Magic has deserted the men, the Sun Mages, of the Yellow City. No one knows why or how the laws of magic have changed. Now power flows only from the hands of women. Untrained and untried, the women's power is still not stable enough to be a viable help to a country plagued by drought, hordes of insects and rats and the general uneasiness at the change. Now new assaults have begun on the populace. Gigantic sea creatures rise from the waters and destroy whole villages. And something less tangible has risen, something dark, something better suited to the world of dreams and nightmares. A shadow falls on the people. Seductive and insidious, it lures them with promises of euphoria, and when they are far too entangled in the web to escape, dealing them death.

Raeshaldis is one of a small handful of women just learning how to harness her power. Shaldis had been cast out by her family two years before when they realized she was one of the Crafty Women. Now there's been an attempt on the life of her grandfather, a vicious bully she grew up loathing. Nevertheless, for the sake of her family, she returns home to help. Once there, she's caught in a tangle of power plays and deception. Shaldis realizes that once she's helped her family, she must escape or remain bound to them for the rest of her days.

In the Yellow City, a group of landchiefs have decreed the king must reconsecrate himself to the gods in the Ceremony of the King's Jubilee. A series of deadly trials will be held to prove he's truly the king chosen by the gods. Oryn, the king, realizes that when he took the tests the first time, he was aided by the magic of the Sun Mages. So far, not one of the Crafty Women has the power to keep him alive through the trials he must face. Oryn suspects that at least some of the land chiefs have come to the same conclusion. If Oryn dies during the trials, the land will be ripped apart. Fighting will erupt with chiefs battling for the land.

The Raven Sisters know they need to work together to be successful in their endeavors to save the king and heal the land, but circumstances send each on a different path -- a path they must all walk alone and in fear. Aid comes from new and unsuspected quarters, as does betrayal and death. One of them will be strong enough to face the Dreamshadow. One will claim the power to save the king, if only she can get to him in time. One will lie helpless as the man she cares most for faces almost certain death. However, in the end, they will all come together in the CIRCLE OF THE MOON and claim their rightful powers.

This is a follow-up to Hambly's SISTERS OF THE RAVEN. Both books are powerful celebrations of women realizing their own power and self-worth. CIRCLE OF THE MOON is self- contained and doesn't leave you with a "to be continued..." although you know it will be, as there are still more stories of the Crafty Women yet to be told. These two books are Hambly's best fantasies in years.

Book Summary

Returning to the wondrous world of Sisters of the Raven, Barbara Hambly presents a suspenseful and adventurous new novel. Now the survival of the Yellow City depends on a fledgling group of women who must develop their own magic abilities—before the demons of the past return to kill again…The laws of magic have changed—no one knows how or why. And with that change, new perils have arisen: deadly water-monsters from the depths of the Seven Lakes and a plague of madness in the desert. In the strongholds of human safety, anger and greed bloom as nobles and landchiefs fight for power. Raeshaldis, the only woman formally trained in the old systems of male magic, allies herself with the beautiful concubine Summerchild to found the Circle of the Moon—a motley group of women whose powers are unknown and unreliable. Faced with an attempt by the landchiefs to oust the King and with the efforts of her family to re-enslave her, Raeshaldis must play a deadly guessing-game with untested spells and questionable allies, while an even more terrible threat awaits...