The Blackgod brings the tale begun in The Waterborn to a satisfying conclusion. J. Gregory Keyes continues the adventures of Princess Hehzi of Nhol and her unwilling champion, Perkar of the Cattle People, as they struggle to survive the machinations of both the insatiable River God and his brother, the trickster Blackgod, Karak. This is epic fantasy at its best--original, richly textured, and filled with compelling characters.

Hehzi and Perkar are with the Mang, nomadic, horse-worshiping people. Under the protection and guidance of a shaman, Brother Horse, Hehzi learns to control and use her ability to manipulate the spirit world. But Ghe, the priestly assassin Perkar beheaded in The Waterborn, has been restored by the River and sent after Hehzi, and another clan of the Mang has declared war on Perkar's people. Their shaman has had a vision that demands Perkar's death. And the Blackgod wants them to journey to the River's source and slay him. People who don't read epic fantasy can enjoy this high adventure. Fans of the genre may be reminded of Kate Elliott's Jaran series and Philip José Farmer's Riverworld saga. Don't be put off by the size of these books; Keyes has the storytelling power to carry you swiftly through them. --Nona Vero


From Library Journal
In this sequel to The Waterborn (LJ 6/15/96) Hezhi, the daughter of the powerful River that flows throughout the land, escapes from the imperial palace in Nhol and her destiny to join with the River. Hiding among the Mang horsemen with her bodyguard, Hezhi must learn to wield her waterborn power. Blackgod, the Raven, reveals how she can defeat the River with the help of Perkar, a cattleman, by traveling to the headwaters in the mountains. Enriched by spiritualism, mystery, and cultural detail, this fantasy belongs in most collections.Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
In the sequel to The Waterborn , the awakened River God searches for Hezhi, daughter of the emperor and, hence, daughter of the god. Hezhi has vanished from the River's lands to a distant waste, where, with Perkar and her devoted half-giant bodyguard, she takes refuge with the barbarian Mangs. The River God creates a ghoul out of an assassin killed by Perkar as he and Hezhi fled the great city, and he charges the creature to capture and return Hezhi. The continued growth of Hezhi's power threatens to drive her mad, unless she submits to the training, which she fears, that will make her a shaman. According to the Blackgod, only Hezhi has the means to defeat the River, but can the Blackgod be trusted? Even more complex in plot and characterization than its predecessor, this novel sees Hezhi not only struggling to control her magic powers but also, when she attempts to work a cure for a mortally injured Perkar, entering the otherworld, where the gods reside. On a broad canvas, peopled with humans, half-humans, a Machiavellian priesthood, intertribal war, gods, demons, and more, including the ghoul, whose tiny spark of past humanness plays a great role, an epic battle rages and makes this a richly developed page-turner for the fantasy cognoscenti. Sally Estes


From Kirkus Reviews
Sequel to The Waterborn (1996), Keyes's fantasy about water- gods, magic, and destiny. The Changeling is the god of the River and the city Nhol with its royal family. Though most of the time slumbering, he wakes occasionally to arrange for the breeding of a human whose body he can inhabit. That body is presently occupied also by young Princess Hezhi of Nhol, but she's fled to the horse- warrior Mang, along with her protector, Perkar, and his magic sword, Harka. Hezhi's only hope of long-term survival is to kill the River, but to do this she must reach his source beneath the remote mountain She'leng; offering assistance is the powerful but untrustworthy Blackgod. The River, however, is determined to recapture Hezhi and send forth Ghe, an assassin once slain by Perkar, now reanimated and given magic powers to absorb ghosts and gods. To complicate matters, other parties have their own agendas. Eventually, She'leng is the scene of a mighty but baffling struggle in which various entities die, though some come back to life, and everything is resolved--to the author's satisfaction if not the reader's. An often strikingly imaginative but unedifyingly overcomplicated yarn that could've used a vigorous pruning and a stiff dose of logic; still, Waterborn fans will be jubilant. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.


Book Description
A mythic tale of magic, passion, and primal power.

In the rich and tragic world beyond the River, magic springs from the elements--and danger, fear, and friendship each wait to claim their place in the grand design of life . . .

Everywhere the River God touched, he ruled. But the world beyond his reach was a dangerous riot of gods, ghosts, and strange spirits. And in that ominous otherworld, Hezhi--the River's own daughter--fought to master the magic that was her birthright. Spurned, the River bent all his might and slumbrous cunning to the task of reclaiming his wayward child.

Only the Blackgod saw a way for Hezhi to defeat the River once and for all.

But the Blackgod was a creature of mystery and--perhaps--of limitless duplicity. To trust him might be the most perilous choice young Hezhi could make . . .


From the Publisher
True story: my sister, Joan Narvaez (you can call her and ask if this isn't the truth), had really enjoyed THE WATERBORN, Book One of this two-book series. So naturally, I let her know when THE BLACKGOD was coming out. Now, Joan is a good sister and normally insists on buying our books, but in this case, she begged me to get her one of the advance reading copies we were doing for THE BLACKGOD--not to save the cost of the hardcover, but so she could have the book in hand by the time she was due to have her first baby: she wanted her husband to read THE BLACKGOD to her in the delivery room. She said it was the only thing she could think of that could possibly take her mind off the ... what do they call it these days, discomfort? Which is about the highest praise you can give an author.
        Of course--as those of you who have been through the birthing process may have anticipated--it didn't work. But she did love the book, when she finally got the chance to read it.
                        --Veronica Chapman, Senior Editor


From the Inside Flap
A mythic tale of magic, passion, and primal power.

In the rich and tragic world beyond the River, magic springs from the elements--and danger, fear, and friendship each wait to claim their place in the grand design of life . . .

