CEPHRAEL'S HAND by MELISSA MCPHAIL

AUTHOR’S CREATIVE BRAND

Title:  CEPHRAEL’S HAND

Genre:  Epic Romantic Fantasy 

Pages:  634

Outskirts Press

MY 9 READER “HOT-BUTTON” CONSIDERATIONS

WORLD’S IMMERSION:

We are directed by author Melissa McPhail, to enter this fifth Age in the Realm of Alorin.  As in all competent high-fantasy writing, rules exist and delineate the nature of this world; in Ms. McPhail’s weaving hands, illuminating designs are woven together as puzzling, intersecting strands of mystery.  Alorin is drenched in magic but only revealed, in lifting veils of revelation as to these components.  I could clarify what those five strands are for you, but from what I know of discerning fantasy Readers, such key details are best left to be discovered “going in…”

A geography of politics and myth combine to comprise a multilevel, world-at-war, at once tactile and energetic in Nature.  On ground level, the kingdom of M’Nador, supported by allied kingdoms, Dannym and Veneisia, are in conflict with the Akkad; a battle at The Cry is where we are initially thrust into the action. This war is not simply a clash of forces, but one of beliefs, as M’Nador is also at war to push back the teachings of Akkad’s Prophet.  On a higher plane of awareness, beyond the bleeding grunts of the desert, drapes the tragedy of The Adept Wars; this historic clash, of high magic and blood-shed, all leads back to an ancient citadel, and the current awakening of what is dying in Alorin.

Whether one is in search with Trell of the Tides, dipping down into elemental uncertainty of a node with Franco Rohre, happening upon mystical retreat of powerful beings in a sa’reyth, contemplating incandescent Illume Belliel, or simply following the ethereal passage of a fire princess… Readers are stepping inside the totality of CEPHRAEL’S HAND: A Pattern of Shadow & Light, Book 1.  This conception captivates the imagination with story-telling of impressive scope and invention...

SELECTED CHARACTERS / ICONS:

The rich-in-character, stepping inside each other’s glamour, painting a world where legends are not merely told, they walk this world and confirm the stories:

RAIN D’LACOURTE:  With diamond eyes that transfix, that know, he is the fourth vestal and an untarnished soul. This truth-reader, for being a calm, balanced presence, seems to strike fear into those who have something dark in their thoughts to hide, who fear being read clearly as if in stark light. Rain D’Lacourte is  legendary for his own Time.

PRINCE EAN of Dannym: 18 years young of royal val Lorien blood, and sole-remaining heir to the Eagle Throne.  Under Cephrael’s Hand, he had lost two brothers to tragic events when only a boy.  Yet, all this is context, because the young lad is at the beginning of an immense, mythic journey…

TRELL: He held off an entire Veniesian army with nothing more than his best friend plus fifty men.  A hero with a sense of genuine wonder at his world, though for such sharp appreciation, an equal fog of forgetfulness regarding his own life beyond five years prior.  And his message from Naiadithine, “Follow the water, Trell of the Tides...”

CREIGHTON KELSPATH “Cray”:  “You never get a second opportunity to make a first impression.” Blood-brother peer of Ean, yet pledged to his higher status friend. He is love-struck with Katerine.

The SHADE, DAMEN:  A shade with a face of living steel, an unknowable being behind his pale blue hood of mystery.  He / It,  is at once a phantom from some nightmare, but then more, a being whose powerful presence exists for some unfathomable service, some dark, higher purpose…”Ma dieul.”

BJORN VAN GELDERAN:  “Failure is the province of the craven and the dead.”  He was the first vestal to take the oath…a truth-reader, among other things, who disappeared from his brethren; he has quite possibly, become an eternally turned enemy to the horror of his own kind.  Strange, that evil can manifest itself behind such a handsome, blue eyed countenance.

ERRODAN VAL LORIEN, Queen of Dannym: awaiting Prince Ean, her missing son and heir.  She is an earthy presence for royalty, nurturing Life in her own garden.  Here is a Queen who does not stand on her entitlement, but on undying Love.

YSOLDE, a fire princess:  The Queen’s companion, a regal figure of ethereal sensuality, tempered with a sense of what is dignified and right for the well-being of her Lady.

FRANCO ROHRE: His head is dipped low for some shame gnawing at his soul, and yet Franco is still an espial of significant capabilities…and still more than that, he is somehow honor-bound.

ALYNERI D’GIVERNY, Duchess of Aracine and Adept Healer:  in-your-face diva, quick with a quip to put others in their place that she does not approve of…she is young still.  Beneath her caramel-skinned beauty and seeming untouchable heart, she has in truth belonged to someone she walked away from, many years past…and has remained alone ever since.

TANIS:  Young truth-reader in training, in service of Alyneri , and subject to her whims.

NAIIR: “Chaser of the Dawn,” a drachwyr.

BALAJI: “He Who Walks The Edge Of The World”

LOGHAIN:  a Whisper Lord and Wildling

VAILE:  An exotic woman, as adept with deep healing as she is, dealing death with a blade.  A Zanthyr.

MALACHAI:  He wielded Elae to create a fledgling world, was cast out by the Council of a Thousand Thrones, before appealing to the darker gods.

STRUCTURAL APPOINTMENTS:

We follow the action of a multi-level story puzzle by shifting in and out of ongoing arcs for this ensemble of players.  Each character journey registers some measure of dramatic impact upon the events that are being drawn into collision for the fate of Alorin.  The effect of this structural technique is to evoke an epic scale to the action, with implications for fates to all who inhabit this world.  Such a wide range of societal representation and war’s impact on all levels harkens back to such classics as Les Miserables. 

This book is notably the foundation story to a trilogy; weighing in at 634 pages, the story moves at a pace luxuriating with minute focus on the personal moments to gigantic personas. So when the thunder cracks and all of the powers hinted at do rear their full expressive lightning, Readers hold a full grasp of the stakes…who, what, and why beings are being obliterated….and have taken the time to care.

“VISUALITY”/ SENSORY APPEAL:

“There was something truly exotic in her movement, something elemental; she walked as rising flames, as a breeze caresses the fields of wheat.” ~ Ysolde, fire princess

M.M. has an appreciation for not simply the wardrobe of character nor even the classic writers’ practice of examining a face with scrutiny…but for evoking a poetic effect of character expressed through Nature. Our senses become engaged because McPhail brings her details into such close intimacy, that  one’s attention becomes drawn to a  fascination for the quality of specific movement, or for the sensuality of form.  Sometimes this poetry gives way toward something more immediately erotic, in the personal of a character we are experiencing through, as Trell’s first meeting with Vaile will express:

”Trell clasped wrists with her. ‘Trell,’ he replied in her chosen language, trying very hard not to look at her breasts, or more specifically at the protrusion of her hearty nipples as they pressed wetly against the sheer silk of her bodice. She fights like a warrior, speaks like a Northman, and dresses like a sultan’s mistress…”

This is romantic adventure, and the experience is not simply perfunctory, sacrificed to the higher ideologies and master shot of armies entire, expressing great conflict, no…the fantasy here, is felt directly in the pantaloons, as much as in one’s higher mind.  One can almost smell some of these characters.  The author’s choice-of-details do angle toward a sensuous immersion.

THEMATIC / MYTHIC APPEAL:

High fantasy is given deeper layers and lairs, than mere good versus evil in Cephrael’s Hand; duality of Nature, clear surface features giving way to baffling, inner truths…’things are not what they may seem’ is practiced in this story.  Contrasting frequencies battle for attention, for what may be learned of human nature, and much of these lessons have to do with the contents of the contesting minds that inhabit this world.  These contesting minds insist on their own adamant meanings as to what the strands or the stars, in their mythical, magical mysteries are revealing:  A balance of Existential Interpretations.

The mirror here is one that may be aligned with contrasts and iconoclasts to be found in a chasm of difference between formal religion and Nature’s other free-ranging forms of elemental spirituality. Balance, as Melissa McPhail will expound upon in one of her major themes, is also emphasized in the oscillation between these polarities. 

In this mythic match of Chess, learning the moves between the players and the played, and how those stars of Cephrael’s Hand tend to doom those for whom the alignment appears….calls to mind whether one believes in Fate or Free Will, in Destiny or Chaos (Chance).  What is Universal here, is that no matter how powerful the being is, in this mighty world, every single character has a healthy dose of fear regarding what the truth of this matrix actually is, and is uncertain if even their own mighty prowess may out-pace what the powers-that-be have in store for them.  In this, we may all connect with.

STORY-FLOW:

For me, Cephrael’s Hand was a tougher read than other indie books.  At first, the plenty of complex characters may be overwhelming. In my analysis style, I do not simply read, I make notation in another file as I go along, including specifics for each character.  I earn my absorption of knowledge on a book, and then translate into a qualitative commentary.  To encompass this novel, my notes are the length of an essay, because this cast of characters are a small army of details.  The linguistics chosen, bend the mind in their extravagance of suitably epic proportions.

And then you get used to the scope, which makes the action flow with more aligned focus. Once Readers are accustomed to this author’s syntax or style of story-telling, adjustments become more like when one goes in for a deep swim.  Broaden the breast-stroke, and luxuriate in the work-out. 

INNOVATION / GENRE-BLEND:

What strikes me as fresh is this High fantasy genre when wedded with romance of a mature and playful sensuality. Eschewing juvenile fantasy limitations, as well as realist fantasy vulgarizations, McPhail instead, hikes up to break her own hallowed ground. 

The fantasy construct here, is not simply a flight of imaginative fancy.  The author has painstakingly interlaced philosophical underpinnings from ranging viewpoints, and metaphysical mysticism from various spiritual, religious, and cultural influences.  This book is written by an author who is interested in the world of ideas, and expresses philosophy through the vantages of various characters, who are exploring BELIEFS by way of a quest context.

AUTHOR’S VOICE / LANGUAGE:

Dhabu’balaji’sridanai (da-boo balah gee shree da nye) or Balaji ~ “He Who Walks The Edge Of The World

I found that reading across the terrains of CEPHRAEL’S HAND became less about differences in desert, ocean, or forests of conventionality, and more closely traveling through textures or visual impact of creative language itself.  The author has devised her own interconnected labyrinth of exotic words, phrases, and implied languages, constructed around identity of originating nation, character lineage, or culture…and usually all three, being influencers;  this is a challenge, but rewarding once the Reader becomes accustomed to the complexity, which has not been dumbed down for easy retention. It is actually the opposite here, because the author opted for linguistic complexity with depth of meaning.

Srivas’rhakarakek (Shreesvas rah kara keck) or Rhakar ~ “The Shadow of the Light”

THE AFTER RESONANCE:

“We must ride the river, no matter how interminably slow its current may seem, and trust that the river is taking us where we need to go.”

This is a large novel encompassing great ideas, and the journeying arcs for a clutch of heroes and anti-heroes. Readers are meant to become lost within these pages as the journeying characters themselves; become lost with demi-gods, demons, and royalty, in the divination of their own brightening dawns, and tragic twilight downfalls.  The author maintains her unifying eye on linking the myriad fates and fortunes of the other players who share this game.  One of the ways M.M. accomplishes this pattern of connections is by being-type or lineage in this magical culture’s organization, which necessitates their gravity, forever pulling them together. In a deeper creative sense, patterns swirl to interconnect the very essence of all that Alorin is.

Melissa McPhail has included ROMANTIC in this high fantasy construct, which is excellent news for Readers who would wish to be entranced along the epic journey.  This is not a fantasy typically following the small and insignificant player who becomes the key…these characters are dramatic, powerful ~ even near mythic players ~ many are sensual, sexual, and elegant visualizations. We want to associate with these beings, probe to the heart of their mysteries, and become absorbed in their alluring presences…

The strength of this story as a whole lies in the enormity of McPhail’s game-plan, which is not less than a multi-layered, original mythology with its own pantheon, while wending philosophy, spirituality, and romantic adventure. I admire the ambitious scope of author Melissa McPhail’s vision. I enjoyed these underlying ties of great friendships under dramatic duress.  I have always felt that deep fantasy writing addresses an inner need or wish in the Reader, that this Life of ours ought to have great purpose, and that our friendships in a romantic world, could link us with the most mysterious, captivating, important, and passionate people…even the most fearsome opponents.  CEPHRAEL’S HAND is epic fulfillment of the romantic ideal in High Fantasy promise….and this is book one.

Begin the epic journey with Melissa McPhail's CEPHRAEL'S HAND and Outskirts Press, here:

http://www.amazon.ca/Cephraels-Hand-Pattern-Shadow-Light/dp/1432759671

To continue series, "A Pattern of Shadow & Light" with book 2, THE DAGGER OF ADENDIGAETH:

http://www.amazon.ca/Dagger-Adendigaeth-Pattern-Shadow-ebook/dp/B009YD5ZZE