Cynnador

Synopsis

"I've been reading Patrick Welch for a long time, and have always enjoyed his work. "Cynnador" is, in my opinion, his best. Despite that, I'm afraid this review won't do the book justice as I can't find any sane way to summarize it. For one thing, there's a prologue and twelve preludes before the novel proper begins. That means before you begin reading, you've already read twelve seemingly unrelated tales. I had little doubt these tales would soon intersect, but they do so late enough in the book where I'd have to give away major plot twists to provide a synopsis. So I can't tell you about the dancer who weaves a spell with motion, or the master magician who tries to foil a gambler with magic and fails, or the catacombs beneath the great bazaar called Cynnador that no one has ever been able to explore, ostensibly because the demons who live there don't allow it. And I certainly can't tell you about the merchant who has a foolproof method of making sales that works everywhere but in Cynnador. The characters are fascinating, neither good nor evil but somewhere in between. However, the real star of the book is Cynnador herself, an unlikely marketplace between two great countries, protected by mountain and desert. Indeed as I read the book, my sympathy lay with Cynnador, who somehow protects those who call her home from those who would subdue her. ...With its unique structure, a brilliant cast of characters and several unique plotlines, "Cynnador" places Mr. Welch firmly in my pantheon of great speculative fiction writers. I can't recommend it highly enough."Reviewed By Steve Lazarowitz, author of "Dream Sequence."