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Western Shore
by Juliet McKenna
(Orbit, £7.99, 592 pages, trade paperback, September 2005, ISBN: 1841493767.)
Review by Martin Owton
 Western
Shore is the third book of Juliet McKenna's Aldabreshin Compass
series and continues the story of Kheda, warlord of Daish. At the opening
of the story Kheda is in his new home in the Daish archipelago where
his new wife has just been delivered of twin daughters. Despite this
Kheda is not a man at peace; Daish is only beginning to recover from
the invasion of the wild men and dragons described in Northern Storm
and Kheda fears another onslaught. In a society that abhors the use
of magic, he knows that he needs the assistance of mages if he is to
protect his people. He concocts a plausible excuse for his absence and
with his lover Risala, water mage Velindre and one-legged earth mage
Neldreth he sails away in search of the wild men. They find a land where
seismic instability produces vast amounts of natural magic which draws
dragons to it and produces prodigiously powerful wizards amongst the
primitive population. Kheda and the mages are tested to the limit in
their attempt to destroy the threat to their peoples.
As I've come to expect of Juliet McKenna the world-building is of
the highest quality. The world of Western Shore is a very long
way from the default setting of feudal Europe plus magic that so many
fantasy writers employ. A lot of thought and research has clearly gone
into the societies she creates. Nothing is introduced that doesn't integrate
completely and serve its purpose; yet this is achieved smoothly and
unobtrusively. The characters are solidly drawn and believable throughout.
The story opens rather slowly, setting up the plotline, but once rolling
the pace does not slacken; something of an improvement over some previous
books which were episodic and dragged somewhat. The conclusion, unusually
for Juliet's work, is merely a convenient break point for the tale,
which is left 'to be continued'.
Elsewhere in infinity plus:
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