Riddles

I've been reading The Riddle by Alison Croggon, second in the Pellinor series. (the first one is called The Naming). It's good! It's about a 16 year old girl called Mearad. (pronounced MY-rad).

When the first book starts, Mearad is a slave for a "petty tyrant". (I think that's what they called him, anyway). Then she meets a man called Cadvan who helps her escape and shows her a world that she hasn't really seen before: a world where people help one-another and where things are fair and beautiful. He also reviles a to her that she's a Bard: a mage who wields the power of the Light. The Bards have acted as leaders and guiders for the people for centuries. But the Dark is rising again, and this rising will be the most terrible yet. It will boil down to a few mumbled pieces of lore, some randoms guesses and a few very odd and confusing riddles to help defeat the Dark once and for all.

That's basically what the books are about. Mearad is amazingly real and complex: I think she is the most believable character I have ever "met" in a book. There will be four books in all.

~Holly.