From Library Journal
The final volume in the trilogy concludes with a rousing tale of Jack, the baker's boy, trying to control his new-found magical powers so that he can defeat the evil King Kylock. The medieval fantasy belongs in all collections that own the earlier volumes.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

From dungeon to cathedral, from brothel to hermit's hut, the gambits of the mighty face the power of seers and stars. In the fortress of Bren, mad King Kylock and the wizard Baralis spread their sadistic terror across the shattered kingdoms. Meanwhile, the fallen knight Tawl and Jack, the baker's boy, meet in a quest to save widowed Melliandra and her unborn child. Soon sons will turn of fathers and dread secrets will be revealed, as Jack and Kylock clash in a magical apocalypse that will rewrite the meaning of Destiny and unknit the very fabric of Time...in the wondrous conclusion to the brilliant saga The Book of Words.

SYNOPSIS

The Known Lands are teetering on the brink of war. Alliances are made, armies are mobilized, and once strong loyalties are shattered. Melliandra is married to the Duke of Bren and widowed on the same day, her husband murdered by the wiles of Baralis. Baralis's own candidate for duke, Kylock, gives in to madness and brutally kills the duke's daughter on their wedding knight. The knight Tawl is framed for both crimes and must flee the city of Bren, forced to break his sworn oath to protect Melliandra. Meanwhile, Jack, the baker's boy, has grown in the study of magic, learning to control his powerful strength. Searching for Melliandra, he finds both her and Tawl--thus fulfilling another part of Marod's prophecy. The alliance between Annis, Highwall, and Halcus lay siege to Bren, escalating into all-out war.

Desperate to avert world-wide catastrophe, Jack and Tawl travel to the mystic island of Larn to find more answers, and Jack's magic comes into its full power as he destroys the seers of Larn and their hideous worship forever. He learns of his mother, and yet more pieces of his past come together. Returning to Bren, Tawl enlists the aid of his brothers in the knighthood who are becoming disenchanted with their order, which has been taken over by a greedy mercenary. Already dangerously unstable, Kylock is pushed closer to insanity as Baralis struggles to suppress his natural magical talents. Kylock's prophesied relationship to Jack grows clearer as his magical powers come closer to erupting. With the thunder of battle growing louder outside the city-state of Bren, Jack learns fully of his past, and he knows that the fulfillment of Marod's prophecy rests upon his confrontation with Kylock.

FROM THE CRITICS

Library Journal

The final volume in the trilogy concludes with a rousing tale of Jack, the baker's boy, trying to control his new-found magical powers so that he can defeat the evil King Kylock. The medieval fantasy belongs in all collections that own the earlier volumes.

Dragon Magazine

A highly successful, popular fantasy...a substantial cast and a vivid, colorful landscape....A remarkable epic.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Successful fantasy.

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

J. V. Jones is quite a find. — Katherine Kurtz