What does this have to do with Beneath the Vaulted Hills? Well, we meet earlier, younger versions of these characters in this first part of the two-book series, The River into Darkness. We learn many of the reasons why these characters and others act as they did in Moontide and Magic Rise. I found this an interesting device that Sean Russell has employed. He gives us a hint, a look, a glimpse of some event in the character's past and teases us into figuring out what part they play. Little mysteries. Give the reader a bit, let it dangle, move on to another plot point, show a little more, come back to them and so on. I love it. It reminds me a lot of the plot techniques used in The X-Files' main thread of alien abduction. Never give the audience enough to figure it all out, but give them enough to tantalize them until the next clue drops into place. Brilliant.

But getting back to the book, Beneath the Vaulted Hills is a novel about Erasmus Flattery, Tristam's uncle, who, as a boy, lived for three years in the house of Lord Eldrich, the last of the Mages. Unceremoniously dismissed from the house, he has yet to figure out why he was told to leave. He meets an acquaintance, Samual Hayes, who is being pursued by two groups. One is the Royal Navy and the other are the Tellerites, a underground group trying to revive magic. For it is the twilight of the era of the mages. All but one are gone. But hints of their power and their learning remain. The hunters think Samual is the key. Kehler, another friend of Hayes may have some clues, stolen from the priests who are sworn to wipe out this scourge of magic, in his possession. All are drawn to Castlebough, a country town renowned for its baths. There a series of underground caves may hide those wondrous secrets. All the principals show up for one reason or another and are drawn together to preserve, to destroy or to enrich their power. Geez, I think I've been dropped into a daytime soap opera.

Sean Russell has captured the atmosphere and the ethos of a truly magical time. His people are on the verge of awakening from a great reverie, and some don't want to give it up. Most know it is time. Sure there will be some small magics to discover, some place, some time. But for most, the age is past. It is time to get on to other discoveries, growth and become what their destiny has in mind for them. Looking back, they'll sigh and feel wistful about the past but they'll find it a different, but not necessarily better, society. Hasn't that happened to us? Shouldn't it happen to everybody?

I'm drooling in anticipation of what the sequel to Beneath the Vaulted Hills, the second half of The River into Darkness, will bring.