DRUM WARNING

Another yarn with a portentous but essentially meaningless subtitle: the first of a trilogy from a veteran paperback author making her hardcover debut. The two worlds of Glandair and Iomard are linked, and swing near every 700 years; at such times the flow of magical Pneuma reaches its height, while chaos disrupts the lives of ordinary folk. To restore order to both worlds, a young single man of Glandair, destined to be the Hero, must absorb the full Pneuma flow, then redirect it. Young Cymel of Glandair has great but untrained magic powers; her father, Ellar, a Watcher, chronicles magic goings-on and assesses the various Hero candidates; her aunt, Corysiam, a Scribe of Iomard, has the ability to walk between worlds. After seeing Hero candidate Lyanz in a dream, Cymel forces Corysiam to him from drowning. Meanwhile, various Mages, both openly and in secret, are contending to place themselves—or their candidates—at the Pole of Power and thus seize control of the Pneuma. What with a cast of thousands, hundreds of scenes, dozens of plots, and no attempt at even a token ending, it's all very hard to follow. Clayton's assured, original handling of magic and its consequences will warm many hearts, but the rest is deeply unsatisfying. The question remains: Will readers find it merely confusing and irritating—or sufficiently intriguing to come back for more?