Book Review: The Compass Rose

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

The Compass Rose     Amazon US PB Amazon Canada PB
Gail Dayton
Class/Genre:   Fantasy
Luna, March 2005, $13.99, 400 pp.

The city of Ukiny in the kingdom of Adara is besieged by warriors of Tibre who depend on cannons, guns, and gunpowder instead of magic to take over the realm. Kallista Varyl, a captain and a naitan (witch) prays to the One for a victory and when she uses her magic, to her amazement every Tibre soldier on Adara is killed except for Stone who is taken prisoner. Both Stone and Kallista are god-marked and as they sail on the same ship to the capital city, they realize something inside them has intrinsically changed.

Aisee, a Tibran slave girl attaches herself to Kallista on the boat ride to the capital and once there another god-marked person, the rich merchant Obed finds them. The ruler orders all the players, including Kallista’s bodyguard married in a special ceremony that will make them an instant family. Kallista acquiesces because she needs all the magic that she can command because her new family is going to the capital city of Tibre to kill the demon that pushed them into going to war.

THE COMPASS ROSE is a sword and sorcery fantasy that concentrates as much on the characters as it does on the battles. The Adara use magic as another sense believing it is a gift from the One and they are one in harmony with the earth as opposes to the repressive caste society of Tibre. Gail Dayton has created a world that is so colorful and vivid readers will feel they made an adventurous visit to this enchanting realm.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner