Carol Berg: Difference between revisions

Carol Berg
Occupation	Novelist
Nationality	American
Period	2000-Present
Genre	Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Website
http://textcrumbs.blogspot.com/

Carol Berg is the author of several fantasy novels, including the books from the Rai-Kirah series, Song of the Beast, and the books from The Bridge of D'Arnath series.

Berg holds a degree in mathematics from Rice University, and a degree in computer science from the University of Colorado. Before writing full-time, she designed software. She lives in Colorado, and is the mother of three boys.

Bibliography

The Rai-Kirah series

1. Transformation (ISBN 0-451-45795-1) (2000)
2. Revelation (ISBN 0-451-45842-7) (2001)
3. Restoration (ISBN 0-451-45890-7) (2002)

The Bridge of D'Arnath series

1. Son of Avonar (ISBN 0-451-45962-8) (2004)
2. Guardians of the Keep (ISBN 0-451-46000-6) (2004)
3. The Soul Weaver (ISBN 0-451-46017-0) (2005)
4. Daughter of Ancients (ISBN 0-451-46042-1) (2005)

PLOT SUMMARY FOR Son of Avonar

This book is the first of a 4-book series entitled THE BRIDGE OF D’ARNATH. A little background information is first required. There are two worlds involved: Earth and Gondai. And they are connected by a magical bridge called the Bridge of D’Arnath. On Earth you have two races of people living: Dar’Nethi, who have the ability to be sorcerers; and mundanes, or humans, who don’t have any magical powers. On Gondai you have three races of people living: Dar’Nethi, mundanes, and dulce. The dulce race do not have magical powers, but they can store and catalog infinite amounts of information in their brains. Basically they have photographic memories. And the dulce can bind their minds (and the information contained there) to powerful Dar’Nethi through a ritual called a madris.

The dominant world between Earth and Gondai is Gondai. It is where the Dar’Nethi rule and thrive. Earth is where the mundanes rule and thrive. The royal city (capital) of Gondai is called Avonar. And it is there that the King (Heir of D’Arnath or Son of Avonar) and his seven preceptors (most powerful sorcerers in the land) live and govern. It is also the location where the Bridge of D’Arnath connects to Gondai. The king is responsible for maintaining the bridge so the people of both worlds can communicate and help each other through tough times.

The 7 Preceptors are: Exeget, Dassine, Madyalar, Gar’Dena, Ce’Aret, Ustele, and Y’Dan. Dassine is really the only one we meet in the first book. And we learn in Book II that Madyalar is a traitor.

About 1000 years before the story begins in the book the kingdom in Gondai is faced with a civil war. Three powerful sorcerers discovered a new way to fuel their magical potients. It was so revolutionary that the King and his Preceptors could not easily quash these revolutionaries, and war broke out. The King and his Preceptors continue to govern from Avonar, and the revolutionaries who call themselves the Lords of Zhev’Na rule from the city of Zhev’Na located in some dessert wasteland in Gondai.

The Lords (Ziddari, Parven, and Notole) treat their subjects as though they exist to serve the Lords. And the King and the Preceptors treat their subjects exactly the opposite. They exist to serve their subjects. In Zhev’Na there is a pyramid hierarchy of people. At the top are the Lords. Under them come the Zhid, sorcerers who are loyal to the Lords. Below the Zhid are Dar’Nethi who are not powerful sorcerers, but who are enslaved to work for the Zhid. And at the bottom of the pyramid are the mundanes who are treated much like animals.

So about 1000 years after the civil war in Gondai commenced, the King is a 12-year old named Prince D’Natheil who is not capable of maintaining the Bridge of D’Arnath. And the bridge is in extreme disrepair. It is ready to collapse. The Preceptor Exeget forced D’Natheil to attempt to repair the bridge, and while trying to do so D’Natheil’s mind was irrepairably damaged. Since the bridge can only be maintained by the King, and D’Natheil had no offspring, the Preceptors had to figure out how they were going to “repair” D’Natheil so he could fix the bridge at a later date.

At this time Lord Ziddari using the name of Captain Darzid was living in exile on Earth. He and his Zhid followers were helping the mundanes who ruled Earth locate and exterminate all Dar’Nethi who were neither Zhid nor Zhid slaves. One such Dar’Nethi he found and executed was Karon, the husband of a mundane noblewoman (Seriana), and the father of her yet-to-be born son, Gerick. Karon was a powerful sorcerer who used his magic primarily for healing others. Upon his death his soul instead of going to the afterlife was stored or anchored to a crystal that Preceptor Dassine owned. Dassine had plans to use Karon’s soul to rejuvenate D’Natheil.

