Exodus of the Xandim

Chronicles of the Xandim #2

by Maggie Furey

Return to the lands of Aurian. Return to a time when even the land was a different shape. When the fabled Artefacts of Power were shaped. And when a race were fighting for freedom ...Corisand, shaman of the Xandim, is locked in a desperate fight to free her tribe from slavery, accompanied by her friend, the blind Wizard Iriana. They have achieved the first step; the recovery of the powerful Fialan stone, but now the evil Magefolk are plotting a ruinous war, and the Archwizard Cyran wants to take the stone and use it as a weapon. Will Corisand succeed in mastering the enigmatic Fialan before she and her people are swept up in a conflict that that will change the world forever? Maggie Furey's new series is the perfect introduction to the richness and wonder of Aurian - a world like no other. It tells the story of the genesis of the Artefacts of Power and charts the epic struggle for freedom of cursed people. This is fantasy at its purest and most magical. The Xandim are a people enslaved by the fey and powerful Phaerie, masters of the Old Magic. They were trapped in their horse forms for so long they forgot their human shapes, until their shaman, Windeye, found a way to rouse some of his people and bring them back to their humanity. But his quest to free his people is not over indeed, in this second novel of the trilogy, the fight for freedom really begins.

Genres: Fantasy

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Maggie Furey was born in North East England and spent most of her adult life residing in County Wicklow, Ireland. She was a qualified teacher, but has also reviewed books on BBC Radio Newcastle, been an advisor in the Durham Reading Resources Centre and organized children's book fairs.

Reviews

['Lana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am utterly biased when it comes to Maggie Furey. Her Artefacts of Power quartet was my first real array into the fantasy genre. I enjoyed how each chapter started with a new character's storyline and everything fell into place. I never lost track of a character and even with maturity, I enjoy this type of storytelling.

The Exodus of the Xandim takes place prior to the Artefacts books; these characters are the gods used in the vernacular and how the Phaerie magick an entire race into their equine forms for their own purposes. Furey's books don't seem forced and her characters are allowed to develop.

I had to draw this out over two days.

2021 - At the time I read this book, I was not aware it would be her last. Her final trilogy remains unfinished.

[Franziska · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bittersweet, brutal and brilliant.

I think those three words sum up the story pretty well, for me at least. Having loved Heritage, I came to Exodus brimming with excitement and anticipation, and I am happy to say that I was not disappointed.

As in Heritage, Furey writes with grace and charm, painting a glorious portrait of her world through intimate descriptions and strong, lively characters. Admittedly, at times the descriptions do get a little excessive, but all in all I adored the detail. And towards the end of the book, I understood the reason for her painstaking imagery: when Eliorand vanishes and Tyrineld is swallowed up by the ocean, I could mourn for the two great cities, for I had been given such a vivid account of their beauty that it was saddening to see them go.

I must mention a pet peeve here, though, which has little to do with the story itself. I blame whoever proofread this book, because again (I saw it in Heritage, and was hoping that Exodus would have improved) there remain little typesetting errors on the pages that quite disrupt the flow of the narration. Punctuation mistakes, mostly - here and there a full stop would be missing at the end of a paragraph, or a double speech mark would be used instead of a single - but even some of the words were wrong. 'Our' was typed as 'out', 'then' as 'them' and worse still, 'only' instead of 'not'. It made the text confusing at times; if that proofreader had been a little more observant, this could have been avoided.

But as I said, that has nothing to do with Furey's work. It was interesting to watch the characters, first introduced in Heritage, develop and grow in Exodus. Aelwen, in particular, piqued my interest. Unlike others, she has not had any of her friends or family killed (throughout most of the novel, anyway), and so her suffering might be easy to overlook, but the way she agonizes over the Xandim and the planned fate of the Phaerie held my sympathy. One of the most touching scenes in the book, I felt, was when she comes face to face with the Xandim, and they all express their love for her.

Tiolani was something of a disappointment as she regressed into the spoilt, selfish brat that she was in Heritage. I had been hoping for more from her - and, speaking of hope, I definitely had not been hoping for more of Chiannala. There was far too much of her for my liking. I didn't much appreciate Avithan's change in attitude either; I spent the entire story longing for his return only to frown at his sulky, jerk-like behaviour. It is understandable, though, that he would feel left out, and I give Furey points for character development here...And yet, I would also like to take them away again, because it seems as though the breakthrough between Avithan and Iriana in Heritage has disappeared in Exodus. Why is the former so controlling again? Why is Iriana so resistant to his aid again? They seemed to reach an understanding in the first book which is completely forgotten about in the second, merely, it appears, so that Iriana can end up with Taine.

Taine. Ah, Taine. I was glad to see him have more of a role in Exodus; he is an awesome character, and yet I wish his ending had been a little different. Yes, the building of the relationship between him and Iriana is well done, nice and gradual, but I do wish he had stayed with Aelwen. This is purely personal preference, being as big on loyalty as I am; I just can't help feeling that he made a better couple with the Hemifae than he now does with the Wizard. For years and years Aelwen and Taine have been loving each other - she thinking of him every day, so much that Corisand becomes sick of the topic; he watching her from afar - and then suddenly, though they reunite so joyfully, they find that they are better suited to other people. What was that all about? I admit I enjoyed reading Taine's scenes with Iriana, and I can see why she would fall in love with him, but I did so like him calling her "little sister".

