This first novel by Australian writer Cecilia Dart-Thornton begins the Bitterbynde series, the saga of a young woman's search for her past as well as her destiny. An orphaned refugee taken in as a servant of powerful Isse Tower, a prominent Relay Station in the world's communications network, the main character is a nameless, badly scarred mute with little hope for better--until he escapes by stowing away on a magical Windship and is befriended by cheerful Sianadh, a self-professed madman and adventurer. Sianadh gives his companion two precious gifts: a name, Imrhien, and the knowledge that he is really she, raised as a boy to protect her from even worse treatment.
Healed of her scars and given back her voice, the former mute known as Imrhien now carries an important message to the King-Emperor of Caermelor. Disguised as a noble to gain admission to court society, Imrhien finds that the emperor has embarked on a war against a hostile army of unseelie creatures (malevolent fairies) bent on the destruction of humankind. Her eventual meeting with the emperor proves both surprising and bittersweet, for as she finds her heart's desire, Imrhien also discovers that she is the target of the unseelie hordes.
The final installment in Australian author Cecilia Dart-Thornton's Bitterbynde trilogy, takes place in Erith, a richly detailed realm filled with a plethora of magical seelie (benevolent) and unseelie (malevolent) creatures. Seamlessly mixing British and Irish myths, fairy tales and folklore, Dart-Thornton (called Australia's answer to J.R.R. Tolkien) creates an extraordinarily wild world, comparable to Middle-earth, that can be both breathtakingly beautiful and, in the blink of an eye, the stuff of nightmares.
