This clown must face the penalty for his murderous treason. Except he always seems to be two giant steps ahead of them… scheming jester uses his magic to escape and kidnaps her best friend, he nearly sends Eloise to a soggy grave at the bottom of a waterfall.
Barely surviving the chaos and vowing to rescue her companion, Eloise and her remaining party trek through unfamiliar territory on the hunt for any clue to the conniving criminal’s whereabouts. But when they’re captured by a society of warrior horses, Eloise discovers the trail has gone cold… and the scoundrel could be circling back for revenge.
Can she bring the fool to his fate and stop him from seizing control of the entire realm?
The Light Bearer is the wickedly witty third book in The Western Lands and All That Really Matters humorous fantasy series. If you like endearing casts, dastardly villains, and pun-filled wordplay, then you’ll love Andrew Einspruch’s ripping yarn.
Buy The Light Bearer to plunge into an action-packed destiny today!
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Book 3 in this series continues on with a rescue mission for Jerome, the champion of Princess Eloise. Whilst it’s fast-paced and entertaining, it also teaches the importance of loyalty and kindness. I love the world, the talking animals and the wonderful animal/human interaction. A great read and a wonderful way to just relax and enjoy a really good book.
Animals, friendship: fast-moving, thoughtful fun
The Light Bearer develops the playful, distinctive but highly recognisable world which Einspruch has crafted in his first two books (plus prequels). It’s fast-moving plot full of the unexpected. Like his other novels, it pokes gentle and hilarious fun at creed and stripe – Einspruch is definitely an equal-opportunity satirist. It’s packed with hilarious place-names and jokes.
The heart of this novel for me was the moving description of a wild horse society, reflecting perhaps the fact that the author does in fact live with a herd of equine kind. The strong female protagonist takes a significant inner journey, accompanied by a tantalising suggestion of strong magic. Friendships deepen and baddies (spoiler alert) may eventually reach their come-uppeance.
This wonderful sequel was a really satisfying read. I devoured it early, having got my hands on a preview copy.
Would work as a stand-alone, but I recommend reading books 1 & 2 for maximum enjoyment.
Being the Light Bearer turns out to be rather a heavy task for Princess Eloise Hydra Gumball III, heir to the Western Lands and All that Really Matters. When the scheming and villainous court jester known as Turpy escapes custody, she and her companions trace him to the neighboring land known as ‘the Central Carbuncle’ and encounter the kingdom of equines and the Khan their ruler. Unexpected aid of a mystical variety allows her to safely let the great enigma save her life more than once. It isn’t smooth sailing; it’s destiny.
Our Princess Eloise Hydra Gumball III, Future Ruler and Heir to the Western Lands and All that Matters, is finally growing in wisdom (and travelling with a Wombat seer * might have helped a bit too). In The Light Bearer, Book 3 of Andrew Einspruch’s current fantasy series, we join the young heir to the Queendom of the Western lands on an unexpectedly wild adventure in her efforts to get home to a warm bath and a hairbrush that works. She has rescued her younger sister, Johanna, from a dodgy marriage and an even dodgier court jester. Together they have been “fogged” and should have died but instead lived to escape the purple fog that had killed everyone and everything else for 200 years. In the process, our Princesses discovers its menacing source inside a stone with its spell to eat all spells – a mini black hole for consuming magic itself. Eloise finds herself the reluctant recipient of the stone (ending The Spell) and begins her personal experience of what it means to be the new bearer of The Light. Now it is her turn to learn that ‘personal’ is not the same as ‘important’ when it comes to being both heir to her Mother’s throne and the new Light Bearer. Eloise is shocked when her sister decides to remain behind in the North to help with the aftermath of their Uncle, The King’s, very timely death. Eloise was supposed to bring her sister back home; it was the whole reason for this mad journey in the first place. Now what?
I found it fascinating to watch how Einspruch twists the focus of the quest once again by means of the enigmatic Turpy (our villain in diamond-patterned pantaloons). Turpy, the would-be usurper and all-round nasty piece of work, must be transported back to the Westie Queen for sentencing. It is Eloise who must make this happen. She is afraid. Afraid of the journey, afraid of what her Mother the Queen will say when she finally does get home, and most of all she is afraid of the stone at her side that contains The Light because it keeps sending her communications in punctuation…punctuation for Çalaht’s sing-for-her-supper’s sake! Fortunately, there are others who know more and can assist her quest (even if they do take half a day to say hello and goodbye to according to the specific cultural protocols of belonging to the herd who call themselves “the Us”).
So much happens to Eloise and her beloved companions on the hectic helter-skelter of a journey home that she covers almost all her known world, seeing much of the country that really-does-not-matter (until it does), along the way. Once again we are witness to the wonderful vegetarian meals we have come to appreciate that will satiate this troop, we stand with them in awe of the strange customs of “the Us” and learn a thing or three about shamanic rites done equine style. Our heroine’s accidents and setbacks remind us that magic always demands a price, and finally, we share the biggest shock of all waiting for our heroine after her final bolt headlong for home.
In other words, Book 3 of Einspruch’s series is a riot, a romp, a riddle and resoundingly good read. I highly recommend you indulge for yourself.
* As you know, if you have already read ‘The Wombanditos’, the collective noun for wombats is a ‘wisdom of wombats’