Lisle, Holly Books

Diplomacy of Wolves (The Secret Texts, Book 1)

Holly Lisle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 56 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Book 1 of the Secret Texts series is set in a world considerably more urban and urbane than traditional fantasy quest epics. Dirigible balloons ("airibles") coexist with Machiavellian plotting, Borgia-like malevolence, and deadly family rivalry resembling that of the Montagues and Capulets in Romeo and Juliet. There's magic, too, forbidden but still furtively used: Each clan has its concealed corps of "Wolves," black magicians who conduct cruel sacrifices and may become physically monstrous from spell backlash. Young heroine Kait is a diplomat trainee and secretly a shapeshifter--that is, accursed and marked for death if ever exposed. After a horrific clash of wizardry and assassination that almost wipes out her clan, she takes ship in search of the ancient Mirror of Souls, which according to legend can bring back the dead. But legends may be booby-trapped: Kait and other characters become guided by helpful spirit voices, gods with their own agenda and no love of humanity, and the Mirror's real function may be altogether different. Meanwhile, a long-dead sorcerer who opposed the gods with his own white-magic cult awaits rebirth. The magic and its transforming side effects are exhilaratingly horrid; the novel ends with a whopping cliffhanger. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk

Vengeance of Dragons (The Secret Texts, Book 2)

Holly Lisle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Let down 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I was really disappointed in this book after reading Diplomacy of Wolves. I still like the world, many of the concepts, and the basics of the plot. However, I'm still finding it very difficult to like any of the characters beyond Ian and Kait's uncle. Kait herself is no more likeable than before, and as for Danya . . . Are we supposed to excuse her actions because of the way she's been hurt, or are we supposed to think her evil anyway because she was one of the Galweigh Wolves?
The Kait and Ry storyline, meant to be so significant for both characters, was at first contrived (She has to share his cabin because he came to rescue her? Would we like to create some artificial sexual tension here?) and then nowhere near as deep or moving as it should have been. Another problem I had with the writing was that there weren't many clues as to how much time had passed, and it sometimes seemed as if the story was missing big chunks. And the resemblance between Solander and a certain religion in our own world did annoy me somewhat.
I just found that the whole story was too easy, somehow. The Dragons waltz in and transform things with their magic, and then lapse into a life of self-indulgence. It seemed almost embarrassingly easy for Kait and Ry to work their banishment charm tricks on them. And yes, Vengeance of Dragons finishes on a hell of a cliffhanger - but I'm pretty sure I already know what the ultimate ending will be, Luercas or no Luercas.
My hope is that this book is the weak point in the trilogy, and that Courage of Falcons will be as good as Diplomacy of Wolves, if not better. I am still interested enough to want to find out what happens.

Editorial Review:

Fugitive diplomat Kait Galweigh battles the megalomaniacal Crispin Sabir for possession of an ancient artifact called the Mirror of Souls. Kait believes the mirror's magic will restore life to her lost kin; Crispin believes the mysterious object will make him a god. Both are terribly wrong, for the mirror contains the captive spirits of long-dead sorcerers who once conquered the world and are poised to wreak vengeance yet again.

The Ruby Key (Moon & Sun)

Holly Lisle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Mankind is Sunkind

And rules by the light;

Nightlings are Moonkind,

And rule in the night;

Or there will be war.

Human and Nightlings are never to meet, but when Genna and her brother Dan venture into the old forest at night, they encounter a Nightling slave who reveals a terrifying secret: Genna and Dan's village chieftain has made a dangerous deal with Letrin, ruler of the Nightlings, offering the lives of his people in exchange for his own immortality.

To save the villagers and themselves, Genna and Dan strike their own bargain with the Nightling lord, but the stakes are even higher. Now, the siblings must embark upon a journey along the Moonroads, and bring back the key to Letrin's downfall.

Written in haunting, lyrical prose, Holly Lisle transports readers to the twilit realms of the Night Worlds.

Holly Lisle is a native of Salem, Ohio, but she's also lived in Alaska, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. She is the author of many bestselling adult suspense and fantasy novels. She has three children, a handful of cats, and believes writing is the best job a person can have. She currently resides in Georgia, with her family.

Holly Lisle is a native of Salem, Ohio, but she's also lived in Alaska, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. She is the author of many bestselling adult suspense and fantasy novels. She has three children, a handful of cats, and believes writing is the best job a person can have. She currently resides in Georgia with her family.

