Set in the world of Eutracia, Newcomb's repetitive first volume in a new fantasy trilogy relies on the same gimmick as The Scrolls of the Ancients
(2004), the final book in his Chronicles of Blood and Stone series. Once again a villain returns from the dead; Wulfgar, whom the heroic Tristan "killed" in The Scrolls of the Ancients
, is now the all-powerful Enseterat, whose mastery of the dark magic of the Vagaries is enhanced by his direct contact with the ancient Heretics of the Guild. A more serious flaw is the book's system of magic. People are drawn toward the evil Vagaries or the good Vigors by the "lean" of their blood signatures. Magic can change this natural lean, but since characters gain their magical abilities not by study or practice or experimentation but by "forestallments" imbued into their blood, they lack free will. Newcomb's prose isn't strong enough to compensate for an uninspired adventure whose protagonists amount to mere automatons. (Dec.)
