THE GOLDEN BAND OF EDDRIS

Keld and his younger sister Elylden are sent by their mother Anna from their home in the hills to the city of Adnor to seek out a blind potter. Once there they discover that the blind potter has been dead for two hundred years, and the city, ruled by the evil Blygen and his new sorceress wife Eddris, is choked with poverty, corruption, and despair. They also become aware that their mother has a mysterious heritage and has given them some unusual abilities. After meeting their grandfather Stilthorn, a wizard, they become his bait to lure the powerful Eddris away from the city and into a confrontation. McKenzie (Under the Bridge, 1994, etc.) leaves elements of the plot somewhat murky; the children's background and the world of their heritage is never clear, and their abilities even less so. The denouement is vague; readers won't knowand may not carewhether Eddris is dead or merely chased off. (Fiction. 10-13)