"The adventures continue in the next book in the Tarlisian Saga"

The adventures continue in Time of the Wolf, the third book in the Tarlisian Saga.

Keahla, the exiled princess of Carrum Bahl, has a mission only she can fulfill. Her dear friend, Brekan the Druid, has sent her forward in time to bring back the one man who can solve their world's current crisis. They must perform a sacred ritual on the night the two moons become one, to awaken Czaten the Blood King from his eternal sleep.

Radin Hawk, the reincarnated Wolf King, has recently lost his beloved wife and the last thing he desires is a new one. When the advisor to his father the King foresees the coming of a new love for Radin, he is sent off, objections ignored, to meet his new destiny. When he sees the young beauty on the beach, and later as a prize at a slave auction, he never expects the adventures through time and space that will follow.

Back in Keahla's land, to which she has taken Radin through a time portal, Brekan spins a tale of an ancient enemy who could destroy their land. Anayha, an evil sorceress, has her own reasons for wanting to raise Czaten once more. He is her lover from an ancient past, that she too has managed to survive, and she longs for the power only Czaten and the legendary magickal book Arkgeld can provide. Now an epic battle of good versus evil will commence that will decide the fates of all the players. Will good finally conquer all or will evil win the day? And what of the new love between Keahla and Radin? Will they defeat time to be together? Or will fate once again tear them apart, as it has in every lifetime?

As with the two preceding books in this series, readers will be pulled in to the story immediately. Ms. D'Arcy has an incredible talent for painting a brilliant world, so rich that the landscape is a character unto itself. She draws upon medieval history and her own imagination to create the society in which her characters live. Magic plays such an integral role in the story and is so well done that one will believe, if only for a little while, that magic does exist in the world.

Though never lacking in action and adventure, the driving force behind the plot is the characters. Keahla is a strong young lady, both physically and mentally, who has lost everything she holds dear. She is not one to sit idly by and let the men have all the fun. She gets right in the thick of things and will not allow anyone, especially the insufferable Radin, to keep her from what she sees as her duty to her home and its people. Radin has no use for magick since it couldn't save his beloved wife and initially resents being pulled into Keahla's time and place in order to defeat the Blood King. Yet he adjusts remarkably well to being a player in the unfolding events and eventually comes to accept his importance to the job at hand. One will see the progression of the relationship Keahla and Radin share and feel the love that grows between them, defeating everything that stands in the way of their happiness.

Some of the most remarkable people found within the pages of Time of the Wolf are the secondary characters. Anayha is disgustingly evil, willing to do whatever is necessary to protect her interests, yet she shows an astonishing tenderness for Brekan as a result of the relationship they once shared, centuries ago. The conclusion to their story is as rewarding as that of Keahla and Radin, for readers long to see Brekan and Anayha finally surmount the odds stacked against them. There are also Jarl Ballindoch and his son, who share familial ties, though distant, to a certain elf we all know and love from previous books in the series. Also, who can forget Mace, fiercely loyal, even to the point he's willing to venture in to the unknown for no other reason but to protect his lord, Radin.

Be prepared to laugh, cry, rage at the fates, shout in denial, and cheer these beloved heroes... and villains... on to their just rewards. Readers will do all of that, and more, as they fall into the world Julie D'Arcy has created between the covers of Time of the Wolf. As always, it is quite an adventure with one of her novels.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, November 2005. All rights reserved.

Reviewed by Kelley Hartsell
Courtesy Love Romances
Posted July 9, 2006

Summary

In another time, In a another realm, Back through the swirling mists of antiquity... Brekan, Druid of the ancient order of Palandor sends Keahla, outlawed Princess of Carrum Bahl, through a time portal to seek Radin Hawk, reincarnated soul of Ambroch, King of the Wolfhead. Brekan must join together the Selected Four on the night that the moons are as one to re-enact the ritual that can raise the Blood King, Czaten, from the undead. Brekan needs Radin to slay the Blood King, so he himself can be released from a curse of immortality, which the gods of creation brought down upon him when he unwittingly tampered with the fates. But first they must wake him. A handful of heroes must strive to be the first to uncover Arkgeld the lost spell book of Palandor, for only with this mystical book, can they unlock the spell to raise Czaten from his ensorcelled slumber. But they are not the only ones who seek the book. Anayha, Sorceress Queen, who through an enchantment of her own has managed to cheat death, also searches for the ancient tome to raise her former lover. Will the Blood King live and bring chaos down upon the world as Anayha wishes? Or be slain by the hand of Radin Hawk, as Brekan has planned? And will Radin in following Brekan's plan, leave the woman he has loved in every lifetime undefended to once again die by an enemy's hand? What begins as a quest to stop a, Witch Queen, from raising her lover to destroy a nation, becomes a battle against the dark side of human nature...and a race against the crumbling gates of time.