The Keeper's Six

October 1, 2022

Esther's son has been kidnapped. So she'll have to take her disgraced band of intrepid explorers out into the Beyond, outside the settled worlds of which Earth is a hidden, backwater trade outpost. Her son has been added to a dragon's hoard, but she will get him back. Because that's what she does: walk the spaces between the worlds to pick up magical packages from bizarre places, rescue people and creatures she's not even supposed to see, and get herself and her troop into exciting and dangerous places--and back out again. Esther is addicted to the adrenaline of her work even as she's forced to confront that her days at it are numbered and it puts her friends and loved ones at a bigger risk than she imagined. But she hasn't lost her sense of wonder at it all, and the reader experiences it with her. VERDICT The latest from Elliott (Servant Mage) is a rollicking magical adventure with a beating heart. Recommended for readers who like their portal fantasies to step through actual portals and especially for those who fell in love with the hidden linked worlds of Ilona Andrews's "Innkeepers Chronicles" series.--Marlene Harris

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Starred review from October 17, 2022
Treacherous terrain and even more treacherous trading partners ramp up the stakes of this masterful contemporary fantasy from Elliott (Unconquerable Sun). Esther Green, the hard-nosed leader of a Hex of six skilled trekkers who brave the shifting landscapes of the Beyond, a place between worlds, sticks to her principles on a dangerous job—and her convictions get her Hex’s travel privileges suspended by the Concilium for 10 years. Suspension be damned, however, when her son Daniel, the Keeper of a portal to Earth, is kidnapped by the dragon Zosfadal. Esther reassembles her team and marches to confront the dragon and bargain for her son’s freedom. The deal she strikes with Zosfadal leads Esther and the Hex even deeper into danger, through deadly magical storms, and back to the scene of the original sin that pushed the Concilium to ban the team in the first place. A rare standalone adventure from Elliott, this still manages to pack in an epic amount of worldbuilding. The conflicting goals of the smart, well-shaded cast produce believable confrontations that will appeal to those looking for mature, thoughtful conflict. Readers are sure to be impressed.

November 1, 2022
The latest novel from the prolific Elliott (Servant Mage, 2022) creates a new fantasy setting where six-person teams known as "Hexes" travel between worlds via the mysterious otherworld known as the Beyond, where travel and commerce are regulated by the dragon-run Concilium. Esther, the leader of a recently suspended Hex, calls together the estranged members of her team when her son, their Keeper, is kidnapped. It turns out that Daniel has been abducted not out of revenge, but as a means of pressuring the Hex to return Daniel's spouse Kai, a dragon-like humanoid, to the place the team originally rescued them from. Esther must try and find out who or what wants Kai while keeping both them and Daniel safe. Elliott is an old hand at fantasy world building, sketching out an entire new setting quickly and capably, and this tale should satisfy existing fans of her longer work and new readers alike. Recommended for readers who prefer their fantasy filled with action, or for those looking for a more novel version of "Earth as the backwater of a mystical universe"-style settings.

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