Lyremouth Chronicles, Book Three
Jane Fletcher's The Empress and the Acolyte, The Third Book.
In the third and most current of the Lyremouth Chronicles, Tevi and Jemeryl face their most difficult journey yet. To save humankind, they must outwit other sorcerers.
The third book in the Lyremouth Chronicles is The Empress and the Acolyte. This most recent book of the Chronicles takes place three years after The Traitor and the Chalice, and follows the heroines through one of their most dangerous adventures yet.
The Story:
Jemeryl has been studying under the tutelage of Empress Bykoda, a character that brings up a vast number of questions for Tevi (and the reader) about ethics, and the treatment of those "ungifted" like Tevi. While Jemeryl tries to understand Tevi's point of view, she finds the magic so interesting that Tevi often feels alone with her feelings of unease. Regardless, she stays with Jemeryl, and when they go to depart, Bykoda entrusts them with a magical artifact that could unravel time, should it fall into the wrong hands. The question becomes, who wants it bad enough to kill for it? The two women must flee to safety with the relic, unaware of who it might be that wishes to use it for their own gain.
As in the last two books of the Chronicles, Tevi and Jemeryl must deal with the societal views of their relationship, not because they are both women, but rather because Jemeryl, a sorcerer, chooses to be with an "ungifted" warrior like Tevi. The women's relationship is put to the test when another sorcerer attempts to prove to Jemeryl that Tevi does not love her as she had thought. Loyalty trumps deceit, and the women continue their madcap journey to save the world, together.
There is, in addition to the excellent array of human characters in this novel, the addition of dragons. What is perhaps most fascinating about the dragons is the way Fletcher imbues them with a profound belief system: simplistic, and yet, full of depth and philosophical questions.
Issues of loyalty, trust, and most of all, love, are inherent in this novel. It is, paradoxically, a person's desire for love that could crush the world. Fletcher shows both the destructive nature of love and desire just as she shows its redemptive value. Likewise, the reader is always aware of the discrepancy between the social classes. One group has power and wealth, while others languish in poverty, considered by many less than because of their non-magical natures. There are trust issues caused by the societal chasm, revealing an interesting view of power structure hierarchies.
The Author:
Jane Fletcher is the author of both the Lyremouth Chronicles as well as the Celeano Series, more tales of magic and mayhem. Jane Fletcher won the 2007 Lesbian Speculative Fiction Goldie Award for The Empress and the Acolyte. Her book The Walls at Westernfort (Celeano Series) won the 2005 Science Fiction Award from The Golden Crown Literary Society as well. She also has a variety of short stories available on her website. Born in London, she now lives in the South of England. She is down to earth, easy going woman with a great sense of humor and good presentation skills at conferences.
