the seer and the sword by victoria hanley

as long as it is wielded for peace, not conquest. The Sword has magic in it, such that no one can defeat the one who wields it. The Sword is the symbol of Bellandra, the land of which Landen was destined to be king - a kingdom that no longer exists. But he is restrained from avenging his father's death by two things - one being his devotion to the cause of peace, and the other his growing love for Torina. Raised as a member of the king's household, Landen learns the arts of combat and becomes a fearsome warrior. The other is Landen, son of a defeated king, who is given to Torina as a slave and instantly set free. One gift is a crystal ball in which she learns to see the future. (Dec.The Seer is the Princess Torina, whose warrior-king father brings her two gifts as spoils of a war in which he conquered a peaceful, magical country. Fans of romance and the Round Table genre will be swept up in the plot. The romance rings true and the action sings with excitement: the climax literally comes down to the executioner's scaffold in the penultimate chapter. However, Hanley's characters are heroic and vulnerable, smart and hot-blooded. This is a lengthy novel, and the narrative's vacillation between different locations and points of view becomes disorienting the pacing also suffers from fits and starts. They separate, travel far and wide, and eventually find themselves major players in a complicated political plot with Vesputo at its center. Vesputo turns vicious, and both she and Landen are forced to leave the country. Years later the two become estranged when Landen informs Torina that her lover, Vesputo, is deceiving her and has only ambitions to the throne. What begins as an uneasy friendship between Landen and Torina grows into a bond of trust when the girl saves his life due to her ability to see the future in the magic crystal. After the king defeats the peaceful monarch of Bellandra, he brings home the country's famous sword and gives to his daughter a magic crystal and Landen, the prince of Bellandra, to be Torina's slave. Princess Torina, ''eyes sparkling, hair wild,'' is the only child of hard-hearted warrior King Kareed.

British author Hanley pens a romantic royal tale of intrigue in the tradition of King Arthur.

The seer and the sword by victoria hanley