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

There are two worlds involved: Earth and Gondai, connected by the magical Bridge of D’Arnath. On Earth live two races of people: Dar’Nethi, who have the ability to be sorcerers; and mundanes, or humans, who don’t have any magical powers. On Gondai live three races of people: 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; they have photographic memories. They can bind their minds (and the information contained there) to powerful Dar’Nethi through a ritual called a madris.

The dominant world between them 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.

When the story starts, 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 the 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 majority of the book follows 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 rescued 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. Unfortunately he only has 4 preceptors left to help him since Exeget and Madyalar both die when he rescued Gerick from the Lords.

Plot summary for The Soul Weaver

This book is the third of a 4-book series entitled THE BRIDGE OF D’ARNATH. It picks up 4 years after the end of Book II. D’Natheil has been working hard as King of Avonar in Gondai, but has yet to defeat the evil Lords. Seri, Gerick, and Paulo have been living together on earth (Kingdom of Liere) and doing well. But Gerick still suffers from nightmares. And a third world called The Bounded has been growing in the breach between Dondai and earth. It was created unknowingly by Gerick when D’Natheil had dragged him through the breach at the end of Book II some 4 years earlier.

Three citizens of The Bounded visit earth on expeditions to find Gerick and bring him to their homeland so he can be their rightful king. They kidnap a number of mundanes on these trips, one of which was King Evard’s daughter Princess Roxanne. Sometime after Roxanne goes missing Seri receives a message that King Evard would like to have a word with her. Seri decides to meet the king, but only if Gerick and Paulo will accompany her to the rendez-vous.

D’Natheil’s war with the Lords seems to be having a breakthrough. Preceptor Jayereth has just discovered a magic spell that would break the spell the Lords have place on all Dar’Nethi slaves. D’Natheil is excited about this, but makes a trip to earth to visit with Seri and his son Gerick for an hour. He tells both of the new spell Jayereth had concocted. He brings Gerick back to Gondai with him for the evening, and the next morning when he took Gerick home he brought along a guard by the name of Radele to watch over Seri and Gerick. It turns out that Radele had joined forces with the Lords and was really a traitor and could not be trusted. He causes the Lords to find out about Jayereth’s spell.

Upon D’Natheil’s return to Gondai he finds Jayereth dead and the notes of the spell destroyed. Thus, the spell is lost to D’Natheil. Gerick is ultimately blamed for informing the Lords of the spell and thus having Jayereth killed and her notes destroyed.

Seri attempts to meet with King Evard as planned, but the king’s wife Princess Mariel shows up in his stead. She says her husband was not able to attend and that her daughter had been kidnapped. She thought Seri might be able to advise her how to proceed. Seri agrees to try to help, but Radele uses a ring the Lords had given him to force Gerick to stab Seri. Also, Radele placed a silencing spell on Seri. The same spell we later learn he had placed on King Evard to make him incapacitated.

Gerick did not understand what possessed him to stab his mother. D’Natheil was soon to arrive on the scene, and he was ready to kill Gerick thinking him a traitor. So Gerick ran. He and Paulo teamed up on a journey to The Bounded where Gerick finds Roxanne and he becomes King. Early during his stay in The Bounded Gerick and Paulo are imprisoned by The Guardian (Mynoplas). In order to escape the jail Gerick has to merge his soul into Paulo’s body. He was afraid by doing this he would kill Paulo. However, Paulo was not damaged by the act. We later learn that “Soul Weavers,” a very rare type of Dar’Nethi sorcerer, are capable of doing what Gerick can do.

Seri is taken to Gondai to be made well. However, D’Natheil has lost his healing powers. All his fighting for the past 4 years has enabled D’Natheil’s soul to become the dominant one, the one that fights and doesn’t heal. Other sorcerers who can heal were used to save Seri. She is kept alive, but Radele’s silencing spell keeps her quiet. Eventually Gerick returns to Gondai to speak with Seri. He comes as Paulo, though. Something he could do as a result of his soul weaving ability.

He first meets with D’Natheil who does not recognize him as Gerick. He learns where Seri is, and goes to her. Unfortunately she is indisposed as a result of Radele’s silencing spell. At this time Gerick meets Preceptor Ven’Dar who foolishly allows Radele to place the silencing spell on him right in front of Gerick. Gerick does his soul weaving thing to Ven’Dar so Ven’Dar can counter the silencing spell. Then Ven’Dar speaks the words necessary to counter the silencing spell that had been placed on Seri. Ven’Dar, Seri, and Gerick have a heart to heart talk about Gerick his supposed traitor moves he’d pulled in the past several months. A plan is devised to have D’Natheil reclaim his son as faithful to Gondai.

The plan involved making Ven’Dar the new Heir of D’Arnath. It involved D’Natheil and Gerrick putting on an act in order to draw out the traitor Radele. The plan also involved Gerrick summoning the Lords (Ziddari, Parven, and Notole) to come join him in his body under the false belief that they would then defeat D’Natheil’s kingdom. The Lords came and Gerrick transferred his soul and the souls of the three Lords into D’Natheil’s body at which time D’Natheil touched his crystal devise which killed him. All six souls (don’t forget Karon’s) then left D’Natheil’s body to go to the afterlife. Gerrick through his soul weaving talent detached his soul and Karon’s soul from the other four. He clawed his way back to his body on earth and dragged Karon’s back to the body of D’Natheil. As a result, the Lords were dead and Seri had Karon and Gerick back in her life. Everything went according to plan.

Roxanne was reunited with her parents. D’Natheil took the silencing spell off King Evard. And Evard changed the laws on earth so sorcery was not illegal per se and so his daughter could inherit his throan. Gerick returns to The Bounded with Paulo to continue growing his kingdom. 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