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.
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?
The Prequel
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, 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.