Cirrus@Austlit

'[F]ollows the fate the young Catalyst, Glimmer who has strayed far from her destiny - to join the four elemental worlds the Maelstrom is tearing apart. An accidental touch of the Plainsman Memory Stone infects her with emotions for the first time in her life. Glimmer's analytical judgement is instantly distorted and her sudden and desperate attachment to the coldest of the nobles, Kert Sh'hale prompts her to abduct him. They travel to the Fireworld of Haddash where her clumsy seduction, unwelcomed by Kert, allows the Serpent of Death's son to escape.

Glimmer's mother Khatrene and her Guardian lover Talis struggle under the rule of Khatrene's White Twin brother King Mihale who has been compassionless and perverse since his revival from death on the Airworld of Atheyre. The only other remaining Guardian, Pagan, hopes to rekindle his betrothal to Lae, their new religious leader, but her grief at the loss of her son and her husband seems too great a barrier to cross.

On the Waterworld of Magoria (our earth) Vandal, the son Pagan left behind when duty called him back to Ennae, has turned into a young man, bitter at his father for abandoning him. When tragedy steals Vandal's future, his bitterness becomes deadly as he uses his own Guardian power to follow his father into Ennae to exact revenge, intent on destroying the one thing his father loves most.

Overshadowing all is the Maelstrom, inexorable, relentless, pouring elements from one world into another, causing destruction and death on an unprecedented scale. The cetaceans of Magoria and Cliffdwellers of Ennae have ascended to the Airworld of Atheyre, but those races who remain are in the deepest peril.

In the end, Glimmer must overcome her own selfish desires to follow her destiny, giving up everything she holds dear to fight the Serpent of Death and steal a future for the remnants of mankind'.

Source: author's website (www.louisecusack.com).