From the bleak and arid land in The Crystal Desert, Julia Gray sweeps us on to a desert of a different kind: the bleak, frozen wastes of The Red Glacier. She doesn’t belabour the descriptions, but the change in scenery is vividly painted.

Once again, Terrel is searching for an elemental, an ancient, powerful and incomprehensibly non-human creature. Three times now he’s met and helped one of these beings, persuading them not to destroy the land in return for using his inate healing abilities. This time, however, the presence in the frozen wastes seems insane beyond helping…

There’s a lot of similarities in these books: the basic plot isn’t changing much. And yet somehow each evening I find myself slipping easily into Terrel’s world, where the alignments of the four moons shape men’s thoughts and their destinies.

A solidly 4-star series so far. Hoping the final volume can maintain that rating! :)