Action, suspense, drama, love, magic, adventure, tears, torture, Light, Dark, death, and destiny. What do all these things have in common? They are all skillfully represented in Alison Coggon's The Naming. The Naming is the first of four books in the Pellinor series.

Maerad has been a slave in Gilman's Cot for as long as she can remember. She is completely ignorant to everything outside of the cot's walls and something very special within her. Her mother died when Maerad was six. She too was captured and made a slave. Maerad was certain she would die a slave, for none successfully escaped the cot, until one day a man who looked to be in his mid-thirties appeared in the cow byre. Maerad was the only one who could see this man, Cadvan. Cadvan immediately saw the special Gift in Maerad that she never knew of, a Gift that could help her become a great Bard. He helped Maerad escape from the cot and showed her how to use her Gift for good, to help the Light. They soon discovered that Maerad was no ordinary Bard; she was the fated one, the one foretold to defeat the Dark in it's rising and to kill the Nameless One and to help the Light spread again through Edil-Amaranoh. And she was only sixteen summers old!

Croggon created a new world that is both authentic and exotic, welcoming and frightening. Each aspect of The Naming is full of imagination and is unique. She skillfully brought to life the world of Edil-Amaranoh, and made a history for each character as if they really lived. It feels more like a true story then something from someone's imagination. Each element in Croggon's story is complete imagination. She creates Bards, special men and women who have a Gift inside them that enables them to use a kind of magic. They use this Gift to help the Light. With the Bards she makes an entire history, inventing rules, traditions, manners, ethics, and background. Everything is unique; everything is complicated.

To describe every aspect of the book and every creature Croggon creates would make this a twenty-page review. To fully understand, you must read the whole series, which I highly recommend. However, I will tell you the basics. There are two enemy sides: the Light and the Dark, your basic good and evil. The Bards are of the Light; they fight against the Hulls and the Nameless one. The Nameless One casts off his Bardic name and plots to take over. The Hulls are his followers, his henchmen. They also cast off their Bardic names for eternal life. They are corrupted Bards. The Nameless One is foretold to be defeated in his rising, which is occurring at the time of the books.

As I've told you, this book is completely original. It is an exciting novel with a strong heroine that is hard to put down. The plot is captivating, and the characters so well described that they feel like old friends. So, pick up a copy today and enter the astounding, unique world of Edil-Amaranoh.