Rating: 
Summary: A Fantasy for Those Who Think
Review: Just as the world of science fiction moved from niche to mainstream with Stars Trek and Wars, so too has fantasy moved from niche to mainstream with the works of Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks and J.K. Rowling. What once required a certain amount of mental dexterity to truly appreciate has slid into the blandness of being, ack, ptui, popular. So when a new author ventures forth, brandishing a new fantasy story, a lot of long-time fantasy readers view it with hope, but not particularly high expectations for anything that harkens back to the days of DeCamp and Lieber, or even Donaldson and McKillip.McGarry doesn't write pablum fantasy. Her storytelling leads you gently into her world, where you discover its delights, both of place and of person, in an almost natural way, rather than having every turn in the road cataloged and every character encountered fleshed out in painstaking detail. There's no mistaking that every turn has been cataloged, and every character fleshed out, but everything an author writes doesn't need to be included in the book. ILLUMINATION is not a 300 page story padded out to fill twice as many pages. It is a meaty, full-packed story that leaves you feeling as if you've said good-bye to old friends. Not all of us want our fantasy reading to be comfortable and safe and almost suffocating in it's overabundance of superfluous verbage. Some of want stories that make us think, make us question, make us breathe deeply in the open air of the world we find ourselves in. I'd take more of McGarry's worldbuilding and storytelling over wheels of time or schoolyard wizards anytime. And if you enjoy thinking while you read, you would too.
Rating:
Summary: Ambitious, entertaining, literate.
Review: McGarry's Illumination is an ambitious piece of work, delivering on every level. It is hugely entertaining. The characters are memorable, their quest engaging. The experience for me was very much like reading Katherine Kurtz and Anne McCaffrey as a kid. Those books don't work so well for me anymore, as my sensibilities have changed with age, but this one brought the magic back. I felt like I was in sitting in a corner of the school library again, stepping away from the real world for a while. And when the real world finally intruded again I was both disappointed, having to leave my newfound friends for a time, and thankful for the opportunity to let the magic linger. What made Illumination work so well for me, where perhaps the Deryni and Dragonriders don't anymore, is McGarry's literary prowess. She combines the evocative prose of a Ray Bradbury or Geoff Ryman with the richness and complexity of a Dumas or Tolstoy, Orczy or Sabatini. This is a more challenging read than the average Epic Fantasy doorstop, and all the more rewarding for it. As for world-building, this is a superior example, rivaling the best in the business. Think "Zelazny." Think "Eddison." Think "Silverberg at his best." If you're into Jordan and Goodkind, you can think about them, too. Their skill is matched here. You won't be disappointed. The only area I found remotely lacking -- and I do mean remotely -- was the dialogue. While it certainly fits the fantastic mold McGarry has cast, it could stand to flow just a little more naturally. It was about 90% as artfully crafted as I would have liked. In contrast to the 100% success of every other facet, dialogue stands out as an area of opportunity for this very promising author to shine even more brightly. Bring on The Binder's Road!
Rating:
Summary: Ambitious, entertaining, literate.
Review: McGarry's Illumination is an ambitious piece of work, delivering on every level. It is hugely entertaining. The characters are memorable, their quest engaging. The experience for me was very much like reading Katherine Kurtz and Anne McCaffrey as a kid. Those books don't work so well for me anymore, as my sensibilities have changed with age, but this one brought the magic back. I felt like I was in sitting in a corner of the school library again, stepping away from the real world for a while. And when the real world finally intruded again I was both disappointed, having to leave my newfound friends for a time, and thankful for the opportunity to let the magic linger. What made Illumination work so well for me, where perhaps the Deryni and Dragonriders don't anymore, is McGarry's literary prowess. She combines the evocative prose of a Ray Bradbury or Geoff Ryman with the richness and complexity of a Dumas or Tolstoy, Orczy or Sabatini. This is a more challenging read than the average Epic Fantasy doorstop, and all the more rewarding for it. As for world-building, this is a superior example, rivaling the best in the business. Think "Zelazny." Think "Eddison." Think "Silverberg at his best." If you're into Jordan and Goodkind, you can think about them, too. Their skill is matched here. You won't be disappointed. The only area I found remotely lacking -- and I do mean remotely -- was the dialogue. While it certainly fits the fantastic mold McGarry has cast, it could stand to flow just a little more naturally. It was about 90% as artfully crafted as I would have liked. In contrast to the 100% success of every other facet, dialogue stands out as an area of opportunity for this very promising author to shine even more brightly. Bring on The Binder's Road!
