James Nicoll Reviews

1983’s When Voiha Wakes is the third and final volume in Joy Chant’s House of Kendreth secondary world series.

Rahiké returns from Halkal-Mari to her native Naramethé bearing welcome trade news¹. The Young Mistress of Naramethé also brings a small, but extremely expensive, package for young Mairilek. It contains a stringed instrument.

Looked at another way, the package contains chaos and unhappiness. Mairilek has a small flaw in his character; what is in the package will only exacerbate it.

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1977’s The Grey Mane of Morning is the second volume in Joy Chant’s House of Kendreth secondary-universe fantasy trilogy. Alternatively, The Grey Mane of Morning is a prequel set long before the events of Red Moon and Black Mountain.

Once the Khentorei, Gentle People of the Plains, were pathetic cave-dwelling savages. Driven from their former homes by the technologically superior Golden Ones, the Khentorei embraced the god Kem’nanh, domesticated the great Horned Horses, and made the plains their home.

Khentorei lives are not long lives, but they are for the most part enjoyable. The tribes wander as they please, following traditional ways, in an almost timeless existence. There is no need for history if nothing changes.

There is just one flaw in this paradise: the Golden Ones.

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Red Moon and Black Mountain is the first volume in Joy Chant’s House of Kendreth trilogy.

Siblings Oliver, Penny, and Nicholas Powell set out to explore Essex. Thanks to the intervention of an arcane being, the trio are transported from England to Vandarei. Vandarei needs heroes of a very special sort and English school children have the necessary qualifications.

Penny and Nicholas arrive together but Oliver, somewhat in the lead of his younger siblings, arrives somewhere else entirely. 

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