The Wanderer (Rulers of Hylor),Used

ReviewPraise for The WandererTo fully enjoy this good, competently written storyWilders final novel of the lands of Hylorfamiliarity with Wilders trilogy The Rulers of Hylor helps but isnt necessary. . .It ends not with a cliffhanger but at a stopping point, thereby allowing for further stories set in Hylor by other handsa prospect about which, provided those future writers keep the continuity within the parameters of classic fantasy, no fantasy reader is likely to complain.BooklistFull of cosmic drama and grand enchantments, the late Wilders last Hylor novel, completed by Reimann . . .addressed the same morally and philosophically complex issues of gender, society and selflearning that lifted earlier volumes in the Rulers of Hylor series above the common run of fantasies . . . . The authors sparing use of magic helps highlight a naturalistic world of warring kingdoms, treachery and political conflict. Fans of both pastoral and hardedged fantasy should be well satisfied.Publishers Weekly on The Wanderer[Those young adults who are] fans of high fantasy, such as The Lord of the Rings, will find it difficult to put this book down. It contains all of the elements of a grand heroic quest, including fierce warriors, magical rings, and faerie folk.VOYA on The Wanderer"Good, competently written storyWilder's final novel of the lands of Hylor." (Booklist)"Full of cosmic drama and grand enchantments. . . .Fans of both pastoral and hardedged fantasy should be well satisfied." (Publishers Weekly)"It contains all of the elements of a grand heroic quest." (VOYA)Product DescriptionCherry Wilder's The Rulers of Hylor series established a detailed and intricate fantasy world. Katya Riemann completed and polished this last Hylor novel, a tale of warring kingdoms, treacherous advisers and generational conflicts, set in a world of rich physical beauty, vibrant life and a realism leavened with occasional and startling magic.Gael Maddoc, the child of struggling peasants, leaps at the chance when she is offered training as a kedran, a mounted soldier. She wins glory bringing her charges home safe across a huge desert, seeking aid from the Shee. But the Sheethe dwindling Fair Folkthen recruit her for their own purposes. Her nascent magical talents and her resourcefulness show her to be the Wanderer, a legendary figure for whom they've been waitingAbout the AuthorCHERRY WILDER lived in Australia and Germany. She died in 2002. KATYA REIMANN lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.WANDERERBOOK ICHAPTER IGAEL MADDOCGael Maddoc grew up on a hill farm in the Chyrian lands of Mel'Nir. Holywell Croft was the land of the Maddoc family by deed and by custom. It was all they had: a wretched croft that hardly nourished the farmer, his wife, and their two surviving children. There was little else in their lives except the backbreaking struggle with the stony pasture. It seemed they had always been poor: Rab Maddoc could hardly look back to a happier time, and Shivorn, his wife, had grown very quiet.Gael, their third child, was strong from birth. She survived and was not brought behind the hill to the graveyard where so many Maddocs lay under the tumbled stones.Then again there were two bad years, and at last Shivorn bore her third son, her sixth child, the second survivor. The boy, Bress, was a year old, then two years, crowned with his father's dark curling hair, and he was all their joy.One spring night when Gael was seven years old and her brother three, it was certain Bress would die. Their mother had not slept for two nights, but still the fever would not shift. Gael crouched by the fire, for they had forgotten to send her to bed. She heard her mother say:"I will go!"And Maddoc made some reply, half angry, full of dread."Go, then!"Her mother snatched up the child, wrapped him in her second shawl, and ran out of the stone hut. The yard was muddy, crusted i