The Forgotten Beasts of Eld

I loved this story of the power of hate and revenge. Patricia A. McKillip's writing is beautiful, yet not over flowery.

Sybel, is a wizard, from a long line of wizards. Her grandfather and her father before her started to "call" and collect some of the wondrous creatures of this world. Those "beasts" have gone down in history as mythological, yet still live on Eld Mountain under Sybel's care.

Sybel has no connection with the outside world, preferring her hermit-like existence of caring for her animals, reading the great lost books that she has managed to "steal" from other wizards, and her one obsession is to call the "mythical" Liralen.

But the outside world comes to her, in the form of a warrior bringing Sybel a baby boy, which turns out to be related to Sybel through one of her ancestor's. This child also turns out to be the son and only heir of the current king of Eldwold, and the winner of a recent war.

That is how this story begins, it's winding thread takes the reader into the heart and mind of Sybel as she is drawn slowly into a world that she had no experience with. The power of hate and revenge is an underlying theme and the denouement is satisfying (at least to me).