Crest

Crest is the third in “The Call of the Rift fantasy series of tales set in an imaginary world based on the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America and filled with indigenous people and settlers and refugees from encroaching outside nations whose technology is barely above that of the original tribes. The story is told through the eyes of Kateiko Rin, a teenage girl who is also a warrior with the ability to call up water into shapes.

The tale is filled with magic. Kateiko can also shape-shift into the form of a white wolf. Most of the indigenous people have the power to become animals, whales, or birds. When an estranged uncle returns to their village along with his two mixed-blood young children with blue eyes, Kateiko is set on a journey that takes her deep into the world of the settlers and their crowded towns in an effort to protect them. The children’s father has past connections to a mysterious cult bent on a destructive war and claiming all the land for themselves. To complicate matters further, Kateiko often finds herself with conflicting feelings as she struggles through the more normal teenage problems of romance and falling in love.

Meeting up with a pair of mercenaries, Tiernan a mage, and Jorumgard his soldier companion, and their superior officer, Nerio, Kateiko becomes deeply involved in the effort to track down the cult and the all-out assault on their hiding place. The final battle has mixed results; both of Kateiko’s parents are killed, and readers are left with the suspicion that the cult leader may have escaped.

Crest’s more than 400 pages are divided into forty chapters and an epilogue. It opens with a double- page map titled “Kateiko Rin’s Travels in Anwen Bel and Surrounding Lands,” and a single page map of “Caladhea Cit of White Sails and Disputed Capital of Eremur circa 620-630”. The volume closes with a seven page “Glossary”, and a five page “Brief History of Eremur and Surrounding Lands”.

Sometimes almost too dense with the minute details, Crest would benefit from a directory of characters as it was often difficult to remember who the recurring members of the large and complicated cast were. This novel should appeal to those readers interested in adventure touched by magic in an exotic setting, and characters struggling with growing up in the midst of racism, warfare, and refugees.