pub: TOR. 604 page hardback. Price: $27.95 (US), $38.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-30219-5.

check out website: www.tor.com and www.mercedeslackey.com

There's a certain kind of reader that's really going to love this book. After all, you can tell that main character Kellen is 'Our Hero' not merely by the fact that he's the square-jawed one with flowing blonde hair on the cover, clutching a unicorn but he's also the son of the Arch-Mage of Armethalieh, City of the Golden Bells, home of High Magick. If your attention begins to drift at that point, can I also add that Chapter 21 is called 'Beyond The Elven Lands'.

Considering I can only just about stomach elves if they come by way of Tolkien, I can't honestly say I'm one of those that will fully appreciate 'The Outstretched Shadow'. Not that I disliked it, really. The mixture of Mercedes Lackey's prolific experience and co-author James Mallory's work as a professional ghost-writer makes for an easy read, guaranteed not to wear out any brain cells along the way.



It just so happens that there are people who like their fantasy complete with unicorns, elves, centaurs and what-have-you and there are those of us that get their fill of that from 'Lord Of The Rings'.

If you're of the latter persuasion, the overblown cover is pretty much going to put you off anyway, which is a slight shame. Kellen, thankfully, really isn't the standard fantasy hero but a slightly naive, quietly rebellious only son who starts to realise the mages that control his 'perfect' city really aren't so benign.

He then gets tangled up with forbidden Wild Magic, exiled from home and, eventually, the inevitable quest narrative kicks in about two thirds of the way through.

The city, Armethalieh, is probably the most interesting section of the book: a nice, slightly Big Brother-ish model community where control-freak Mages know all and see all. Just ripe for Kellen to rebel against. The slightly SF flavour is possibly the most original thing in it, balanced against a magic system that stresses the cost of asking anything of the powers-that-be. This is something that gets overlooked in fantasy as a rule and it's refreshing to find a magic where the price has to be considered carefully before any spells are performed - because, sometimes, the cost is too high to be accepted. It's an oddly mature aspect for a book that panders to all the fairy tale fantasy concepts otherwise.

Once the narrative leaves the city, however, there's not a whole lot to keep the interest. The good guys are fairly pure as the driven snow. The bad guys are literally Demons or misguided Mages being manipulated by aforementioned Demons, so there's not a whole lot of room for moral grey areas.

Aside from the fact that 600 pages seems an awful lot for a plot that's fairly linear and lacking in complexity, I'm astounded that they can get an entire trilogy out of this. While the characters are sympathetic, the last hundred pages drag and the cliff-hanger ending is not so much tense as a relief that it's over.

I'm not exactly waiting on tenterhooks for book two but the fact is you could do a lot worse than read this if the current Tolkien-mania has whetted your appetite for quest fantasy with lots of elves or you've devoured the entire works of Mercedes Lackey and are still thirsting for more.

Jennifer Howell