The third of Jane Welch’s Book of Ond trilogy, The Lord of Necrond combines high adventure and terrifying scenes of magical torture with a deeply moralised sense of responsibility to the environment. Corruption has spread to the afterlife (the wolfman of the earlier books has bribed one of his immortal judges); and is universal on earth (from endless betrayals of kin to incessant warfare and the pollution of the skies with the smoke from armourer’s forges). Welch’s central characters are deeply flawed individuals–Hal rarely thinks before using his strong sword-arm and his nephew Caspar, controller of the magic stone Necrond, has yet to learn the difference between caution and cowardly abstention from action. The process whereby they learn better is costly for them and those around them and it is never guaranteed until the end that they will succeed in saving their native land from the many threats that surround it.

The obviously strong influences on Welch-Celtic mythology and the classic fantasies of George MacDonald-are combined with an entirely modern sensibility; at her best, she combines a dream-like sense of menace and occasional joy with some real moral toughness when her characters have to make the right choices. –Roz Kaveney