ROC (Paperback), ISBN 0-451-45858-3
Neil Gaiman said of this book, "Caitlin Kiernan is the poet and bard of the wasted and lost." Since I consider myself neither, and since I dislike third person/present tense narration, you might want to take my criticisms of Threshold with a pinch of salt.

However, I really enjoy fresh, innovative use of the English language. Kiernan excels in this. She mates words in a way that gives descriptions an entirely new slant. I gladly would have given her four crescents for that gift -- except I started reading for the word usage instead of becoming engaged in the story. I do love the way the author writes.

Unfortunately, my involvement with the language failed to compensate for an unlikable protagonist, a plot that gives new meaning to the phrase "murky and difficult to follow," and a horror that might have been horrible if only I could've comprehended it.

As nearly as I can gather, after the death of her father, Chance Matthews feels as if everyone as left her, and she will always be alone. That said, she doesn't want a strange albino girl coming into her life claiming she needs Chance's help to battle the monsters an angel demanded she defeat.

Belief in monsters and angels simply don't figure on Chance's list of things to do. But among the artifacts left by her geologist grandparents rests the fossil of a creature that couldn't have existed. But it did -- and just possibly still does.

Quite knowledgeable about her subject, the author, very kindly, included a glossary of terms used in paleontology and geology. I needed the glossary and consulted it more than once.

Patricia L. White

Patricia Lucas White's latest historical novel, To Last a Lifetime, was an Eppie finalist for 2003. To Last a Lifetime and two of her fantasy romances, the Sapphire Award-winning A Wizard Scorned and The Godmother Sanction, can be ordered through Hard Shell Word Factory. Her recent contemporary, PS, I've Taken a Lover, is available from Lionhearted Books.

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