Ysabel

By Guy Gabriel Kay

A crossover title for Teen and Adult Readers who lust for a thrilling, complex, story without trite, comforting resolutions.

Ned, a Canadian teen, is alone inside a vast, dark locked cathedral while his father, a famous photographer, takes portraits of the building. Led Zeppelin blasts through his Ipod earphones when he realizes he is not, indeed, alone. Two others have somehow entered the building--an American exchange student, Kate Wenger, who seems to know a great deal about this structure and this region of France; and an agile, nameless man, who seems determined to murder and carries a knife.

Ned and Kate have wandered into “a very old story” full of myths and magic; love and lust; rivalry and cruelty; courage and sacrifice. Their pursuit of this mystery will explain the history of Provence, where even the light shines differently upon the world. It will also explain much of Ned’s Celtic heritage, his undiscovered personal powers, and even why his mother is compelled to repeatedly enter dangerous war zones as part of Doctors Without Borders. This book will send you searching the internet on the trail of its myths, its geography and its secrets.

The author, Guy Gavriel Kay, was chosen as a young man to finish Tolkien’s Silmarillion. With Ysabel he proves that he is still cutting edge. This novel defies and encompasses categories: contemporary fiction; Fantasy; Historical novel; Adult or Teen Literature.

Reviewed by Vivian