Better to Burn. When Keanrih refuses to join with the wife his
family has picked out for him, his father, Nocc mac Deira, hires Lythril to change
his mind. You can't hire a dark user and expect all hell not to break loose;
and Nocc soon discovers he's in over his head. While Theamh, Morat and the
members of the Order's Lythril Commitee struggle to keep Keanrih out of her
clutches, Lythril tells the story of what she hopes will be her ultimate
triumph to an unidentified listener who may or may not be about to become one
of the Dark One's most insidious agents.
Taken Child. Someone has swiped the spirit out of a two-year-old
boy, and it's Theamh's job to track it down and return it to his body where it
belongs. Even for an experienced shriia, that's a tall order; and as Theamh
soon discovers, this boy has other problems. Theamh's search leads her through
other dimensions, the halls of sacred and secular power, and her own past as
she begins to realize that the boy is at the center of a conspiracy that is
working to change the nature of life itself.
Another Country. Theamh and her apprentice Aine head north to the
Cretid Nation to track down the powers behind this conspiracy. Dealing with
electricity, automobiles, the Internet and automatic weapons would be bad
enough--but the real problem with the Cretid Nation is the Cretids. With the
help of a few good people, Theamh eventually learns what it means to get what
you wish for. Theamh will never be the same; but neither will the Cretid
Nation.
Darkness Bright. You know how they say you can't go home again? Well,
Theamh's about to find out once and for all whether that's truth or tarbhfnaa.
What with a civil war breaking out in Ideire and the Cretid Nation brutally
quashing an uprising of their own, just finding what's left of the Order is
going to be murder. Still, Idair says that all things are possible, including
maybe a happy ending. Then again, if Idair knew what she was doing, maybe
Ideire wouldn't be in this fix.
For Two. This novella revisits a particularly dark time in
the life of one of the main characters. About 14,000 words. Contains massive
spoilers for Taken Child, Another Country, and Better to Burn.
Redemption. After months of being a pain in Aine's gleacha,
Sonnia Rytehouse is finally leaving Ideire. It's Aine's job to see her safe
home--or rather, to escort her back to a highly nervous nation whose government
is desperately trying to crush an internal rebellion known as the Terror. When
Aine discovers a strange new form of dark magic that is driving the Nation
closer to self-destruction, what was supposed to be a day trip turns into
Aine's first solo mission. With most of her Cretid friends firmly in the
clutches of the Ruthlin Corporation--a powerful conglomerate that's one part
church, two parts prison, three parts profit and 100% pure evil-- Aine has to
rely on an unlikely assortment of new allies: an overwhelmed Ideiren
ambassador, a Cretid teenager traumatized by the violence she has survived, and
a mysterious creature whose dark past may hold the key to it all. Aine's ready
for the big time; but can one woman really drag two countries down the long
road to redemption?
Taken Child, Another
Country, Darkness Bright, and
Redemption are a series and should be read in that order. Better To
Burn is chronologically first but was written fourth, and can be read
before or after any of the other novels.
For Two will spoil major plot elements of Taken Child, Another
Country, and Better To Burn, and should not be read until after you
have finished those books. It will also change your perspective on certain
parts of Redemption.