Courage of Falcons (The Secret Texts - Book 3)

Holly Lisle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

What a wonderful ending... 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I purchased the 1st book of this series and almost gave up (the whole idea of having to prick yourself to summon magic almost made me sick), but I stuck with it, and I'm glad I did.

Others have given a synopsis of this book, so I won't bother. But there's a point near the end of the book where Kait goes back to her family's mansion. She remembers the good times she had there as a child and it brought a lump to my throat. I've often done the same thing, remembering the parties and the times down the Jersey Shore with my family. After I got married and lot of my relatives died (including my father), those times went into my memory. I felt that Kait was mourning those sweet days as I have (and I probably always will).

I never thought another fantasy could make me cry like The Lord of the Rings did. I was wrong. Cheers to Holly Lisle for such a wonderful series!

Editorial Review:

A band of wizards known as the Falcons, including shapeshifters Kait Galweight and Ry Sabir, struggle to wield ancient magic in their desperate battle against the soul-devouring necromancers called the Dragons. To defeat them, Kait and Ry must destroy the source of the sorcerers powerthe Mirror of Souls. But if they succeed, they will lose the only weapon that can stop a demonic god who plans to enslave the world forever.

Memory of Fire (The World Gates, Book 1)

Holly Lisle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An enjoyable and quick read 4 out of 5 stars.
6 of 6 people found this review helpful.

This book is obviously the first in a series with some faults that most such books suffer from. They did not, however, spoil my enjoyment of this story. I wish Molly Mcoll had been used more, she was in the story quite a bit, but seemed to lack something. The author seems to have preferred her sister, Lauren, over her. We see much deeper into Lauren's life than we ever do Molly's. I found myself disliking the sentinels--too sanctimonious for my liking. Also, the bad guys were glossed over severely. The three rogue sentinels seem to have zero character and zero motivations (except maybe simple greed) for their actions. I just didn't believe in them.

Ah... but the world of the Vodi and Veyar. That worked brilliantly for me. I loved the setting and is one of the big reasons I give this book four stars and not three. The veyar as a people were interesting, the idea of a Copper House to shield the occupants from magic was good. The Vodi's necklace... excellent again. The only thing really wrong with this book was the weak bad guys. They seemed like generic opportunists and were only in the book to give the good guys something to do.

Overall, this was an enjoyable and quick read but it came across as a simple introduction to book two. I am writing this review after finishing The Wreck of Heaven (book2) by the way, so I have the benefit of hindsight, which is 20/20 :¬)

Mark E. Cooper
Warrior Within (ISBN: 0-9545122-0-0)

Editorial Review:

Lauren Dane discovers a doorway to another reality in Cat Creek, North Carolina -- and she crosses over, driven by a strange compulsion she can neither resist nor comprehend. Molly McColl is brought there against her will -- kidnapped from her trailer and carried into a realm that traps her, terrifies her...yet offers her a strange and wondrous escape.

In an extraordinary universe of magic and monsters, two strangers sharing only pain and loss must now pursue the destiny that has united them. Because worlds are suddenly threatened by an evil beyond imagining -- the world they have entered...and the one the have left behind.

The Wreck of Heaven (The World Gates, Book 2)

Holly Lisle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Death Can't Keep a Good Woman Down 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.

The Wreck of Heaven is the second novel in the World Gates series, following Memory of Fire. In the previous volume, Molly McColl has died to revive her nephew Jake, her half-sister Lauren Hotchkiss Dane has killed a rron as well as the traitorous Sentinels in Oria, and Sheriff Eric MacAvery and his deputy Pete Stark have killed the Sentinel traitors in Cat Creek. Lauren and Jake are back in Cat Creek, having attended Molly's funeral, and are now trying to recover from all the trauma. Pete and Lauren have been inducted by the survivors into the Cat Creek Sentinel's circle.

In this novel, Jake refuses to go near the big mirror in their hallway and is even unhappy entering the kitchen. He has begun to talk again, but he is much too passive. She has just returned from the store and Pete has dropped by, so Lauren asks him to sit on the stairs with Jake as she puts up the groceries. Pete teases Jake about a story that he had once liked, but now scares him. Pete insists the scary pumpkin is saying that he has a cookie in his tummy and Jake knows that it is really saying "Boo, Boo". They both get the giggles and Jake even lets Pete carry him into the kitchen without protest.

