THE BONEMENDER

Readers who prefer their fantasy stocked with cozily familiar situations and character types will swoon over this romantic tale of a willowy, chestnut-haired princess and her Elven lover. Along with her other notable attributes, Gabrielle DesChênes is a gifted Healer, dedicated enough to her profession to remain unmarried at 27. But into passionately requited love she falls, with elegant, point-eared Féolan, who rides into the castle one day out of legend to warn that brutish invaders are massing just over the mountains. Amid preparations for war, the two must part—Gabrielle particularly troubled by the fact that Féolan’s expected lifespan is ten times her own. Bedight with formal-toned dialogue—“The wound is mending cleanly, and he did awaken earlier and speak to me”— bloody battles, medical miracles and numerous tearful partings and reunions (but no sex), this tale will delight tea-sippers of all ages. A sequel is announced, though as by the end, the invaders are routed and the two lovers betrothed, it’s hard to see where the story could go. (Fantasy. 11-13)