Through Stone and Sea is Barb and J.C. Hendee’s newest addition to their inspired Noble Dead Saga. This is the eighth volume of what might be considered today’s best fantasy series, and for all lovers of the genre, a must read. Each new novel adds to the complexity of characters and story, leading to new levels of drama that make the reader feel at home in a very foreign world.
The story opens with Wynn Hygeorht, the second series’ reluctant heroine, arriving at Dhredze Seatt, a settlement in the nation of the dwarfs. Wynn, a novice member of the Order of Cathology, in the Guild of Sagecraft is traveling with Shade, a wolf-like creature, and Chane Anderaso, a vampire with a rather conflicted history. This most unlikely trio is continuing on its quest to unravel the secrets of the Forgotten History, which Wynn believes may be hidden by the Hassag’Kreigi – the Stonewalkers, an ancient dwarven sect. The trio is unaware that they are being shadowed by Sau’ilahk, a powerful immortal presence which also seeks the knowledge Wynn is diligently pursuing. The evil wraith’s goals are quite different, and after centuries of searching nothing or no one must deny its need. Patiently Sau’ilahk will fade into the darkness to follow unobserved, living its undead existence and letting Wynn lead to the precious prize they both seek; and so to the tunnels of the dwarfs they go.
Wynn, Shade, and Chane have become inseparable, while their bond is fragile, strained to distraction and always on the verge of explosive collapse. They need each other, but trust is elusive, causing a dynamic tension which keeps the reader personally involved in their struggles. Through this constant tension the Hendees develop their main characters, giving them in-depth personalities that bring richness to the story and force the reader to have a stake in their existence. As the trio follows what clues they can, they find themselves in a “Dwarven Tavern” where Hammer-Stag, a thanae, a paragon among the Dwarfs, is telling of his heroic exploits against the goblins. Mostly bluster, little substance, and as usual annoying to ever impatient Wynn, Hammer-Stag eventually references what can only be Wynn’s three greatest friends, Magiere, Chap, and Lessil, the heroes of the saga’s first series. Wynn learns that her old companions are alive and deeply involved in their own quest (a tale, that in some future novel, all loyal readers of this master saga cannot wait to read). Always impetuous Wynn causes a huge scene, and is forced to tell her own tale as barter for the desired information, revealing a new side of her personality. Finally unearthing a useful piece of information, off to the Iron Braids Smithy they go, where we the readers get our first true introduction to Ore-Locks, a member of the Hassag’Kreigi, another of the Hendees’ richly concocted, multilayered, dichotomous characters.
“The Dwarves were a people of long tradition couched in clan and tribal rules, and rituals,” mixed with Wynn’s brashness and desire for instant results, have led to nothing but mistakes in her dealings with them. At this point Wynn is learning more about herself, then about her mission. She is not sure she likes what she sees–acting, lying, cursing, using others to attain her own ends; can her goal be worth this change in her character? She is not sure! If she was aware of the trail of death that follows in her wake, a trail that is in the main a direct response to her actions, she might be truly broken. Miscues and madness aside, Wynn and her companions continue to make incremental progress arriving in a Dwarven temple to find a tale that has more significance then is readily apparent.
As Wynn follows the clues, she begins to realize that her personal goals pale in comparison to the larger issues at hand, that, in fact, “the world might well be at stake.” The forgotten enemy of many names such as Ilsamar, the night voice, or Beloved is still diligently scheming to re-establish his evil empire. Wynn now understands how desperately important it is not to allow Sau’ilahk the “master conjuror, first of the Reverent, and high priest of Beloved” to reach the ancient texts. These texts are the proof needed to enlighten a world blinded by millennia of peace that sinister days are nearly upon them.
When reading the Hendees’ work, I can’t help but see comparisons in their ancient texts to the writings of Nostradamus, or the message delivered in the Mayan calendar: dark, brooding, cryptic warnings of dangers ahead. This theme is prevalent in several volumes of the saga, and is central to the action of both Through Stone and Sea and its predecessor, In Shade and Shadow. The ultimate question remains–the Forgotten War, with the ancient enemy…has it ended? Who is watching? And, finally, are the people ready to know of the darkness lurking so close at hand?
The Hendees have embarked on an ambitious undertaking with this series, and in Through Stone and Sea continue to deliver those kinds of action sequences that Fantasy Lore is made of. At some point the flow of one scene into the next makes putting down the book impossible until the last sentence is read. The novel is a textured canvas of tangled plots, hidden alliances, secret myths conjured from fantasy’s best known landscapes, and unique characters who will surely take their place in the annals of fantasy.
The question for me with this novel is, can it stand alone for the casual reader?, and for this one I can’t say that it can. The Hendees’ earlier volumes in the saga could pass this test, but Through Stone and Sea has reached a point of complexity that requires knowledge found in previous works, and ends with the need to know more. Having said that, more is what I want! Lastly, all such fantasy works as this one the Hendees must be judged against the master, Tolkien. Have they given us something ground-breaking, something so new that we have never read the like before? No; but, then, since Tolkien, who has? I think rather the comparison should be, how does this continued saga stand compared to the best, and to this I say, so far it is right there, teetering just as Icarus did, very close to the sun. I can’t wait to see how it all comes out, and recommend you do the same.
