Goblin Mirror

by C. J. Cherryh

Overview

To the princes of Maggiar, over-mountain was a land they knew only from gran's stories; few people in their little kingdom had ever ventured so far from their valley. But now the wizard Karoly announced that he must make the journey there to seek advice from his witch-sister. For things hadn't been right in Maggiar this last season, not right at all... The princes Tamas and Bogdan were to go with Karoly, along with the huntsman Nikolai. Yuri, the youngest prince, chafed at being left behind. So when Tamas' dog chased after his master, Yuri followed. Soon the young prince had traveled far enough into the woods to wonder if he might not catch up with his brothers after all. His brothers had worries of their own. No sooner were they over-mountain, than their party was ambushed and scattered. The kingdoms they had come to find had all been ravaged. The goblins had declared war. Tamas, separated from the rest, fell in with Ela, a witch's apprentice. He found himself caught up in a battle of magic. For Ela held a shard broken off the goblin queen's mirror, a mere fragment that could wield a magic so strong and unpredictable that no other witch dared touch it. With this single sliver of magic, Ela planned to challenge the goblin queen herself...

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780345372789
Publisher:	Random House Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/06/1992
Edition description:	1st Edition
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 1.50(h) x 9.50(d)

Editorial Reviews

Cherryh's third book in a scant three months (after Chanur's Legacy and Hellburner) does not meet her usual high standards. When Karoly, a wizard of Maggiar, announces plans to consult with his wizard-sister about recent ominous events, the lord Stani sends along his eldest two sons, Bogdan and Tamas, and other soldiers for protection. Much to his chagrin, the third son Yuri is left behind-but he sneaks off to follow the troupe. Along the way Karoly and his party are attacked and separated. Tamas is rescued by Ela, a sorceress's apprentice who has a shard of the Goblin Mirror, the source of the goblin queen's power. Ela eventually defeats the queen's invaders, with the help of Tamas and a group of rebels against the queen and, eventually, Yuri, Karoly, and the others of their party. While occupied with a favored Cherryh theme, the complexity of nonhuman races--goblins and trolls are more fully dimensioned here than is usual in fantasy--the novel lacks such Cherryh staples as a fully imagined setting, unexpected plot twists and engrossing characters. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

As a vague sense of menace threatens the small country of Maggiar, three young princes, a wizard, and a huntsman become caught up in a magical battle to save their land from the Queen of the Goblins. Veteran sf/fantasy author Cherryh ( Chanur's Legacy , LJ 8/92) makes good use of Eastern European myth in this otherwise standard fantasy, which combines traditional fairy tale elements--magic mirrors, trolls, and enchanted forests--with modern fantasy conventions. Though not as strong as her Russian-based novels ( Rusalka , LJ 9/15/89, and its sequels), Cherryh's latest work should appeal to fantasy enthusiasts.

Library Journal

This is a tale of troubled times in the land of Maggiar and of the fates of the king's three sons: arrogant and prickly Bogdan, the eldest and heir to the throne; middle son Tamas, shy and gentle; and Yuri, 14, a puppy of a lad envious of his brothers' being sent to accompany the king's magician beyond the mountains in search of the magician's sister and answers to the puzzling question of what is happening to the land. Charged with keeping Tamas' dog safely at home, Yuri takes off in pursuit when the dog escapes to follow Tamas. There's action aplenty as well as ogres and goblins both good and bad. The plot's fulcrum is the broken mirror of the evil goblin queen. A human witch has a piece of the fractured glass, and the queen wants it back. Cherryh has created a dynamic world rooted in both the familiar and the exotic, and though the climactic battle with the goblin queen is over in almost the blink of an eye, the quest leading up to it, as recounted from the alternating viewpoints of Tamas and Yuri, is compelling.

Sally Estes