Kingfisher – Patricia A. McKillip

This story is set in a kingdom with such modern devices as cars and cellphones, but where magic is alive, and religion is still very much a force in the kingdom.

Pierce is a young man who grew up in Cape Misbegotten – far from the capital of Severluna. He’s always known his mother was a sorceress, but when several knights stumble onto the Cape, he learns that she fled there away from his father, who is himself a knight, and that she left his brother behind. He sets out to find them.

Along the way, he stops at Chimera Bay, where a ritual is enacted every night at the Kingfisher Inn, but it’s clear that something is not right there. Carrie is one of the townsfolk working at the Inn, and she’s trying to figure out what’s wrong in the bay.

And finally, Prince Diamon, the illegitimate son of the king, has finally learned about his mother, at the same time that he’s fallen in love, and these women will play an important role in the action of the story.

This book is all about how the stories of these three people intersect – it’s hard to map out quickly. It’s very typical McKillip, where she throws you right into the middle of a story, and wraps it up neatly for you by the end.