Off the Bookshelf: DAYSTAR, by Kathy Tyers

And so the SF allegory, parable, romance and adventure wraps up with DAYSTAR.

Big book, big ideas, and superb characters that drag you in and make you care -- to the point that you get teary when someone is suffering, and you just want to grab the galactic bullies and self-righteous jerks and grind them to pulp. Know what I mean?

Prophecies that have been waiting for centuries race to fulfillment. The oppression of the Sentinels reaches epic, agonizing proportions. The suffering seems so pointless, and yet everything is planned, everything works together for the ultimate good. Tavkel, the fulfillment of all prophecies, will remake everything, but first there must be immolation. In the midst of what is seen as defeat will lie his victory.

The incarnation, the sacrifice and death and resurrection, all acted out in a futuristic setting ... and yet so very familiar in the human aspect, the battle of pride and fear, the refusal to let go of the darkness within each of us, and learning to trust and obey and surrender.

At the end of the book, I was wondering why I took so long to read this book. Well worth the time. And definitely keeping on my bookshelf, to read again.

Off the Bookshelf: WIND AND SHADOW, by Kathy Tyers

Whew! Done. Book 1 of the one-book-a-week commitment for the year. I even went so far this year to list the first 10 books or so of what I plan to read on Goodreads, so you can hold me accountable.

What's nice is that it's a book I've wanted to read for a long time. Honestly, I've had this and the next book in the series sitting on my nightstand for at least 2 years, giving me the evil eye, whining in my sleep, demanding to know when I'll get to them. It's a rough life, having so many books waiting to be read that the riches turn into a burden.

I'm only partially joking.

WIND AND SHADOW is the 4th book in the series Kathy Tyers started many years ago with her landmark novel, FIREBIRD. The first three books have gone through quite a few shifts and changes and publishing houses, and now she's written two more books, following through on the promises and prophecies mentioned in the previous three. This series is set in a far future where conflicts familiar in recent movies are prevalent -- basically the tension between ordinary Humans and augmented Humans with talents. Can the changed Humans be trusted? Can the unchanged Humans be trusted? Who is going to make the first strike against the other? In the middle of all this are the gifted Sentinels with their Code, their devotion to the prophecies and to the guardian of their souls, and the Caldwell family, with their gifts and problems and the heavy burden of figuring in those prophecies .......

I think the sign of a really good series is that even with a break of at least 10 years since reading the last book, it didn't take long to pick up on who is who, what's going on, and remember the events of the previous books and what's at stake. If you're lucky (or maybe not so, because why did you wait so long?) you're on the verge of starting the series, with the waiting thrill of discovery and being drawn into the universe of Firebird and Brennan Caldwell and now, their descendants. ENJOY!