Mystic Warrior by Tracy & Laura Hickman

Title:  Mystic Warrior
Author:  Tracy & Laura Hickman
Pages:  495
Genre:  Fantasy
Publisher:  Wagner Books, 2004

"Thrice upon a time...
came the Binding of the Worlds.
Not even the gods knew
.....which world would reign....
.....which world would submit....
.....and which world would die."

Synopsis:  The Bronze Canticles is an expansive new saga chronicling the world-altering changes that take place as three connected universes - the Human world, the Goblin world, and the Faery world - are slowly drawn together. — In Book One, Mystic Warrior, young Galen Arvad, a human with magical powers, must avoid the ritual that puts those with such talents to death. It seems that in the eyes of the community, magic is a sign of lunacy, and in a yearly ritual the local "crazies" are offered up to the Dragon Priests. Galen is suddenly captured and imprisoned. Now, as Galen's wife, Berkita, and his friend, Cephas the dwarf, set off to rescue him, Galen learns of the fate that awaits him, a fate far worse than even his own death

"It is the place of dreams, the place of the past, the place of the future -- all these and none of them.  It is a place of the possible, the probable, and the entirely improbable.  It's a bridge or an ocean and often both."

Review:  This book is hard to review.  It is such a great idea and has so many new elements.  It also plods along a little slowly in places.  But, then, it picks you up by the seat of your pants and races you through thrills and surprises.

The Binding is coming.  There is the Dreamworld, where during sleep, certain members of each of the three worlds can sometimes meet and sometimes make magic that carries over into one of the three worlds.

There is the Faery world, where the Faeries consider themselves to be the ultimate and possibly only truly intelligent beings.  The rest - the merfolk, the centaurs, the multitudes of other races they call collectively Famadorians are lesser beings and not to be trusted.  Seemingly, the only thing that matters to Faeries is Truth and the search for New Truths.  Their rigid caste system and racial vanity are observed to a fault.  Seekers can see the Dreamworld.

There is the Human world, where dragons rule and are the deities.  Their priests have spent hundreds of years 'electing' humans and taking them off to fight the wars that are the way the Dragonkings and Dragonqueens settle their disputes.  Under the guise of helping people who are insane, they take the people who are Mystics and allow them to be slaughtered on the battlefield.  It is the lesser of two evils.  If the dragons didn't have the wars to settle their disputes, they would actually raze the countryside fighting themselves.  The Mystics are the ones who can see into the Dreamworld.

The Goblin world is one of greed.  The one with the most junk wins.  And most of the things they consider valuable would be considered junk anywhere else.  Gears and rusty metal are prized.  At some point in the very distant past, the Goblins were slaves to the Titans, a group of giant mechanical men.  Enter Mimic, who finds that books give him the ability to make the old machines work again.  He becomes King of the Goblins.  He and other 'Engineers' like him can see into the Dreamworld.

Now, some of those who can see the Dreamworld are being called to move to the same area of their respective worlds.  A confrontation (or a binding) is at hand.  There is so much more to this story, but that is the bare bones of it.  It was great in some places and not as great in others.  However, I have to know what happens next.

Rating:  8.5 / 10