Seriana gave birth to her son the very same day as her brother’s wife gave birth to a baby boy. What a coincidence! Gerick’s cousin died within hours of birth. And Captain Darzid gave Gerick to his aunt and uncle (Seri’s brother) to be raised. He knew the child was a Dar’Nethi. It’s kind of a stretch that he allowed the boy to live. Seriana was led to believe her son had been killed by Captain Darzid since the child was the son of a convicted sorcerer. It is not until Book II that Seriana learns Gerick is her son.

Ten years after Dassine started his work to rejuvenate D’Natheil the bridge is in such disrepair that D’Natheil’s services are rquired again or it will crumble. Dassine sends D’Natheil to Earth along with a dulce with the hope that the two could meet up with Seriana and attempt to fix the bridge. Inside D’Natheil’s head is part of Karon’s soul. This is why Seriana was chosen to help with the bridge mending.

The book explains how D’Natheil, his dulce, and Seriana meet, and follow a trek to the Bridge of D’Arnath and then repair the bridge. At the end of the book the bridge is fixed, but D’Natheil still needs a lot of help if he is to become whole again. And Seriana’s brother is killed, thus leaving Gerick without his father. Seriana promises her brother just before he died that she would visit Gerick and explain how his father died. The End.

PLOT SUMMARY FOR Guardians of the Keep

This book is the second of a 4-book series entitled THE BRIDGE OF D’ARNATH. It picks up right after the end of Book I. Seriana returns to her childhood home to tell Gerick, her supposed nephew, but in reality her son, how his supposed father died. While she is there Captain Darzid (Lord Ziddari) kidnaps Gerick and takes him back to City of Zhev’Na in Gondai. He believes Gerick is the next Heir of D’Arnath and will be able to help the Lords win their civil war.

Dassine is conveniently murdered at this time and an attempt to murder his dulce is made, too. The dulce and D’Natheil are told by Dassine on his death bed that D’Natheil has to “save the child.” Unfortunately, D’Natheil did not know who the child was. He came up with an idea that he should consult Seriana to see if she might know who the child Dassine had referred to. D’Natheil and the dolce show up on Seriana’s doorstep just as she is readying to chase after Captain Darzid and Gerick. All three gather their things and head off in hot pursuit.

They follow Darzid and Gerick over the Bridge of D’Arnath back into Gondai. D’Natheil doesn’t know what to do in order to get the child back. So he goes to his preceptors to seek guidance. Exeget and Gar’Dena think up a plan that involves D’Natheil to fake a suicide so the three Lords of Zhev’Na will think they have the only living Heir of D’Arnath (Gerick). The plan also included Seriana, a mundane named Paulo, and D’Natheil to infiltrate the City of Zhev’Na to steal Gerick before he became old enough to be king (1 year or so).

The vast majority of the book is about the lives of Gerick, Seriana, Paulo, and D’Nathiel in the City of Zhev’Na during that year before Gerick turned 12 years old. Things did not go as planned, and Gerick became the Fourth Lord for a day or so. But he was recued and taken back to earth where his true father (D’Natheil, or Karon, depending how you look at it) spent a few days healing him.

Seriana, Gerick, and Paulo go on with life on Earth. D’Nathiel has to return to Avonar to run his Kingdom which is still in the middle of civil war. The End.

The Lighthouse Duet

1. Flesh and Spirit (ISBN 0-451-46088-X) (2007)
2. Breath and Bone (ISBN 0-451-46186-X) (2008)

Other works

1. Song of the Beast (ISBN 0-451-45923-7) (2003), the winner of the 2003 Colorado Book Award

Awards

• Finalist, (2001) Compton Crook Award, Transformation
• Finalist, (2000) Barnes & Noble Maiden Voyage Award, Transformation
• Finalist, (2002) Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award for Best Epic Fantasy, Restoration
• Winner, (2003) Colorado Book Award, Song of the Beast
• Winner, (2005) Geffen Award for Best Translated Fantasy, Transformation
• Finalist, (2006) RWA-FFP Prism Award for Best Romantic Fantasy, Daughter of Ancients

External links

• Carol Berg Author Site
• Carol Berg's Blog
• Carol Berg at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Novel synopses, cover art, and reviews

Interviews

• Interview