The Aware by Glenda Larke (Isles of Glory: Book 1)

9/10

The Aware is the first book in the Isles of Glory trilogy. It was shortlisted for the best Fantasy Novel of 2003 in Australia (Aurealis Awards). The third book, The Tainted was shortlisted for the 2004 Awards. The trilogy is also being published in German and Russian translations.

Eleven island nations are scattered across the Isles of Glory, but Blaze, as a halfbreed, is a citizen of none of them. Tall with clear green eyes, her very appearance marks her as an outcast and an object of ridicule.

But Blaze's Awareness gives her the ability to sense magic, and with that talent she'd managed a precarious existence as an agent for the Keeper Isles. The Keepers have promised her a coveted citizenship for her service... eventually.

On assignment, Blaze's search for a mysterious slave woman leads her to the lawless island of Gorthan Spit. There she senses the dark workings of dunmagic, leading her to an evil that poses a threat to all the Isles of Glory - and to Blaze's own life...

The Isles of Glory trilogy, Glenda Larke's debut series, is timeless. Larke pens a captivating story in an intricately detailed and unique world and cultural landscape. Her characters are gritty and wonderfully fleshed out. Larke's delightfully unique style allows the reader to get a real sense of the characters many facets. It has action, intrigue, romance and more. I have seldom been so riveted by debut novel. Keeps you on the edge of your seat and was a joy to read.

Glenda Larke is an Australian who now lives in Malaysia where she works on the two great loves of her life: writing fantasy and the conservation of rainforest avifauna. She has also lived in Tunisia and Austria, and has at different times in her life worked as a housemaid, library assistant, school teacher, university tutor, medical correspondence course editor, field ornithologist and designer of nature interpretive centres. Along the way she has taught English to students as diverse as Korean kindergarten kids and Japanese teenagers living in Malaysia, Viennese adults in Austria and engineering students in Tunis. If she has any spare time (which is not often), she goes birdwatching; if she has any spare cash (not nearly often enough), she visits her daughters in Scotland and Virginia and her family living in Western Australia. She has four published novels to her credit, and another trilogy, The Mirage Makers, due to be published in 2006-7.