The Iron Tree (Cecilia Dart-Thornton, Tor, $30 tpb, ISBN 1405036230, November)

Cecilia Dart-Thornton has returned with a new tale set in a new world, Tir. The Iron Tree is the first novel in the ‘Crowthistle’ trilogy. In her hallmark style, Dart-Thornton weaves a story that is at once new, but also familiar as it brings to mind half-forgotten folk tales. Narrated by the chronicler Adiuvo Costanto Clementer, The Iron Tree tells the tale of Lilith and Jared, ‘who found one another and fought against terrible odds.’ The story bristles with mystery and magic—Dart-Thornton delights in vivid descriptions, her words painting pictures in the mind’s eye filled with colour, wonder and an ethereal beauty. The Iron Tree has a lyrical feel that adds a fairytale-like quality to this enjoyable story. For reader made curious by her allusions to Celtic mythology, there is even a references section at the back of the book. Fans of Dart-Thornton’s ‘Bitterbynde’ trilogy will not be disappointed by her new work—and they have two sequels to look forward to: The Well of Tears late next year and Fallowblade in 2006.

Mark Timmony is a bookseller at Sydney’s Galaxy Bookshop

This review from Australian Bookseller & Publisher magazine is reproduced by kind permission of Thorpe-Bowker, a division of R R Bowker LLC. © Copyright 2004, Thorpe-Bowker