- Title: Prophecy: Child of Earth
- Classification: Adult Fiction
- Genre: Fantasy
- Format: Paperback, 736 pages
- Publisher: Tor Fantasy (August 13, 2001)
- ISBN-10: 9780812570823
- ISBN-13: 978-0812570823
- ASIN: 0812570820
The Prophecy of the Three
The Three shall come, leaving early, arriving late,
The lifestages of all men:
Child of Blood, Child of Earth, Child of Sky.
Each man, Formed in blood and born in it,
Walks the Earth and sustained by it,
Reaching to the sky, and sheltered beneath it,
He ascends there only in his ending, becoming part of the stars.
Blood gives new beginning, Earth gives sustenance,
The Sky gives dreams in life--eternity in death.
Thus shall the Three be, one to the other.
In Rhapsody: Child of Blood we meet Rhapsody, Grunthor, and Achmed. Brought together by what appears to chance. By the end of the book, however, we realize things are being manipulated by Meridian, a time editor. He is the one who brought Emily and Sam together in the prologue of the first book. The trio, Rhapsody, Gruthor, and Achmed, travel through the ground following the roots of the great tree, Sagia. They cross the Axis Mundi, the center of the earth, and reenter hundreds of years after they left. The Great tree was said to be planted where Time began. It's power is said to be tied in to Time itself. They emerge from the ground to find their homeland has been destroyed and find themselves on the other side of the Earth where most of the survivor's descendants now live. We learn at the end of the Rhaposdy: Child of Blood, that Rhapsody, is in fact Emily, and the mysterious Ashe is Sam. We also learn that Rhapsody is a Namer and it is her skill that accidentally freed Achmed from his enslavement to the F'dor, and evil demon, when she stated used his old true name of Brother to rename him Achmed the Snake. Rhapsody can rename others, heal, and calm people down.
In Prophecy: Child of Earth we slowly get to learn what the prophecy of the three means means and how it pertains to Rhapsody, Grunthor, and Achmed. We finally get to meet a full blooded dragon - Elysynos, although the introduction is very brief. We get to find out the history of the beginning of all races. We'll meet the sleeping child and learn it's significance. Rhapsody and Ashe will finally realize they are Emily and Sam, however, this does not happen until the end of the book. We'll also learn what Meridian was up to when he took Sam into the past and into Emily's life. I feel a bit like Meridan has been weaving a tapestry and we've been looking at the back (which gives you know idea of what it will look like) and we've finally gotten a glimpse of what the front of the tapestry will look like, although it's incomplete.
I love that at the beginning of the book Haydon gives us a good foundation to start with. If you had any confusion as to what happened in the first book I felt she did a good job of clearing it up. The first book was a bit much to take in. This book at times seemed to drag or give you an information overload. At other points, however, you had to ask yourself, 'What just happened?' The world Haydon built is impressive and I there are characters you can't help loving while others you can't help hating. I truly thought the person who the Rakshas turned out to be was a nice twist. Haydon's got a enviable imagination. She totally had me with that one. Now if we can only figure out the identity of the F'dor. Crossing my fingers that it'll be revealed in the next book. I have my suspicions. I gave this one 3 1/2 out of 5 roses.
Order of the series:
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