Cartamandua Legacy (The Lighthouse Duet)

by Carol Berg

Book Overview

Flesh and Spirit: In Navronne, a land torn apart by civil war, sorcerers are bound by strict rules and contracted servitude. Yet not all pureblood accept such lives. For 12 years, Valen, the son of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1615238425
• ISBN13: 9781615238422
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: SFBC
• Weight: 1.88 lbs.

Customer Reviews

It will draw you in...

We actually got this through a book club mistake...but were very pleasantly surprised. I agree with most of the previous reviewers statements about the book in general, but regarding the battle and political scenes, this story is written exclusively from the perspective of the main character and as such made sense to me to have them more limited. What I really loved about these books was the authors ability to weave so many interesting and rich layers of the story. I was often pleasantly surprised at the plot twists and after only a tiny bit of a slow start had a hard time putting it down. It was one of those rare books that at the end I was so engaged in the story that I felt a loss ~ and wanted more! I can't wait to read more of her books. =D

Sometimes great, sometimes annoying, an overall good read

This book consists of the two novels Flesh and Spirit and then Breath and Bone. It follows a "pure blood" with a skill for maps and some mild magical skills. He is in essence somewhat of an anti hero or at least a reluctant hero. A main strength of the story is the internal conflicts within this character. He is a rebel (like most antiheros) but is also addicted to a drug. Continuing the drug makes him inept and will eventually kill him, but withdrawl from the drug renders him completely incompetant and would kill him faster. It adds an interesting flare to this novel to see a character so weak because of this addiction. It makes his struggles endearing and indeed he becomes very likeable as we see him grow as a person throughout the novel. In this, this novel is very character driven. Another stregnth of this novel are the fantastical elements. There is a whole other parallel, hidden, and magical realm that only a few people are able to engage. The fate of the two worlds are linked together. The scenes involving this other world are very artistic and touching. The main weakness of the novel is the poor writing of the battles and the war in general. Somehow there are several different factions, all at emnity with each other, but at the same time cooperative, and rarely actually engaged in fighting. The novel, which was building up to a big battle, ends with a fizzle as no fighting occurs, somehow the armmies just disengage, and no good sense of closure is given. The novel makes sense in that you understand what the author is doing, it is just poorly writen in this regard and unsatisfying. Overall, I give 3.5 stars for the excellent main character and original fantasy elements. Loss of 1.5 stars for poor battle and political writing.