The Outstretched Shadow is a high fantasy novel that follows the story of young Kellen, son of Archmage Lycalaelon, living in the Golden City of Thousand Bells. The city is ruled by High Magic, a precise and male-dominated form of magic that Kellen finds predictable and boring. However, when Kellen stumbles upon the forbidden books of wild magic, he embarks on a journey that leads him to uncover the secrets of a powerful enemy lurking in Obsidian Mountain. The book introduces a world filled with wizards, elves, dragons, and a great struggle between good and evil, setting the stage for an epic trilogy where alliances will be tested and the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
The story is a classic tale of a young protagonist facing his fears and learning to stand on his own, set against the backdrop of a world teeming with magical creatures and ancient prophecies. The narrative weaves together themes of change, choices, responsibility, and the eternal battle between good and evil, with elements of magic, unicorns, demons, and a coming-of-age journey that propels the main character into a world of adventure and danger.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
The book includes themes of violence, discussions of incest, and some darker elements that may be unsettling for younger readers.
Has Romance?
While not the main focus, there are romantic elements involving character relationships that develop over the narrative.
From The Publisher:
The Outstretched Shadow, the first book in The Obsidian Trilogy from Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
Kellen Tavadon, son of the Arch-Mage Lycaelon, thought he knew the way the world worked. His father, leading the wise and benevolent Council of Mages, protected and guided the citizens of the Golden City of the Bells. Young Mages in training-all men, for women were unfit to practice magic-memorized the intricate details of High Magic and aspired to seats on the council.
Then he found the forbidden Books of Wild Magic-or did they find him? The three slim volumes woke Kellen to the wide world outside the City's isolating walls. Their Magic was not dead, strangled by rules and regulations. It felt like a living thing, guided by the hearts and minds of those who practiced it and benefited from it.
Questioning everything he has known, Kellen discovers too many of the City's dark secrets. Banished, with the Outlaw Hunt on his heels, Kellen invokes Wild Magic-and finds himself running for his life with a unicorn at his side.
Kellen's life changes almost faster than he can understand or accept. Rescued by a unicorn, healed by a female Wild Mage who knows more about Kellen than anyone outside the City should, meeting Elven royalty and Elven warriors, and plunged into a world where the magical beings he has learned about as abstract concepts are flesh and blood creatures-Kellen both revels in and fears his new freedom.
Especially once he learns about Demons. He'd always thought they were another abstract concept-a stand-in for ultimate evil. But if centaurs and dryads are real, then Demons surely are as well. And the one thing all the Mages of the City agreed on was that practicing Wild Magic corrupted a Mage. Turned him into a Demon. Would that be Kellen's fate?
Deep in Obsidian Mountain, the Demons are waiting. Since their defeat in the last great War, they've been biding their time, sowing the seeds of distrust and discontent between their human and Elven enemies. Very soon now, when the Demons rise to make war, there will be no alliance between High and Wild Magic to stand against them. And all the world will belong to the Endarkened.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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About the Author:
Mercedes Lackey is the author of the bestselling Valdemar series, the Tales of the Five Hundred Kingdoms, and the Diana Tregarde Investigation mysteries. Her many other books include Trio of Sorcery, Sacred Ground, and The Firebird. Lackey is the co-author, with Andre Norton, of the Halfblood Chronicles; and, with Rosemary Edghill, of the Shadow Grail series.
James Mallory is author of the three-part novelization of the Hallmark Merlin miniseries: The Old Magic, The King's Wizard, and The End of Magic.
Together, Lackey and Mallory are the authors of the Obsidian Trilogy, the Enduring Flame Trilogy, and the Dragon Prophecy Trilogy.
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