Sean Russell: The Compass of the Soul -- Book Two of The River into Darkness

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The Compass of the Soul (1999)
Book Two of The River into Darkness

Art: Robert Giusti The One Kingdom

407 pages
ISBN 0-88677-933-2
published by DAW Books
www.dawbooks.com

The challenge of these books was working within the confines set by the events in the World Without End and Sea Without a Shore. Many things were dictated by what happened in the story that follows and yet I had to make these books just as fresh and surprising. It was very tough, but I'm happy with the books, and think the writing in The Compass of the Soul to be some of the best I've done.

Although these two books have an intricate fantasy plot and lots of action, they were, in many ways, about memories and how we deal with them. The quote at the front of The Compass of the Soul says it all:

"A man may move either westward through life, following the light, or eastward toward the gathering darkness. It is a kind orientation of temperament that is set in our earliest years; an emotional compass. One either pursues one's dreams or one's memories, and it is an exceptional man who, once the compass has been set, can alter it even a point or two."

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