On to plot, or I'll continue mourning over what should have been for the rest of this review. The story starts out somewhat slowly - it is ages before the reader meets up with Corisand and Iriana again - and I was surprised to find Yinze as the opening character, but I have to say it was a pleasant surprise. I had wanted to know more about him, and I enjoyed his little tale up in Aerillia. After that, though, I was impatient to get back to the main characters, and (though I've said it before, I'll say it again) I did not like having to get past Chiannala's narrative first. Sheesh, everywhere the girl goes, she's a nuisance. But once the story picks up, it picks up in style. It didn't take long for me to become gripped, and the ending is positively epic! Something I also appreciate is that Exodus finished with the Cailleach, just as Heritage started with her. I was hoping for that, and the symmetry is pleasing.

I was glad that Dael got his happily-ever-after. In fact, I was satisfied with almost everyone's fates. I have not read the Aurian series (although I intend to after this), and I had no idea how this prequel series was going to end up. Credit again to Maggie Furey: she kept me guessing until the end (I spent the entire book terrified that Taine was going to die - my favourites usually do). But anyway, from Athina's vision in Heritage I knew that drastic changes were going to happen in that world by the end of Exodus, and I waited nervously to know how bad it would be.

It is bad enough. I had thought that Eliorand would be the city to vanish; I did not expect Tyrineld as well. I had thought that the Leviathan, or the Skyfolk or Dragons, would be the race to perish; I did not expect the Phaerie. It made me sad to reflect on the splendour of their opening scenes in Heritage - that they should have met such a fate in Exodus. There is a lot of death, depressing enough, though Cyran's was the one that really upset me. But overall, it was not as bad as I had believed it would be. All the main characters, save Tiolani, survive. Some people need main characters to die in order for a book to be good; I am not one of those. Too much death and I switch off.

There are a few loose ends in Exodus. I was irritated not to find out the future of Yinze and Kea, not to meet Challan again, and not to know what becomes of Incondor and Chiannala - though I suspect those last two may have some bearing on Aurian. Most of all, I was annoyed that Iriana - and Furey - seem to forget that Iriana had three other animals in Tyrineld. Yes, she gets Bear back, but what about Star the hawk and the two magpies? Honestly.

What am I trying to say overall about Exodus of the Xandim? I suppose I did sum it up in my first line. It is bittersweet: a tale of love, friendship, betrayal and loss; poor Avithan must struggle to rebuild a civilization while coming to terms with the death of his parents and facing the fact that the girl he loves is going off with another man. It is brutal: I never did get quite used to the treatment of humans, and those Dwelven are something else - not to mention the horrific demolition of Tyrineld. It is brilliant: Furey's writing is splendid, her characters engaging, and the plot truly exciting. I can't wait to move on to Aurian!

[Alayne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great finale to the Xandim Chronicles! I thoroughly enjoyed this book, although I did feel that the subplot with Chiannala and Incondor was really unnecessary and just padded the book. There were a lot of errors that should have been picked up in proofing, but altogether a terrific story.

[Holly Sinclair · Rating 5 out of 5]

Complicatedly exciting

Maggie’s usual mass of individual story’s that are well written, that conclude with each coming together spectacularly. My only issue with her writing is I get a little ‘book hangover’ when she moves from one enthralling storyline to progress another😁

[J.F.R. Coates · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Maggie Furey's writing, and this book was no exception. However, I must admit I was left a little underwhelmed with the plot of Exodus, especially as many key events told in Artefacts of Power appear to have been retconned in Exodus.
In AoP we were told that the Cataclysm was brought about because of the folly of Incondor and Chiannala,so I was very excited to see what these two characters had to offer the story after being introduced, but we got nothing. They were little more than bit-part characters who had next to no involvement with the main plot.
We were also told in AoP that during the Cataclysm a number of Wizards (Iriana, Chathak, Yinze, Ionor), were sent beyond the wolrd (to the Callieach) so that some of Wizard-kind would survive the terrifying war that threatened to destroy the world. Again. This never happened.
I was also expecting a lot more from Ghabal. His destruction of Tyrineld almost seemed to be tacked on as an afterthought to the story, when it really should have been the monumental climax. The defeat of Hellorin seemed to serve more as the story's climax than Ghabal's attack.

Yes, I love Maggie Furey. Yes, she is one of my favourite authors. Yes, this is a well-written book. But there are far too many major inconsistencies with the world established in AoP for me to ignore.

[Susan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Corisand, shaman of the Xandim, is locked in a desperate fight to free her tribe from slavery, accompanied by her friend, the blind Wizard Iriana. They have achieved the first step; the recovery of the powerful Fialan stone, but now the evil Magefolk are plotting a ruinous war, and the Archwizard Cyran wants to take the stone and use it as a weapon. Will Corisand succeed in mastering the enigmatic Fialan before she and her people are swept up in a conflict that that will change the world for ever?

A very disappointing sequel to the 'Heritage of the Xandim'. There were so many interlinking stories that I never really got truly involved in any of them. All too neat and tidy really.