Then Lauren discovers a messenger from Oria in her kitchen and quickly maneuvers Pete out of the house. The messenger states that Molly has returned from the dead through the powers of the Vodi necklace. Lauren quickly makes arrangements to be gone for a while and takes Jake with her to Oria. She finds Molly at Copper House and they start preparing for their roles as planned by their parents. However, Jake is more precocious than expected and manages to open a link leading to his deceased father in the afterlife.

Pete finds a note from Lauren on his kitchen table and decides that she probably used a small gate to deliver it. Although she writes that she is taking Jake to visit his grandparents, Pete notices that she has left her primary keyring with him and, after visiting the house, finds that the car is parked in a shed and that nothing much is missing. He reckons that foul play is unlikely, given the evidence, and that Lauren probably has been called back to Oria. To cover for her, he passes on the note to the other Sentinels and adds a few embellishments.

This novel extends the storyline to explain the difference between the old gods and the dark gods as well as the nature of the disasters that have destroyed worldline after worldline. We also learn something more about the rron and their motivation.

The romance between Molly and Seolar develops and even continues after her death and resurrection, but not without some hard moments. Seolar knows that his duty to the Veyar is primary in his life, but now he begins to realize that, without Molly, his life will not have any joy or satisfaction.

This novel is full of action and excitement. Dangers arise and are handled somehow. Once again, the story focuses on the interpersonal relationships between Molly and Seolar as well as between Lauren and Pete, but not as much so as the previous novel.

One interesting scene is the confrontation between Lauren and the Administrator in the Afterlife. Maybe a bit of catharsis for the author after a bad encounter with bureaucracy. Probably a good thing that she didn't write about Hell.

Recommended for Lisle fans and anyone who else enjoys a new approach to the salvation of the universe plot.

Editorial Review:

There are doors into other worlds -- and those who cross over are changed forever ...

Two women have discovered the way into a new reality -- one so close to Earth that events there have shattering repercussions here. On Oria -- a wondrous paradise and nightmare both -- Molly McColl has powers she never imagined ... and a destiny that threatens her life, her love, and her soul. While Lauren Dane must use an extraordinary, newfound magic to protect her young son -- and to join with her sister on a quest that will shake the foundations of Heaven itself. For a serpentine evil now threatens the worldchain -- a soulless, immortal enemy who feeds on the death of worlds, and who is now turning its hungry, malevolent gaze on Oria ... and Earth.

Gods Old and Dark (The World Gates, Book 3)

Holly Lisle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

A Conclusion for Now 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Gods Old and Dark is the third (and concluding) novel in the World Gates series, following The Wreck of Heaven. In the previous volume, Baanraak starts forcing Holly to die and be reborn so as to shape her personality into the Night Watch pattern. He catches her once without the Vodi necklace and she was almost lost forever. Meanwhile, Lauren finds a secret message in the notebooks and learns that her parents had intended Molly to be her protector while she herself brought magic back to the Earth and to the dead worlds up the line.

In this novel, Molly is busy exterminating Night Watch teams and Lauren is creating conduits for the magic to flow back up the world lines. Aril, the Master of the Night Watch, notices the magic returning to the Earth and messily terminates all his fieldmasters for overlooking this development. He then promotes their assistants to replace them and provides specific instructions for the situation. He also dispatches assassins to track down Lauren and sends his assistant, Rekkathav, to observe the operation.

After Lauren is attacked by the Night Watch during a downworld foray and again within her own home, the Cat Creek Sentinels suddenly notice that Lauren is violating Council policy. A couple of hard-liners want to terminate her activities in a permanent manner, but the rest vote to wait and see. It does help that Lauren has an old god on her side who is capable of great havoc using the new influx of magic.

In this story, Lauren and the Cat Creek Sentinels learn the secret of immortality and the pain thereof. One Sentinel gets her first taste of combat and very nearly goes berserk. The FBI office in Charlotte performs a good service for the Cat Creek Sentinels. And Baanraak is ambushed by Molly and suffers a split personality.

This volume provides a conclusion of sorts, but the story continues past the end of the book. Maybe the author will return to this universe some day, for it has the potential for many other stories. In the meanwhile, we will have a new fantasy to read in 2005: Talyn.

Highly recommended for Lisle fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of high magic, interesting societies and complex relationships.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Editorial Review:

The spellbinding conclusion to the magnificent epic of fantastic adventure and worlds within worlds.

Live magic has returned to the Earth -- as the demons of every universe gather to destroy it ...

