Book Review: Children of the Shaman

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Children of the Shaman     Amazon US PB Amazon UK PB Amazon Canada PB
Jessica Rydill
Class/Genre:   Fantasy
Roc, Feb 2003, $6.50, 368 pp.

It has been over five hundred years since the Great Cold has descended on the land, isolating the North from the South. Now with the Thaw arriving, the Railway People are constructing a railroad under the Aldemar Forest but the project is not going smoothly. People disappear and are never seen again; the Soul Men, insane shamans whose minds work in a gestalt fashion, kill others.

Yuda, a very powerful Shaman, along with his two children Annat and Malchik, is assigned to work undercover as a doctor in the town of Gard Aldemar to figure out what is going on. Both Yuda and Annat feel the power of the woods. When Malchik disappears, they determine that he has been spirited away to the shaman dimension of La Souterraine. They are able to ride the train into La Souterraine, gathering allies as they hope to free a city and rescue Malchik without any of their party falling prey to the Cold One.

CHILDREN OF THE SHAMAN takes place in a world similar to ours when Jews were ostracized and those in power refused to let them have good jobs unless they converted. Annat and Yuda are adventurous characters who deserve their own series. It is hard to believe this is a debut novel because the author has such a refined sense of place and is able to create an imaginary world subtly different Earth but one we can understand.

Harriet Klausner

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