Shade and Sorceress

The powerful and learned Mancers arrive in Eliza’s town to take her away to their Citadel. The only problem is they have made a terrible mistake – Eliza isn’t the powerful Sorceress they think her to be. Or is she? Eliza is stunned to learn her father, Rom Tok, has been keeping important secrets: her mother’s death wasn’t from pneumonia, but the death of all great Shang Sorceresses: killed in battle against evil forces. Even so, Eliza’s lessons with the Mancers at their Citadel show them what she has always known – she can’t do any magic. The final brave act of Eliza’s mother was to trap the evil Xia Sorceress, Nia, in an Arctic prison. But Nia is still powerful enough to use her minions to capture Rom Tok. Escaping the Citadel with her best friend Nell and new friend Charlie, Eliza sets off to rescue her father. They seek help from the Triumvirate, an uneasy alliance of ultimate power – the Oracle, the King of the Faeries, and Swarn, the witch who delivered Eliza as a baby. They try to stop her, but she is determined. She knows she’s connected to the Xia Sorceress somehow.What awaits Eliza in the Arctic is more horrible than she could have imagined. Abandoned by the Mancers and the Triumvirate, she must rely on her friends and her own wits and common sense to succeed in her quest. Shade and Sorceress is Catherine Egan’s first published novel. Her short fiction has appeared in several publications in the USA and Canada. Catherine currently resides in Princeton, NJ.

When we meet 12-year-old Eliza Tok, she seems like an ordinary girl playing hooky with her best friend. But nothing is as it appears in Catherine Egan’s debut novel for young readers. Though temporarily settled, Eliza has lived a life of dislocation with her nomadic father and knows little about her mother, a sorceress who died when Eliza was only two years old. Nevertheless, she is content, unaware that her father has been hiding her from a difficult destiny.Egan does an able job building the world of Tian Di, a place where fairies, witches, and other magical beings unhappily co-exist with humans. To protect the humans from enslavement and war, benevolent magical beings called Mancers are in the process of splitting Tian Di into two worlds: one for humans, the other for beings of power. But the process is slow, and humanity continues to be in danger.Despite her father’s efforts, the Mancers locate Eliza and bring her to their Citadel to begin her training as a sorceress. It is revealed that her destiny, like her mother’s before her, is to protect the human world. But there is a problem: Eliza cannot do magic.When an evil sorceress (the same one that killed her mother) kidnaps Eliza’s father, the teen is determined to save him, journeying through dark forests until at last she comes to the arctic prison where her father is being held. There Eliza confronts the evil sorceress and learns the shocking source of her power. Fans of Harry Potter will undoubtedly spot some blatant parallels: a child unaware of her history and powers, destined to battle against an evil figure to whom she feels mysteriously drawn. However, the tone here is otherworldly, the setting at once archaic and futuristic. The plot relies heavily on illusory inventions and dreamlike scenes that hint at a deeper message about truth, love, and the ability to recognise each. This first book in the Tian DI series succeeds when Eliza is sharply in focus, but whenever the point of view wanders the detailed plt becomes clunky. For the most part, however, this fast-paced, fantastical adventure about a strong-willed, intelligent girl will keep readers turning pages.