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The Barbed Coil

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Overview

Patterns, pictures, pigments: patterns with the magic to transform men into creatures, drive monarchs mad, or reweave destinies across the borders of worlds. Thus: in Garizon a king embarks on an orgy of conquest...in Bay'Zell a warlord-for-hire misses his ship...and in San Diego a woman is found by a ring that seeks blood ...

J. V. Jones's debut trilogy, The Book of Words, became an acclaimed international bestseller, marking this author as a major new voice in modern adventure fantasy. Rich in action, mystery, and intensely realized characters, her newest novel is certain to win J. V. Jones fresh praise and a growing legion of readers.

The Barbed Coil

Tessa McCamfrey has always so avoided roots and relationships that now, as her car winds up the California mountains, she no longer knows if she's driving away from her life, or being driven toward it. When she turns off the road and discovers an abandoned crime scene she also comes across an intricately designed, barbed ring. She slips it on her finger, points pierce her, and Tessa is suddenly in another world.

Here in the colorful, thriving city of Bay'Zell, she'll face both immediate danger and a possible ally: Lord Ravis of Burano, an enigmatic, tormented mercenary. But Tessa's adventure is only beginning. Bay'Zell is on the brink of war; Ravis is the target of fanatical assassins from several lands; and Ravis and the girl from California are both about to be drafted into Camron of Thorn's campaign to avenge his noble father's murder.

Soon Tessa learns that in a place where pictures and patterns hold incredible wizardry, she possesses uncanny ability.

And Tessa's ring, fashioned in the shape of a barbed coil, holds the secret to stopping the murderous images of slaughter emanating from a king's crown.

Sorcerous death stalks her. Her task is to master her unknown power -- or the Barbed Coil will destroy a world.

Editorial Reviews

Like her popular Book of Words trilogy, Jones's first hardcover is a predictable hybrid of fantasy adventure and romance. Contemporary heroine Tessa McCamfrey, purposeless and tormented by an inner-ear disorder, strikes out on a San Diego freeway only to find a magical barbed ring that whisks her to Bay'Zell, port city of a parallel universe. There, rescued from rapists by the irresistible black-clad mercenary strategist Lord Ravis, Tessa devotes her awakening talent for sorcerous illumination to the cause of an orphaned prince, Camron. The prince's realm is threatened by the evil wizard-king Izgard, who seeks omnipotence for himself and land for his demonic followers. Izgard tortures his scribe Ederius into painting magical patterns aimed at destroying his enemies, while Tessa, falling victim to Ravis's potent charms, must quickly master the same complex art to restore order to the realm. The colorful artistic lore imbues Jones's styrofoam cast with a certain spirit, but this fantasy quest lacks mythic resonance, and graphic, seemingly gratuitous violence disrupts the love stories on which the author lavishes so much care. Simultaneous Time Warner audio; author tour. (Sept.) -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of J. V. Jones

J. V. Jones was born in Liverpool, England, in 1963. The daughter of a pub owner, she tended bar from the age of eleven onward. At twenty, she began working for a record label and was part of the Liverpool music scene of the early eighties. She later moved to San Diego, California, where she ran an export business for several years and where she is now the marketing director for an interactive software company. Her interests include music, history, and computer games.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Hachette Book Group USA

Filesize

796.28 KB

Number of Pages

704

eBook ISBN

9780446406840

Excerpt from: The Barbed Coil by J. V. Jones

one
Settling down to enjoy her breakfast, Tessa McCamfrey skimmed over the first few pages of the Union-Tribune. Headlines, photo captions, and advertisements were the only things she stopped for. She could see and read the smaller type of the articles and editorials, but she didn't like to concentrate on the characters for very long. Their size made her nervous.
Leaning over her white, laminated desk, Tessa grabbed her bacon sandwich from its place by the phone. As always before she bit into the toasted English muffin, she took a peek inside, checking that everything was just right. She liked to see the grain of the meat.
Satisfied, she took a bite of the sandwich, then flicked the paper to the next page. "Hmm," she mumbled to herself as her gaze flicked across the headline still no sign of the missing boxes. How long had it been now? A month? Six weeks? They'd probably never turn up again.
Just as Tessa threw the paper on the desk, the phone rang. Her body stiffened for the briefest moment. Three more rings, and then the brand spanking new Sony Deluxe Home Answering System clicked into action. Cassette wheels turned, appropriate lights blinked, then a voice that was not Tessa's own advised the caller, "Our family isn't at home right now. Please leave a message after the tone and we will call you back."
Tessa grimaced. Our family. She really should replace the prerecorded message with one of her own. Even as the thought occurred to her, she knew she'd never change it.
She never could bring herself to do anything that needed to be done.
An efficient beep sounded and was quickly replaced by a soft male voice. "Tessa? . . . Tessa? Are you there?" A pause followed, and when the voice came again it had lost some of its softness to frustration. "Look, I know you're there. I'm coming over. We need to talk."
Tessa was out of her chair and pulling on her shoes before the last sentence started. The bacon sandwich was discarded, car keys located, pocketbook checked for, and wool sweater pulled over her cotton shirt. It was time to go for a walk.
Tessa hated those end-of-relationship talks. She hated the look in the man's eyes, hated herself for failing again. All her relationships had ended the same way, with the same phone call and the same recriminations and guilt. How could she tell the men she felt nothing for them yet couldn't understand why?
There was no way to tell them, which was why she spent her money on a series of successively better answering machines. She couldn't tell them, so she'd screen them out instead. And if, like Mike Hollister, they threatened to come round and confront her in person, she'd simply take off to the woods.
The southern California sun was brighter than Tessa liked. Despite the fact that it was now May and the temperature was in the low seventies, Tessa didn't discard her sweater. She always felt too exposed with just a single layer of fabric between her and the outside world.
Her yellow Honda Civic was a good friend. Unlike those faithless cars in movies that always stalled when the heroine needed to get away, the Civic purred into action the moment the key was turned.
Where to go? Tessa wanted to see some green. Not the chemically enhanced green of land graded and ready for building, or the clipped and cultured green of the Mission Gorge golf course. She wanted some real green. Some living green.
Turning the car onto Texas Street, Tessa headed north from University Heights and east on Highway 8, past lines of hotels, shopping malls, bowling alleys, and driving ranges. It was early Saturday morning, so the freeway was a breeze. The sky was southern California blue: pale, cloudless, hazy. The sunlight filtering through the driver's side window was warm on Tessa's hands and face.
In some deep and secret part of herself, Tessa was glad to be on the run.