Conqueror's Moon
Julian May
Voyager, a division of HarperCollins
Hard cover
Reviewed by Kyle Brunette, 1 March 2004
Prince Conrig of Cathra wishes to unite his land under one rule. The only
way for him to accomplish this is to enlist the aid of the powerful sorceress
Ullanoth, Princess of the remote province of Moss. Ullanoth has great powers
given to her by the BeaconFolk, but their use comes at a great price.
Conqueror's Moon is a typical Julian May type fantasy book - I would
hesitate to call it a novel, seeing as the large-print hardcover version is
five hundred pages long. It has the good guys, the bad guys, the magic and the
battles to satisfy any fantasy fan.
Characterisation is done fairly well. It had me empathising with most of
the characters - including those on the wrong side... The story is fairly
interesting, although it can become somewhat confusing at times. It's more
than enough to keep you from putting the book down, though.
The magic can be a bit overdone in places, with almost enough types of
magic to rival Star Trek technobabble. This doesn't detract from the
novel at all though.
The "Sigils" as the book calls them are an interesting twist in Julian May's
magical world of Blenholme. They have tremendous powers, but their use causes
great pain to the user. An interesting concept well explored.
While Conqueror's Moon is hardly Julian May's best book, it is certainly an
enjoyable read and, as always, very well written.
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