THE WHITE GRYPHON

The second in a prequel trilogy set roughly a thousand years before the main action in Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series (Storm Warning, 1994, etc.). Ten years after the action of The Black Gryphon (1994), the gryphons and their human companions, despite their inability to use magic with full effect, have established a cliffside city called White Gryphon near the Western Ocean. Skandranon, the hero of the migration to the new city, at first finds himself restless with the role of peacetime leader, but new challenges soon arise. A false ``healer'' is discovered to be torturing his patients and is expelled—only to return in secret and take revenge. Then a ship arrives from the powerful Haighlei Empire, bearing ambassadors who accuse the new city of trespassing on Haighlei territory. Hoping to avoid open warfare, the gryphons send ambassadors to the Empire—not suspecting that some of their fellow citizens seek to sabotage the pending alliance. All this is narrated in a style many readers may find slow-moving, with frequent descriptions of costume and setting and introspective passages from Skandranon's point of view. Newcomers to Lackey's fantasy universe are best advised to sample one of her solo novels, but the many fans who follow the series will probably find little to object to in this collaboration with husband Dixon. (12 b&w illustrations by Dixon, not seen)