The Witches of Wenshar, by Barbara Hambly
Title: The Witches of Wenshar
Series: Sun Wolf and Starhawk #2
Author: Barbara Hambly
Format: Hardcover (Book Club Omnibus titled The Unschooled Wizard, combining this title and The Ladies of Mandrigyn)
Publisher: Nelson Doubleday
Year: 1987
Pages: 275
Genre: Sword and Sorcery/Mystery
Jacket Description
Mandrigyn had been left far behind. Sun Wolf had tangled with magic, and now he had to live with the consequences of that folly. With only Starhawk at his side, he began searching for, of all things, a wizard of his own. . . one to help solve his present problems.
When the search brought them to Wenshar, he and the Hawk hoped to remain aloof from its stormy politics -- especially since the Lady Kaletha, a self-proclaimed wizard with a strong following, stood at the eye of the storm. But then someone was brutally murdered by magic, and the two found themselves forced to step in and find the killer. . .
My Review
This novel picks up a couple months after the end of The Ladies of Mandrigyn, and if it isn't as surprising as that novel was it is no less delightful. While Starhawk has responded with her usual calm to all the changes in their fortunes, Sun Wolf is still assimilating the new needs his power places on his way of life and his new relationship with Starhawk specifically and women in general. Of course he immediately clashes with another strong-minded, aristocratic, redheaded woman, but Kaletha is very definitely not Sheera Galernas.
The Witches of Wenshar delves deeper into the magic system that Hambly has set up for this world, and if none of it rocked my world with originality, its very familiarity let Hambly continue exploring the things obviously dear to her heart: her characters and the role of women in the world. In the course of the novel, Sun Wolf goes through the same series of revelations that Starhawk went through in The Ladies of Mandrigyn when she was stuck in Pergemis with Ram & Orris and their family, and his melancholy as a result is handled with a wonderful delicacy.
This novel is actually better paced than its predecessor was; Sun Wolf and Starhawk are never separated by more than a day's ride, so the shifting between perspectives is much smoother because they are both party to the same events. There are no large battle scenes for Hambly to choreograph, the action all taking place among small bands of people or individuals, so there were never any moments when I lost track of who was doing what. And the denoument, though I could see it coming a mile a way, still drew a snicker from me. All in all, this novel was just as enjoyable as The Ladies of Mandrigyn, and that is no mean feat. I am eagerly awaiting getting my hands on a copy of the conclusion to this trilogy.