The World Gates offer passage into countless realms, dimensions, and nightmares, changing forever those few with the courage to cross over. Lauren Dane and Molly McColl, two sisters transformed, now hold the future of all living things in their hands -- for Lauren's mission to bring life-giving magic back to Earth and other dying worlds has not gone unnoticed. And Molly's power to protect her will not hold against the countless ancient evils that are closing in. For the maelstrom is coming to drag down gods and humans alike. And darkness will surely prevail unless a last, desperate stand is made against the dreaded Night Watch, eater of worlds.

Hawkspar: A Novel of Korre

Holly Lisle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Stolen away from their families, they are slaves, women with no names and no futures. Every moment of their days controlled by the avatars of the stone Eyes--Obsidian, Emerald, Raxinan, Ruby, Windcrystal, Sapphire, Sunspar, Tigereye...
And the most powerful of them all, Hawkspar, the eyes of time. Kings and despots come to her to know their futures, and she wades in the river of time, pulls apart its sticky threads, to arrange the world to her satisfaction. But she too was once a slave, plucked from her home, chosen by the Eyes to live in service to them, as much a slave now as she ever was. And with her sight into past and future, she can see the secrets of the Eyes--and the evil of the Eyes. Before the death of Hawkspar, another must be chosen by the Eyes--but the avatar has her own plans, and chooses a slave for her courage and rebelliousness, rather than her dedication to the goals of the Eyes. This slave is put to trial, but time after time, she is protected by forces unseen. Once she has swallowed the bitter liquid and has her eyes pulled from her head and replaced with the Eyes of Hawkspar stone, she can slip into the streams of time... and use time to her own ends -- to free the slaves once and for all, and destroy the Eyes, even if it means destroying herself in the process.

Bones of the Past

Holly Lisle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An author with an original style. 4 out of 5 stars.
10 of 10 people found this review helpful.

This story is wonderful. The plotting and characterization unfold with freshness and originality, no opportunity to create tension is wasted, and emotional content never seems contrived. Seven Fingered Fat Girl is a marvelous character. In the early going she often carries the book, keeping the reader compelled to read on, just to see what will happen to her and Four Winds Band. Choufa and the tale of the sharsha frequently serve the same role. If not for these characters and plot lines holding my interest so keenly, those involving Medwind and Roba would have had me setting the book aside soon after opening it. Until the characters come together as a group, about halfway through, these last two character's and their tales are just plain boring. Holly Lisle does a fantastic job of limiting descriptive passages and time spent on scene setting. But these otherwise wonderful traits have a drawback. Readers unfamiliar with this world may feel lost early on. This sense of `where am I, and where am I being lead' is compounded by two things. First, there is no obvious story question. Nothing that lets the reader say, "I wonder if .........." and points the way to the story's end goal. Second, Lisle's odd mix of an `ancient' world coupled with modern thinking and terminology (like "nested subroutines") takes time to get used to. Her ability to maintain a driving level of tension is wonderful, and she isn't shy about including compelling and unusual subject matter (for a work of Fantasy) like; mass child abuse, abandonment and neglect; and adolescent sex. She does an excellent job of showing us what's happening in these cases, and throughout the story, without ever resorting to boring passages of exposition. Her knack for drawing emotions from her readers is good, but inconsistent.

Editorial Review:

Foraging through the Wen jungles in search of the lost City of the First Folk, barbarian scholar and ex-headhunter Medwind Song remembers an old Hoos warning too late and disrupts the very-much-alive ancient civilization. Reissue.

Talyn: A Novel of Korre

Holly Lisle

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Clash of Cultures 5 out of 5 stars.
10 of 14 people found this review helpful.

Talyn (2005) is a standalone fantasy novel. Korre is a world with seven continents, the Islands of the Fallen Sun, and numerous other islands. Hyre is the smallest continent, located between Velobrina and Tandinapalis.

Hyre is divided between the Eastil Republic to the east and the Confederacy of Hyre to the west. Eastil is a monarchic republic, with a variegated population descending from prison colonies. The Confederacy is a collection of city-states and nomadic tribes, all descending from the Tonks of Tandinapalis. These nations have been warring with each other for three hundred years.

In this novel, Talyn Wyran av Tiirsha dryn Sytaad is a Tonk and a Shielder in the army of Beyltaak, one of the seven major taaks in the Confederacy. She has been in the army since being drafted at the age of thirteen after Magics Intelligence detected the first signs of magical talent. As a Shielder, she intercepts and neutralizes magical attacks by enemy Senders.