Rating:
Summary: A World Underway
Review: Not since Tolkien's amazing works or Donaldson's depressing vision has there been a world created with such a depth of history as Ms McGarry has compiled for us in ILLUMINATION. The first book of a series, which I hope will be long and successful, gives us a glimpse into a world steeped in a tradition whose origin is lost to the past. Liath (whose very name--pronounced Lee-ah--presents a riddle), a very normal citizen of this world, will find herself struggling with these traditions when her very normal world fails her. Reconciling the truths she learns on her way to solving her personal problems leads her to challenge the society she once wanted desperately to protect. McGarry does not prop up her world with magic, making every sword have a will of its own or every ring grant omnipotence. The magic of the triad and the Ennead sits as a background, as natural as our belief in science--so much a part of everyday, and yet hardly given a thought. The magic of McGarry's world consists of no more than song, bookbinding, and illumination, and yet the influences the magic has on the daily life of her characters is so important that the reader is compelled to see the world of Eiden Myr through their eyes. From the colors of their clothing to the their view of the lay of the land, the author thought through the ramifications of her world so well, built such believable structure and richness in detail, that the reader can almost reach out and touch the soil of Eiden Myr. But ILLUMINATION is just the beginning. Many mysteries remain at the end of this first book, many plots have been seeded that do not come to fruition just yet. Patience is required as we await the next installation. But the joy of finding a new world--not just some simple faux-Middle Ages Europe filled with not-Celts riding almost-horses, but a world with a complex history--that will keep the reader digging for more answers and begging for more clues.
Rating:
Summary: Illuminating Fantasy
Review: Terry McGarry has created a rich world in Eiden Myr, and filled it with fascinating characters. Her creations trancend what I have seen as a simplified, "cutesy" genre for the past decade or so, and return to it a level of quality that has been missing since we last left Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea. It is refreshing to read a Fantasy from an author who realizes that intelligent adults also need fantasies on their level; Illumination is a rich work of literature.
I will add the Characters of Liath Illuminator, Heff the blacksmith, and Kazhe, the devoted to my list of unforgettables, alongside the Hobbits and Paul Atreides. This is a highly enjoyable journey. Join it.
Rating:
Summary: An intriguing tale exquisitely written
Review: Terry McGarry's first book is a gem, a beautifully written story of one woman's search for truth, redemption, and identity. Her characters are complex and real, her storytelling deft and compelling. The world she has created is a fascinating place, filled with wonders and rich textures, yet utterly convincing. In a genre that too often relies on tropes and formulas, McGarry has written a book that delights and surprises at every turn.
What sets her work apart, however, is the clarity and quality of her prose. Terry McGarry writes the way Yo Yo Ma plays cello, the way Tiger Woods plays golf. To open her book is to place yourself in the hands of a master wordsmith.
This is a book to be savored, to be appreciated not only for its excitement and romance, but also for its language and artistry.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting, but clunky
Review: The author's concept is interesting, but her writing is not particularly good, and it took me over 100 pages to begin to feel at home in her world. The plotting is also fairly amateurish. If an author chooses to introduce a world by letting you walk into it and discover it as you read, she had better be talented enough to make that world, and in this book it simply doesn't work. I literally felt like I was in a dark room for the first 100 pages of the book, with no clear picture of what was going on. There are also too many characters to keep track of at the beginning. (And really throughout the book, though it straightens out closer to the end.) The prose was relatively clunky, and while there was enough character development to keep me interested, it was nothing to write home about. And the "search" that takes up much of the middle of the book seems relatively pointless - most all of it could have been cut out without losing more than a couple meaningful subplots, and those could have been rewritten. All in all, I wasn't impressed, and would not read something by this author again, unless the writing and plot construction were dramatically better and someone assured me of that in advance. Still, not a bad beach read, if you don't mind not getting "into it" for the first 100 pages or so.
