It's a neat trick to make the main character die (mostly) and then be "reborn," but it takes an author who can manipulate emotions skillfully to do it more than once. Zanja is not alone in her quest-she becomes friends with other magicians who play vital parts in the war effort: Emil Paladin, a fire elemental Norina Truthken, an air elemental and a reader of truth the seer Medric, whose magic may be fire and the mage Karis, whose very life is a puzzle. As sole survivor, Zanja becomes a resistance fighter, aiding the Shaftali with her premonitions (the gift of fire elementals) and her determination to survive. What was not her war suddenly becomes personal when the Sainnites turn on her people and obliterate them in one night's battle. Into this war comes Zanja na'Tarwein, speaker for the people of the Ashawala'i, a woman who holds the power of elemental fire. The land of Shaftal, occupied by the nasty Sainnites, has just lost its Earth witch ruler and, in doing so, has seemingly lost the magic that the witch held. (1993), Marks has created a work filled with an intelligence that zings off the page. The use of magic to combat war has been used to drive fantasy plots since the genre began-some with tepid results, and some, as in this case, with compelling effectiveness.
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