Recently rumors of a ceasefire negotiated by Feegash Diplomats have circulated among the Beyltaak Magics. Feegash come from the mountain kingdom of Ba'sfeegash and are reputed to have the best mercenary troops in the world. Their Diplomats often act as mediators of international conflicts and have an excellent reputation for honesty and fair dealing.

Usually Talyn protects the Conventional troops from magical attacks, but she has gained a bit of important information during the last, massive attack. She had a passing encounter with an enemy Sender that suggested Eastil forces will be attacking an upcoming meeting of all the Taaklords in Injtaak. She passes this intelligence on to her commander and later her unit is assigned as backup for the Injtaak Shielders.

Captain Gair Farhallen is leading his nine man company of infiltrators to Injtaak to disrupt the Alltaak Hend. They have all been trained in the language, cultures and customs of the Confederacy. After a final briefing and pep-talk, each trooper heads into the city-state by different ways, trying to blend into the crowds coming for the meeting of the Taaklords.

Before the Taaklords begin to gather, Talyn and her team enter the View -- a magical place loosely equivalent to normal space -- and coordinates with the Injtaak Shielders. Her team divides the meeting area among themselves and start looking for the enemy. By brushing against their presence within the View, each Shielder can sense something of the mood of people in normal space. Talyn eventually spots one of the infiltrators on the roof of the building and announces her find. Other Shielders begin to detect the enemy and guide Conventionals to the suspects.

Gair starts the attack, but finds that some of his company, including his Communicator, have already been taken into custody by Confederacy troops. Although Gair and some of his men still manage to set the building aflame with Greton Fire, almost all of his troopers are eventually captured or killed. Moreover, Gair is not able to signal back to the Eastil troops massed and waiting at the border.

In this story, Gair later finds that none of the Taaklords were killed in the attack. A handful of Feegash Diplomats died in the fire, but all the Tonks -- except three scribes who tried to redirect the Feegash -- fled through the escape tunnels. Obviously Eastil intelligence missed a few facts about Injtaak.

Talyn later intervenes when Tonk bystanders are stoning the Eastil captives. Gair and his men are identified as Eastil soldiers by the Magics who arrest them, but none of his troopers are wearing uniforms or carrying identification. Then the Eastil authorities are so disrupted by the Feegash ceasefire activities that Gair and his men drop through the cracks. Beyltaak authorities make special provisions for their incarceration while awaiting notice of POW status, but later the Eastils are moved into the civilian prison and eventually stashed in a wet, smelly and cold dungeon cell.

Talyn has several encounters with Feegash Diplomats, including an embarrassing gift of a beautiful horse from an unknown and overgenerous benefactor. When the only remaining member of Gair's unit appears and requests her help, Talyn asks her acquaintance, the junior Feegash Diplomat Skirmig, to get the Eastils out of the prison. She provides space in her loft for their care and asks her healer to treat their wounds.

This story may be an allegory about the peoples of our world, particularly the United States of America. All of the peoples in this novel seem to symbolize some aspects of contemporary societies. The Eastils obviously represent the USA, with the English monarchical origins and the subsequent melting pot. The Confederacy shows some of the stubborn isolationism and resistance to the foreign influx found in the USA, yet it mostly seems to represent the resistance of various cultures throughout the world to Western Society and Globalization. Feegash may symbolize American arrogance and ignorance of other cultures.

Is America seen by the rest of the world as consolidating everybody into a single materialistic culture, where there are no good or evil, only more or less expedient behaviors? Have we no regard for other traditions and customs? On the other hand, will we build a wall around the country and keep everybody else out? What if the Indians had built such a wall and kept our ancestors out of the country? This story seems to have many ramifications beyond the entertaining tale itself.

Highly recommended for Lisle fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of interesting characters, high adventure and perseverance.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Editorial Review:

In a world where technology is magic, and war is the only way of life, Talyn is a soldier...

…raised from birth to fight for her people and her country. She long ago embraced her fate: to die in battle. So when a shocking peace sweeps her land, she's cast adrift, and easily seduced by an outsider's touch, his new magic -- but his passions are evil and run deep, and Talyn soon finds herself twisted by his touch.

Through him she discovers darkness within herself she’d never suspected—and the mistreatment of prisoners of war, the creeping blackness sneaking through her land, the insidious evil that no one even suspected their peacekeepers of bringing.

Now she must weigh her life against her honor if she is to help her people regain their freedom…