"Elizabeth Haydon - Symphony of Ages - Threshold" - читать интересную книгу автора (Haydon Elizabeth)

THESYMPHONY OFAGES



ELIZABETH HAYDON



THE RHAPSODY TRILOGY:

RHAPSODY: CHILD OFBLOOD(1999)

PROPHECY: CHILD OFEARTH(2000)

DESTINY: CHILD OF THESKY(2001)



REQUIEM FOR THESUN(2002)

ELEGY FOR ALOSTSTAR(2003)



The Symphony of Agesis written as a history in which the eras of time in the universe are recounted in
seven distinct ages. The debut trilogy,Rhapsody ,Prophecy, andDestiny , and the subsequent sequels,
are set at the end of the Fifth Age, the age of Schism, and the beginning of the Sixth Age, the age of
Twilight.

A giant tree stands at each of the places, known as the birthplaces of Time, where the five primordial
elementsтАФair, fire, water, earth, and etherтАФfirst appeared in the world. The oldest of these World Trees
is Sagia, which grows on the Island of Serendair, the birthplace of ether. It is through the interconnected
roots of Sagia that three people, all half-breeds, running from different pursuers, escape the cataclysm
that destroys the Island and find themselves on the other side of the world, sixteen centuries later.

The three companions are initially antagonistic. Rhapsody, a woman of mixed human and Lirin blood, is a
Namer, a student of lore and music who has learned the science of manipulating the vibrations that
constitute life. She is on the run from an old nemesis, and is grudgingly rescued from his henchmen by two
men. The Brother is an irritable and hideously ugly assassin with a bloodgift that makes him able to
identify and track the heartbeats of any victim. His only friend, Grunthor, is a giant Firbolg
Sergeant-Major with tusks, an impressive weapons collection, and a fondness for singing bawdy
marching cadences. The two men are fleeing the demon of elemental fire who has control of the BrotherтАЩs
true name. Rhapsody accidentally changes the BrotherтАЩs name to Achmed the Snake, breaking the
control the demon has over him, and making his escape possible. The three make the trek along the roots
of the World Trees through the belly of the Earth, passing through the fire at the center with the help of
RhapsodyтАЩs ability to manipulate names. In the process, the distrustful adversaries become grudging
friends. When they emerge on the other side they find themselves transformed; time appears to have
stopped for them. In addition, they discover the story of their homelandтАЩs destruction and that refugees
from Serendair, alerted to the impending cataclysm by a kingтАЩs vision, traveled across the world to the
place they have emerged, built a new civilization and destroyed it in war in the intervening centuries. Now