley takes care not to broadcast her powers. She leaves the coastal cave where she leads her lonely existence only when she receives a "calling" to perform a healing among the seafaring Allemanii, who long ago slaughtered the shari'a and destroyed Witchmere, their underground capital. Protecting the bewitching Brierley's refuge is an Everlight, an object that suggests the extraordinarily gifted shari'a originally came from another world. After Brierley heals the wife of Melfallan, a handsome nobleman, she can no longer hide her powers and must plan to escape. However, the discovery of young Megan, another shari'a, makes her search for survival and the keys to shari'a history even more important. Despite the use of certain romantic stereotypes (caves, ancient books, forbidden love, dragons, magical forests, etc.), this first of a three-book series provides ample enchantment. (Sept. 12)

Forecast:With blurbs from Morgan Llywelyn and Elizabeth Haydon, this strong female fantasy could well catch on with fans of those writers and also of Marion Zimmer Bradley, Jane Yolen and even Ursula Le Guin.