Review: Exquisite originality AND great writing!  Loved it!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 26, 2013
"I do whatever and no Mage bothers me with opinions," says Zyre, a rogue elf. I want to be this character, this eclectically-skilled, detached, self-contained, magically endowed, being who exists by her own rules and has no interest to infiltrate into the lives of others or to allow others to determine her destiny. Instinctual, curious, experimental, and risk-taking for shear amusement... This Elf is a muse unto herself.  Katri Cardew has richly developed and appointed a multi-world universe and populated these worlds with myriad creatures that are not human, though humans do walk about and inhabit this particular world, where Zyre, the Elf, has traveled to through the Reveal, which is like a worm hole between worlds, in order to escape what to us would be considered an arranged marriage, for the sake of the tribe.  To not be thrown about, controlled or manipulated by human emotions, is otherworldly in its truest sense.  One of the most difficult tasks of a writer is to give fresh, blood-pumping flesh, personality, and brains to a stick character, and doing that for creatures not bound by typical human emotions would certainly seem a daunting task.  Cardew has, however, exquisitely accomplished this.  Not only does she lay a solid foundation, she does it beautifully.  Her concepts are smooth, her transitions are smooth, and her dialogue is extremely fresh.  Cardew not only brings originality and genuine writing talent to this genre, but she elevates the premise of thought, so that we actually have philosophical nourishment along the way.  I loved it.