Rating: 
Summary: Very high potential/worldbuilding. Some story flaws
Review: The day she passes her exams and becomes a full illuminator/mage, Liath abruptly loses her power. She still has the light within her--the light that marks her as a potentially powerful mage, but without the ability to cast, she is nothing. Nothing, that is, except a trap. Because the rulers of the island have detected a renegade--one of their own who has turned to the magic of death and darkness. The darkmage, Torrin, desperately needs the power of a bright illuminator. Magic is strongest when cast in threes--scribers, illuminators, and binders. Torrin is a powerful scriber. He won't be able to resist Liath's light. Liath's search for Torrin takes her over the island and lets her see the way that the old order is breaking down. Mages exist to serve, but too many are being called and too little is being returned. The heads of the mages have lost touch with the people. Still, when Liath finally reachs Torrin, she can't believe what he tells her--that everything is a lie. Of course, what else would the darkmage say and, even though she is powerless, he harbors fantasies that he'll be able to use her light, to recreate her power. Author Terry McGarry offers a strange and beautiful world and magic system. The triads, which prevail through magic and everything else in her world, make a strange kind of logic. McGarry has fully developed the world Liath and Torrin live in--you can almost feel the power of McGarry's research behind the words--although the book is fairly long, I suspect that McGarry has notebooks upon notebooks of family trees, biographies, and personal histories. While this background is fascinating, it can also detract from the story. And story is one area where Illumination falls a bit short. I enjoyed the novel, but I would have liked to see Liath have more of a personal stake in the story goal. Her search for Torrin, with the promised reward that the Ennead might be able to heal her--when they'd already failed--doesn't ring true for me. Her indecision and conflict when Torrin shares his side of the story is convincing but, after all, indecision doesn't make for compelling action. McGarry's writing and world-building are strong enough to overcome these story weaknesses and I certainly enjoyed ILLUMINATION. This was McGarry's first book. I look forward to reading more and seeing if she evens out the rough spots and fulfills her promise in becoming one of the fine fantasy writers of today.
Rating:
Summary: So real and human
Review: The people are real, human, and I cared about some of them to the point of heartbreak. The plot is intricate and closely woven as an illuminator's spell. There's a mystery in the book, and watching it unfold is very compelling. The rich, various life of Eiden Myr fascinated me. In a way Eiden Myr itself seems alive. I want to go back there. The book isn't just about magic; it IS magic. I look forward to revisiting it. I feel there must be a lot more to know about Eiden Myr. More, please.
Rating:
Summary: Illumination
Review: There is so much that is good about this long fantasy epic that it seems a shame for me to sink it with a measly two-star rating; but, alas, it is so dreadfully hard to get through! Inside this inflated colossus there is indeed a promising story, all the necessary trappings--action, romance, surprises and turnabouts--in place, but there are so many problems: I felt blockaded from enjoying this book. It's too bad. The problems: The first three hundred pages are arduous slogging (after an effective opening that gives us main character Liath, her village, her friends, family, and rivals, a bar fight--okay, the combatants have stepped outside, and the sudden loss of Liath's exceptional skills as a mage). Liath, as wanderer, is an interesting character doing boring things. The inchworm-inchworm pace is not helped by a style that can be offputting, especially at first, due to what feels like a lack of rhythm. Now, admittedly, once Liath reaches the Holding--that is, the caves of the Ennead--in search of help with her problems--things pick up for the rest of the book, thank the Spirits! The Ennead are on the reader's side, because the Ennead set Liath on a new, very focused mission involving rooting out a notorious renegade darkmage named Torrin. Liath's search for Torrin adds more complications to the story, as Torrin does get under Liath's skin, and worse yet, starts to undermine her belief in the assumed goodness of the Ennead. The more people Liath meets, the more alone she comes to feel. Whom can she trust, and how much ruin can a wrong decision bring? So there is some meat to this drawn-out, meandering tale. But be ready for a whirlwind of characters, the writer's technique to thrust them at you, backstories and pre-histories emerging at random spots, linking everyone to everyone, somehow. Try and keep a scorecard, and be ready to adjust it due to betrayers, traitors, spies, and backstabbers. Again, it sort of works, it sort of doesn't; elements that should succeed, like various characters working at cross-purposes, seem jumbled, confusing, piling up faster than can be digested and assimilated. I'm not sure the magic that exists in this fantasyland is ever adequately presented in a way that allows the reader to both visualize it due to clear, rich description, and, perhaps more importantly, feel a sense of wonder when it is evoked. Of course the book starts, uniquely, with our heroine unable to use her magic, but others do perform magecraft, and descriptions of it seem confined to buzzwords; actual descriptions, at least up until the big-league, world-shaking castings that partly form the grand finale, struck me as simple and rather cold. Finally, this book really feels too long. Really really feels too long. I've talked about the first three hundred pages, and even when things improved, I never quite shook the notion that I was reading a fantasy novel that could consider itself very lucky that I was still interested in it up near the five hundred page mark. It's never a particularly gripping book. And I for one thought the ending was rather hastily done; I mean, the author takes ages to move Liath around for almost the whole book, and then major conflagration takes all of, what?, twenty pages! I recommend this to die-hard fantasy fans only, who can take the really arduous stuff. The back half is vastly superior and tries to prove that there is a worthwhile story screaming to get out.
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