Going to Ground

by Barbara Randall Kesel and Steve McNiven

This is the second volume of the new Meridian Traveler series. A princess fairy-tale childhood is shattered by the death of her father... and a gift of terrifying power. Branded by marks of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1931484694
• ISBN13: 9781931484695
• Release Date: January 2003
• Publisher: Cross Generation Comics
• Length: 1 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.6" x 9.2"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

Take to the skies with the high-flying, forehead-tattooed, but girl-next-door cool Sephie of Meridia

Some time ago the world of Demetria suffered a natural cataclysm which caused the earth to erupt and spew out behemoth boulders into the skies, where these boulders then remained afloat. With much of the surface world now rendered inhospitable, many Demetrians opted to make these gravity-defying islands their home, erecting city-states in the clouds, navigating the wind currents on wooden airships, and establishing an aeronautical system of trade and commerce. The floating city of Meridian is renowned for its expert shipbuilders and for its lush environment. Meridian is intensely coveted by Ilahn, Minister of the floating city of Cadador, for several reasons. But, perhaps Ilahn's overriding motivation is his harboring of a long-held grudge against his very own brother, the kindly Minister of Meridian. Then, too, Ilahn is just straight-up corrupted with power, his eventual mission to unite all the floating cities under his Ministry, be this by political maneuvering, by guile or by force. Sephie is Meridian-born and a down-to-earth sixteen-year-old girl, never mind that she's being groomed to eventually take over the Ministry of Meridian from her father. She's had an easy, sheltered life, and so she's not at all prepared for the tragedy which strikes as the story opens. Perhaps on a whim, some mysterious force grafts sigils of power on the Ministers of Cadador and Meridian. But Sephie's father is ill-prepared for this "gift" and so collapses fatally. And Sephie, cradling her dying father in a final embrace, unwittingly takes up his sigil (it gets branded on her forehead). Ilahn takes advantage of Sephie's grief to spirit her away from Meridian and into his own Cadador, ostensibly to better protect her. In her absence, Ilahn immediately deploys his soldiers to overrun Meridian. In the fastness of Cadador it takes some time for Sephie to learn of her uncle's duplicity and of the sheer dirtbagness of his nature. But she eventually does, and off she goes, tearing out of Cadador and making a beeline for her homeland. Except that things don't quite work out that way. Her journey home is sidetracked when, during pursuit by her uncle's minions, Sephie is catapulted from her airship and plummets the long, brutal way down into the earth. On the ground, Sephie, surprised to have survived the fall, finds herself welcomed in Akasia, a struggling city on Demetria's poisoned surface which specializes in dyed textiles. Sephie, a girl who tends to trust others at face value, at first feels at home in Akasia. But she soon learns a lesson: that, sometimes, a snarl lurks behind the smile. Sephie is betrayed. By the way, I just realized that I've actually summarized the events taking place in MERIDIAN Vol. 1: FLYING SOLO. Being kinda stubborn, I think I'll let it be and just go straight into MERIDIAN Vol. 2: GOING TO GROUND. In this second volume we follow Sephie's further adventures as she escapes captivity from the dye vats of Akasia and stumbles onto a logger co

The Continuing Adventures of Sephie

In this second installment of Crossgen's extremely affordable Travelers Editions, the multi-pronged narrative approach continues as Sephie tries out her new magical powers and recruits new allies on the diseased surface, her crooked uncle Ilahn sees new avenues of possible conquest, and her exiled people find a new floating island to call home. The plot sags somewhat in this volume, and the introduction and development of new characters Deren Beq and Crenner is given undeservedly short-shift, but it is still an enjoyable romp through a fantasy world with an empowering female heroine.

The continuing adventures of Sephie!

This is an amazing continuation of the story of Sephie, the young hero of Meridian. Here Sephie begins to understand the nature of her new mystical powers, and to accept her role of leadership in a world threatened by tirany.I highly recommend this for readers of all ages and tastes.