*** Walker took a step back, startled. He saw himself in the images, anger and defiance in his face, his feet positioned on clouds above the cringing forms of Par and Wren and the others of the little company who had gathered at the Hadeshorn to meet with the shade of Allanon. Thunder rolled out of a darkness that welled away into the skies overhead, and lightning flared in jagged streaks. Walker's voice was a hiss amid the rumble and the flash, these words his own, spoken as if out of his memory. I would sooner cut off my hand than see the Druids come again! And then he lifted his arm to reveal that his hand, indeed, was gone.

The vision faded, then sharpened anew. He saw himself again, this time on a high, empty ridgeline that looked out across forever. The whole world spread away below him, the nations and their Races, the creatures of land and water, the lives of everyone and everything that were. Wind whipped at his black robes and whistled ferociously in his ears. There was a girl with him. She was woman and child both, a magical being, a creature of impossible beauty. She stunned him with the intensity of her gaze, depthless black eyes from which he could not turn away. Her long, silver hair flowed from her head in a shimmering mass. She reached for him, needing his balance to keep her footing on the treacherous rock--and he thrust her violently away. She fell tumbling into the abyss below, soundless as she shrank from sight, silver hair fading into a ribbon of brightness and then into nothing at all.***

The above quote is one of the best in all the books. It promises much for a first-time reader; and is perhaps even more enjoyable for one who has finished the Heritage saga. Once again I see the cruel trick of fate Walker Boh will find in the Hall of Kings. Once more I see the first description of Quickening, that marvelous creation of the King of the Silver River. Her own story is unique to fantasy, and perhaps the best sub-plot of all the great ones Brooks has created in his many works.

Some don't care for her story. I find it particularly poignant. A tragedy comparable to Amberle's, but in some respects wholly contrary. Amberle didn't know her fate, and went reluctantly towards it. Quickening knows hers; and embraces it, but doesn't realize how her growing humanity will suffer for it in the end. Her relationships with Morgan Leah, and particularly with Pe Ell, are created and nurtured with beautiful prose. She will always be one of my favorite characters, and I look forward to meeting her again in "Druid". She was a simply amazing creation.