Julia Unbound
Julia Unbound
For a moment, looking at the westward sky, I think it is Kahge come to earth. My heart contracts—Theo, he’s found Theo—But somebody near me says in an awed voice, “It’s a twister!”
It is hard to make out in the dark, but the speaker is right. Somewhere over West Spira, a whirling column of wind is descending, a screaming cyclone. It touches down, and there is a distant tearing sound as it moves through the city. People are running as if they’ve got somewhere safer to go.
Magic fills my nostrils, a disturbing mix of smells—spice and salt, singed feathers and honey and wet stone. The cyclone cuts through West Spira and then rises again, breaking apart into black streaks. The wind that blasts over us make me reel backward. Somebody crashes into me. I let myself get swept up into the running crowd. I run and then I vanish.
Julia Unbound is the final novel of Catherine Egan’s “Witch’s Child” trilogy, and it makes for a satisfying ending to an exciting and original series. Julia has a special skill; she can vanish at will. Her ability to vanish has long made her a valuable spy. In this installment, her skills as a spy lead her to be involved in several conflicting enterprises. Julia still finds herself entwined with Casimir, an immortal who strives to take over the world. Julia has hidden a little boy who holds the key to Casimir’s world domination, and Casimir seeks to force her to reveal the boy’s whereabouts so he can kill the child and take his power. Casimir also hold’s Julia’s brother hostage, forcing her to spy for him to keep her brother alive. At the beginning of the novel, Casimir takes Julia back to the city of her birth, Spria City. Once there, she rejoins old friends only to discover them deeply involved in a revolution to overthrow the corrupt government when the ailing king dies. They, too, enlist Julia’s help as a spy. Julia finds herself torn between loyalties to old friends, doubts about some of the players in the revolution, and her need to save her brother and save the world from Casimir’s ambition, all while trying to discover the origin of her ability to vanish.
Julia Unbound is as exciting and action-packed at the previous two novels in the series, Julia Vanishes (http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol23/no13/juliavanishes.html) and Julia Defiant. (http://www.umanitoba.ca/cm/vol23/no35/juliadefiant.html) Catherine Egan has great skills at world building, but it does not come at the expense of her characters. Julia, herself, is a fully-realized character who often finds her way to acting the hero even after moral lapses and anti-heroic missteps. The world of the series is complex and original. Julia Unbound is best enjoyed when read after the previous two books. The events of the three novels are continuous, and prior knowledge of events in the first two books is necessary to understand the third. Highly recommended for those seeking an original fantasy series.
Tara Stieglitz is a librarian at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta.