The Vision-C. L. Talmadge

The Vision
C. L. Talmadge
Healing Stone Books, Jun 2008, $16.95
www.greenstoneofhealing.com
ISBN: 9780980053739

In Azgard, medical officer Lieutenant Helen Andros has come a long way in spite of her low social rank as an illegitimate half-breed. The country’s caste system has little wiggle room for people of her race and background; in fact she is surprised her Turanian mother gave birth to someone with her pedigree.

From the mysterious Mist Weavers, she recently learns why her mom accepted the ostracism of bearing an illegitimate half-breed when she finds out who her father is. He is a very powerful Toltec lord. They also understand the meaning of the green gem she has worn since birth. However, her paternal heritage will not prevent the Supreme Lord of the Temple of Kronos from killing this impure hybrid; the only way Helen can survive is if she learns to use the gem.

This is a superb very complex character driven fantasy that takes a close look at religious and racial persecution. Helen is a terrific heroine whose need to learn more about her heritage puts her on a path in which her outcome will be either death or power. The Toltec State Religion demands purity and nothing else is acceptable; thus the audience receives an intriguing cautionary tale of a theocratic caste society in which DNA and religious obedience rule. Readers will appreciate this strong fantasy in which intolerance supersedes acceptance

Harriet Klausner