Everywhere the River God touched, he ruled. But the world beyond his reach was a dangerous riot of gods, ghosts, and strange spirits. And in that ominous otherworld, Hezhi--the River's own daughter--fought to master the magic that was her birthright. Spurned, the River bent all his might and slumbrous cunning to the task of reclaiming his wayward child.

Only the Blackgod saw a way for Hezhi to defeat the River once and for all.

But the Blackgod was a creature of mystery and--perhaps--of limitless duplicity. To trust him might be the most perilous choice young Hezhi could make . . .


From the Back Cover
"STRIKINGLY IMAGINATIVE . . . WATERBORN FANS WILL BE JUBILANT."
--Kirkus Reviews

"WONDERFUL . . . Keyes is as fresh a voice as Tolkien was in his time. Keyes brings a world of mythology to life, a world both new and familiar . . . Buy it, read it, and tell your friends."
--Sci-Fi Talk Review



About the Author
J. Gregory Keyes is a teacher at the University of Georgia and is pursuing a Ph.D. in the anthropology of belief systems and mythology. He was born in Mississippi and raised there and on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. He is the author of The Waterborn.

ANNOTATION

The fabulous sequel to Keyes' breathtaking first novel, The Waterborn. Into the rich and dangerous land beyond the River's reach comes a surprising refugee: Hezhi, the River's own daughter, running for her life. Only the Blackgod--a dangerous creature of guile and cunning--claims to have a way for Hezhi to defeat the River. 544 pp. Author publicity. 8-city tour. 20,000 print.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

The River flowed from the mountains into the distant sea, and everywhere he touched, he ruled. Powerful and hungry, he had scoured every rival godling from the land. But the world beyond the River's reach was a riot of gods and ghosts and other daemons, large and small. Strange spirits jostled and contended with each other, and with the humans who shared their range. Into this rich and dangerously open land came a surprising refugee: Hezhi, the River's own daughter. When the magic that was her heritage awakened in her, back in the glittering palace of imperial Nhol, Hezhi fled for her life. With Perkar, a youth in search of honor, and loyal Tsem, her half-Giant bodyguard, she sought refuge among the barbarian Mang. She had hoped for the freedom to build a life of her own, but in these demon-haunted hinterlands, every bubbling spring, crevasse, and hillock boasted some spirit. Until she learned to wield the powers of her birthright, she would be vulnerable to any arcane attack. Hezhi's sanity - and her very soul - would be at risk. Meanwhile, grisly danger followed her from the world she thought she had escaped. The River bent all his might and slumbrous cunning to the task of finding his wayward child. From the depth of his yearning, the River plotted to take Hezhi alive. For Perkar, her champion, he had no such benign end in view... Only the Blackgod saw a way for Hezhi and Perkar to defeat the River, once and for all. But he was a creature of guile and limitless duplicity; to trust him might be the most perilous move they could make. Perkar knew that better than anyone else - at least anyone still alive...

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly - Cahners\\Publishers_Weekly

Keyes's epic sequel to The Waterborn unfolds in an animistic world of elemental nature gods and of humans and part-humans generally at war. Although filled with fantastic action, the novel is extraordinary for the force and originality of its descriptions of internal impressions. Keyes's writing is impeded near the beginning by massive references to the prequel, and the dissonance between his world's animism and our own rational worldview draws Keyes into tenuous theologizing here and there. But the dramatic flow is prodigious. Hezhi, the pubescent Nholish princess marked for horrific transformation by her lineage to the River, first hides from the River among the horse-worshipping plains folk, the Mang; then, assisted by shaman Brother Horse to evoke and control her own shamanic power, she seeks to confront the River at its source. Meanwhile, Hezhi's would-be lover and failed assassin, now a horrid undead creature named Ghe-a wonderful, Dostoyevskian character, at once repelling and touching-tracks her into the mountains at the River's bidding. The ancient priesthood of Nhol and its imperial rulers become caught in a strange, many-sided power struggle over Hezhi's fate. Dreams and visions turn into tools of war, and tribal conflicts complicate matters. The resolution of the many strands, though exciting, is vitiated by a sense of random invention. Still, Keyes's mastery of the internal lives of his characters and his artful, theatrical shifts of point of view give this huge tale an intimate feel, although remote, chthonic forces are everywhere at work.

Publishers Weekly

Keyes's epic sequel to The Waterborn unfolds in an animistic world of elemental nature gods and of humans and part-humans generally at war. Although filled with fantastic action, the novel is extraordinary for the force and originality of its descriptions of internal impressions. Keyes's writing is impeded near the beginning by massive references to the prequel, and the dissonance between his world's animism and our own rational worldview draws Keyes into tenuous theologizing here and there. But the dramatic flow is prodigious. Hezhi, the pubescent Nholish princess marked for horrific transformation by her lineage to the River, first hides from the River among the horse-worshipping plains folk, the Mang; then, assisted by shaman Brother Horse to evoke and control her own shamanic power, she seeks to confront the River at its source. Meanwhile, Hezhi's would-be lover and failed assassin, now a horrid undead creature named Ghea wonderful, Dostoyevskian character, at once repelling and touchingtracks her into the mountains at the River's bidding. The ancient priesthood of Nhol and its imperial rulers become caught in a strange, many-sided power struggle over Hezhi's fate. Dreams and visions turn into tools of war, and tribal conflicts complicate matters. The resolution of the many strands, though exciting, is vitiated by a sense of random invention. Still, Keyes's mastery of the internal lives of his characters and his artful, theatrical shifts of point of view give this huge tale an intimate feel, although remote, chthonic forces are everywhere at work. (Apr.)

Library Journal