The Golden Key

Product Description Now in trade paperback, this World Fantasy Award-nominated novel by three powerhouse women fantasy writers introduces a world where art is prized above all.In the duchy of Tira Virte, fine art is prized above all things, both for its beauty and as a binding legal record of everything from marriage and births to treaties and inheritances. And although the Grand Duke is aware that there is more to the paintings of certain limners than meets the eye, not even he knows just how extraordinary the art of the Grijalva family truly is. For certain males of their bloodline are born with a frightening magical talent—the ability to manipulate time and reality within their paintings, a Gift which enables them to alter events and influence people in the real world.The power of the Grijalva family has always been used solely to aid Tira Virte and its ruler. But this all changes in the time of Sario Grijalva. Sario, driven by his own passion and ambition, has learned to use his Gift in a whole new way. Obsessed with both his magic and his beautiful, adored cousin Saavedra, Sario will do anything to win her love.Unable to bear it when Saavedra gives her heart to another, he takes a first, fateful step beyond the boundaries previously placed on Grijalva spell-casting, capturing his cousin with forbidden arts. And it is this rash and dangerous act that sets in motion a generations-spanning pattern of treachery and betrayal, which may cause both the Grijalvas and Tira Virte to pay a terrible price.... Review Praise for The Golden Key"This three-way collaboration is original in concept and superior in execution. Characterizations and worldbuilding are finely realized; Rawn and company have done their homework on art, and overall, the romance justifies every one of its nearly 900 pages and demands its place in most fantasy collections." —Booklist"Using prose, the authors gloriously illustrate this concept—that pictures are more valuable than words. The world the authors create is entertaining.... what makes this massive tome interesting are its detailed descriptions of the making, and uses of, painting, and the creative way the authors play with magic." —Locus"To define [The Golden Key] within one genre is impossible. Suffice it to say this nominee for the World Fantasy Award is a remarkable book.... one of the most absorbing books I've read in some time. I give it my highest recommendation." —SF Site"Another fabulous fantasy collaboration.... an impressive bit of worldbuilding. As one would expect, the fascinating background is meticulously brought to life... we are held spellbound by this dark fantasy all the way through its mesmerizing conclusion." —Romantic Times About the Author Jennifer Roberson is the author of the Sword-Dancer Saga and the Chronicles of the Cheysuli, and collaborated with Melanie Rawn and Kate Elliott on the historical fantasy The Golden Key, a finalist for the World Fantasy Award. She has also published three historical novels, and several in other genres. An exhibitor and breeder of Cardigan Welsh Corgis, she lives on acreage in Northern Arizona with eight dogs and two cats. She is currently working on the third Karavans novel. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Sario Grijalva saw at once what had become of her; where she had gone, despite her physical presence. He knew that look, that blind glaze in eyes, the stillness of features, the fixed feyness of expression. He even knew how it felt: he, too, was what some might call victim. He himself named it potential. Promise. Power. And his definitions were unlike those of others, including the moualimos, the teachers who for now defined his days in the workshops of the students. Petty men, all of them, even those who were Gifted. They spoke of such things as potential, as promise; even, quietly, of power, and knew nothing of any of them. He knew. And would know; it was in him to know. “’Vedra,” he s