When the Gods are Silent

Jane Lindskold

4/17/2004

The Traveling Spectacular is a traveling show with gambling booths, exotic animals, and a fighter who takes on the town champion wherever the show stops. Their fighter is unusual, though. She has dark brown eyes, long red hair, and doesn't have the muscular build of a warrior. But Rabble has beat all that have challenged her. She has even learned to not use her sword or try to kill her challenger. The owners of the show, Tambor and Rylus, want to win bets, not kill people.

Hulhc approaches the show after one of Rabble's matches. He makes her a proposition. He wants to travel to the Storm Shroud Mountains. He is an old farmer who remembers when magic was still in the land, before the Loss. He plans to travel to the Mountains to see if he can rediscover the magic. He wants her to come along as a paid mercenary and bodyguard.

Rabble agrees, but advises Hulhc he will need more people than her to accompany him. She suggests he hire Tambor and Rylus as well, plus their healer, Angie. Hulhc considers her suggestion. He not only hires the Traveling Spectacular group, but another bodyguard, Bryax. The group heads west to find the magic. They hope they can cope with the troubles they will meet along the way.

While enjoyable, When the Gods Are Silent remains fairly flat. Rabble is an interesting character, the only one who almost comes to life. The interaction between herself and Bryax is well done. By the end, we discover she is more than she appears. This is a fun, average book to kill time.

You can find more about this book at . Reviewers there give When the Gods Are Silent a higher rating than I do.