"Every bit as good as the first two Paradoxes"

Having read PARADOX and PARADOX II, I had high hopes for PARADOX III. I'm happy to report that all of my expectations for these stories were not only met but were surpassed. Once again Rosemary Laurey and J. C. Wilder have entranced me with their stories! I am under their spell!! My only problem with this book was that I wanted much more of both stories!!

The Shattered Stone by Rosemary Laurey introduces us to Alys. Her parents have died of the plague and now she is to be shut up in their house until such time she either sickens and dies or lives. While awaiting that she thoroughly cleans the home because she knows she will have to leave since the home belongs to the stone guild, the business of her father. As she cleans, Alys finds some books and strange coins under her parents' bed. She also finds a broken stone medallion but she knows not what it means. Finally Alys can leave so she decides to find her mother's people. She meets up with Sir Ranald who is on the Monarch's business that of finding his nephew and bringing him back to the family. He only has a broken stone medallion to go on.

After The Rain by J. C. Wilder tells us the story of Li, a Halfling. She's half human, half elf. She's at an age where she wants a family of her own but no elf male wants a Halfling so she asks her father to let her go to the human world. Her father is so enraged, he casts her out of his home and the village but before that has her wings torn off her back. Li finally finds work at Graystone as a maid. She's happy there until she has to take care of The Evil Ones, stone gargoyles in the drawing room. No one in the house goes there but her and she has to clean. One evening she is cleaning when a storm brews up and startles her. One of the gargoyles falls off the mantle and she catches it. The next thing she knows is a man is in the room and he takes her hostage and flees. How can this happen? He tells her he's Prince Nikolaz of Riverhaven and he'd been bewitched by Lady of Maragorn. Li had always heard the stories but thought they were just that. Is it really true?

As much as I enjoyed the first three PARADOX books, I now cannot wait to see what Rosemary Laurey and J. C. Wilder have in store for us next. Hopefully we'll have PARADOX books to read as long as they see fit to write them!

Reviewed by Kathy Boswell
Posted November 22, 2004

Summary

In THE SHATTERED STONE, Alys is exiled from the only home she's ever known upon her parents' deaths. She sets off to find her mother's kin in the far western lands. On the way, she meets the monarch's envoy: Ranald ven Strad. The chance meeting leads to an astounding discovery. In AFTER THE RAIN, Li leaves her village after her family's betrayal and seeks to create a new life for herself. She accepts a job at Graystone House as the keeper of the Evil Ones—hundreds of stone gargoyles that fill a chamber top to bottom. Rumored to be the victims of the infamous Lady of Maragorn, Li only knows that the job fills her with dread, especially when she has to deal with one statue in particular, that of Nikolaz of Riverhaven. Plunge into desire and adventure in PARADOX III!...