The Windrose Chronicles by Barbara Hambly
"The Windrose Chronicles" is a fantasy series that follows the intertwined destinies of Joanna Sheraton and Antryg Windrose as they confront the malevolent Darkmage, Suraklin. The saga begins with "The Silent Tower," where Joanna and Antryg embark on a quest to end Suraklin's life, only to face a gripping cliffhanger. The narrative continues in "The Silicon Mage," which picks up shortly after, exploring their battle against Suraklin's lingering evil, now manifested through a series of computer programs that threaten to grant him immortality.
The story expands further in the sequel, "Dog Wizard," where Joanna and Antryg navigate new challenges, including Joanna's kidnapping and Antryg's struggles with the Council of Wizards. As they traverse parallel worlds and confront various antagonistic forces, themes such as the intersection of magic and technology, loyalty, and betrayal emerge, enriching the narrative's complexity. The characters' journey highlights their resilience and the moral dilemmas they face in their fight against dark forces. Overall, "The Windrose Chronicles" is a tale of adventure, intertwining personal relationships with epic challenges in a richly imagined universe.
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The Windrose Chronicles
First published:The Silent Tower (1986), The Silicon Mage (1988), and Dog Wizard (1993)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Fantasy—high fantasy
Time of work: The late 1980’s and the fourth year of the Regency of Prince Pharos
Locale: Los Angeles, California, and the Empire of Ferryth
The Plot
The Windrose Chronicles can best be described as two books and a sequel. The Silent Tower, which begins the quest of Joanna Sheraton and Antryg Windrose to find and eliminate the evil Darkmage, Suraklin, ends in one of the most spectacular cliff-hangers in fantasy literature. The action continues less than a month later in The Silicon Mage. The two books were combined in an omnibus volume titled Darkmage (1988). Despite a fairly firm sense of closure at the end of The Silicon Mage, the story of Joanna and her mad lover, Antryg, resumes four months later in Dog Wizard.
The first two novels comprise the story of Antryg, Stonne Caris, and Joanna as they investigate periodic “spells of deadness” that drain hope and magic from both their worlds. They attempt to discover the location of Suraklin, who has been dead for twenty-five years. Suraklin, who has been “living” by taking over the minds of others, has found the means to immortality by programming his personality into a series of computer subroutines. Joanna, despite her growing love for Antryg, is tricked by Suraklin into betraying him to the inquisition. Back on her own world again, she follows the Darkmage, now in the body of her former lover and fellow programmer, Gary Fairchild, back through the Void. There she rescues Antryg, with the help of Caris and Pellicida of Senterwing, and the three set off to try to locate the Darkmage’s computer before it goes “on line” permanently.
When a mage is murdered after a mysterious opening in the Void, Salteris Solaris, the Archmage, and his grandson Caris, a sasenna of the Council of Wizards, journey to the Silent Tower to ask the renegade, Antryg Windrose, for information about the nature of the Void and the worlds that lie beyond it. When Salteris disappears, Antryg, who has escaped from the Tower, is blamed. Caris tracks Antryg through the Void to a house in California’s San Fernando Valley and back again. Joanna Sheraton is kidnapped from that house. Caris claims that Antryg is the kidnapper, but Antryg says that it is someone else. Joanna awakes on a parallel world. The three travel through isolated farm country, avoiding the inquisition and the civil authorities in an uneasy alliance. No one is sure why Joanna has been brought to this world.
After aiding Salteris to recapture Antryg, Joanna discovers the Darkmage’s computer programs and realizes the truth. She follows Suraklin through the Void and sets out to find allies to free Antryg and destroy the Darkmage’s computer. Unexpectedly, she receives aid from Prince Pharos’ new bride, Pella, and the two, with Caris, journey to the Silent Tower to rescue the imprisoned mage. The three set out, disguised as itinerant physicians, to search for the computer. In one village, they discover an intelligent abomination that has slipped through a weakening in the Void. Antryg and Joanna manage to communicate with the displaced and dying physicist, and Antryg returns him to his own world.
While Caris dismantles a plot to kill the regent, Joanna and Antryg locate Suraklin’s hidden computer in a pocket dimension. When the reunited trio enters the pocket dimension, Caris is fatally wounded. After destroying the computer, Antryg uses his magic to restore Caris to life, but he is captured by the Council and the church. Caris, crippled, abandons his position as a sasenna to study healing. Joanna is returned to Los Angeles, and Antryg takes poison to avoid dismemberment. Back in Los Angeles, Joanna is shocked when Antryg arrives. He had been rescued by the alien physicist he had saved earlier.
Dog Wizard picks up the story of Joanna and an exiled Antryg living together in Los Angeles. Joanna is kidnapped by someone on the Council of Wizards to lure Antryg back to his own world. When he arrives, the Council, claiming no responsibility for Joanna’s abduction, blocks his powers and demands that he aid their investigation into the Void. Someone on the Council is playing a secret game, and Antryg once again does not know whom he can trust. Using magic and technology donated by his friend Ninetentwo, the alien particle physicist, Antryg is able to stabilize the Void openings in the Vaults. Antryg’s stabilizing spells are disrupted, however, and the Citadel begins to slip into the Void. The destabilization allows Joanna and Magister Magus to escape from their prison, a pocket dimension known as the Brown Star. Unfortunately, several creatures interred in the Brown Star also escape, including the energy-devouring tsaeati. Antryg and Aunt Min, the old Archmage, devise a plan to destroy the tsaeati by summoning the Dead God, entropy. Aunt Min dies in the attempt. Antryg and Joanna retreat to Los Angeles fearing retribution because Antryg inherited the Master Spells at Min’s death.