Threshold
Douglass presents an original variation on the theme of the man, or in this case, magus, who must undo the harm he unwittingly put in motion. On the plains of Ashod rises the great, glass-encased pyramid Threshold, a mathematical and architectural wonder that has taken the Magi and multitudes of slaves eight generations to build. Nearly completed, it awaits only its capstone. Meanwhile, the glassworker Tirzah, a slave, hides a secret from her masters: she can communicate with glass, and has heard the glass in Threshold scream in pain. The glass knows what Tirzah can but feel and the Magi wouldn't believe: that, more than a building, Threshold is a gateway. When it is completed, something from another dimension will come through it. Already, it has started taking lives. Can Tirzah and her fellow slaves halt the construction? Will Boaz, the magus whose alternating kindness and sternness to Tirzah leave her hoping but confused, accept the truth before the capstone is placed? Full of original touches, this is very good storytelling.Frieda MurrayCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved