Prelude to Nevaeh Part Two of David Wind’s fascinating medieval fantasy adventure Tales of Nevaeh is an elegantly and beautifully written piece that places the reader into a nostalgic world of honour, with superb fighting scenes. This part focuses on Roth’s fighting skills, profound history, and rising status amongst the powerful women and men of his age, and even delves into his unusual intuitive abilities. Roth’s abilities will be in dire need when what appears to be a series of unconnected attacks may represent something far more sinister for Nevaeh.

I recommend reading this part immediately after reading Part One because then Roth’s background will still be fresh in the mind and the short stories do chronologically follow on, even though they have different themes. It is my hope that more of these preludes will be released and perhaps they will eventually connect to create a larger prequel to the first book Born to Magic.

Criticism: Roth’s alliances with countrymen were sometimes made too easily or conveniently, though I understand this may have been done for the purpose of highlighting the threat posed by the real enemies. Circumstances rendered citizens of Nevaeh innocent for their dark impulses, instead attributing these to enemy sorcery, but it might have been nice if the source of human conflict were not so quickly discovered. There weren’t too many typographical errors, but there were at the onset of the story and at its culmination.

Overall Part Two had amazing fighting scenes, and I enjoyed reading about Roth’s growing importance to Kings and Queens when he had not been long on Nevaeh, before he became High King. Extremely well-written, and I wouldn’t hesitate to read Prelude to Nevaeh Part Three.