The Time of the Dark by Barbara Hambly

[meganbmoore]

Gil Patterson is a candidate for a Ph.D. in Medieval History at UCLA who is very focused and driven. She also has frighteningly realistic dreams where the panicked citizens of a medieval land are preparing for the arrival of an ancient enemy. She learns these dreams are real when she meets Ingold, a wizard from Darwath, the land she’s had dreams of, who is protecting its infant prince, Altir. The two are soon joined by Rudy, a biker and artist who seems to be a loser, and the two young Americans return to Darwath with Ingold and Altir by accident when they try to save Ingold from an attack. Soon, they learn that the people of Darwath are preparing for an attack by the Dark, a race that attacks every 3000 years, and they get caught up in their affairs, and their exodus from their home as they move to what they hope is a safe haven.

This is, I think, Hambly’s first novel, and it shows, though not in a bad way. There are many elements here that Hambly does well, but that she later does much better in Windrose Chronicles and the Sun Wolf and Starhawk books. (And other books, too, but I’ve only read those two series and Dragonsbane before this.) As is usual for Hambly, a lot of the strength is in the charming characters, most of which do not fit safely within the typical fantasy norms. Here, the cold scholar becomes a warrior engrossed in the camaraderie of a guard’s life, but without undermining her previous life, and the free thinking artist becomes a magician, only to learn that it may not be quite as amazing as he thought, and that his “free thinking” can also lead to unfounded prejudice. Hambly also seems to like playing around with the more “minor” characters of fantasy fiction, especially the women. Here, the noble regent is a jerk, and the inexperienced young queen who is initially dismissed is actually smart and well grounded, and has loved and been hurt very deeply.