Finally,
CRUSADER —
the last in the Wayfarer series!
Basically
CRUSADER encompasses the battle for control of Tencendor
- or what is left of it. On the face of it the Demons
can't do much. After all, most people are safe in
Sanctuary, the paths to the Sacred Groves have been
closed and DragonStar is all set to send the Demons
back where they came from.
But,
of course, everything goes wrong. Among DragonStar's
family and friends is one who is prepared to sell
out Sanctuary for his or her own reasons, and who
realises the frightful secret of the Niah-character
... and who realises the saleability of the secret
to the Demons. What will happen if the Demons get
access to Sanctuary?
Faraday
naturally has her own traumatic emotional rollercoaster
to endure, Leagh's baby is something of a surprise,
the blue-feathered lizard reveals a hitherto hidden
talent, Axis gets a job back again and gets involved
(wouldn't you know it) in a frightful squall with
a few thousand Skraelings, Urbeth has to step in to
save the day on a number of occasions (grumbling all
the time), her daughters fall passionately in love
with one of the milder characters, you won't believe
what happens to Raspu, the GateKeeper (have you forgotten
her?) packs up her Gate and joins in the fun, StarLaughter
and WolfStar have (another) frightful encounter ...
one which involves a hapless Zenith ... and of course
everything ends in bleak disaster.
Almost.
CRUSADER ends with DragonStar and Faraday assuming
the identities of two of western culture's greatest
mythological figures ... and everyone ends up in one
of our greatest mythological theme parks (any guesses?
Think on the infinite field of flowers and take it
from there). I did this for two reasons: one, there
is no point continuing the story with yet another
trilogy based on Tencendor because at this point everyone
will know the story; and two, because it was
both a cute and a vaguely uncomfortable uncomfortable
end for DragonStar and Faraday. We know who they become,
and unfortunately we know the rest of the legend as
well.
Read
an excerpt here.
