Delver

Masters of the Elements #4

by S.A. Bolich

The fourth and final book of the triumphant Masters of the Elements series finds our weary crew of adventurers back where it all began, in Annam Vale, but now Earth Mother herself is restless. One Delver, haunted by his past, holds the key to finding what is wrong, but to use it, he must venture where he swore never to go again...deep underground, to the heart of the Ancient's lair. Into the heart of Fire.

342 pages, Paperback

First published October 31, 2014

About the author

S. A. Bolich is a fulltime freelancer with a number of published fantasy stories as well as many nonfiction articles in print and on the web, covering a wide variety of subjects from horsemanship to travel (usually with an historical slant) to the state of Flash web design. A native of Washington state, she resides there again after serving six years in Germany as a regular army military intelligence officer. She graduated summa cum laude from college with a degree in history, which she confesses was greatly aided by devouring historical fiction of every era and kind through her formative years.

Since then she has taught web design, trained horses, spent a few hectic and thoroughly enjoyable years volunteering with the United States Pony Clubs (kids and horses, oh, my!), worked in global marketing and project management, and finally managed a long-overdue escape from corporate world to write.

Her first published short story earned an honorable mention in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror; other stories have earned honorable mentions from Writers of the Future and 5th place in the Preditors and Editors online poll for best fantasy short (2009). Her first novel, Firedancer, appeared in September 2011.

She is currently working on the sequel to Firedancer, "Windrider."

You can find some of her previous work in:

Beneath Ceaseless Skies (December 2009)

Defending the Future IV: No Man's Land

Wolfsongs 2

On Spec (Fall 2010)

On Spec (Summer 2002)

Science Fiction Trails (March 2009)
Damnation Books (September 2009, a short published as an e-book)

Reviews

[Christie Maurer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd looked forward to another of Sue Bolich's Masters of the Elements stories. She has likeable characters plus nail-biting suspense and real conflict. This one seemed a little slow-paced due to the quantity of essential back-story about her world and ongoing characters to make the storyline understandable to a new reader. Let me stress: This backstory is essential. All through the series I'd wondered how she'd resolve her world dilemma Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. By gosh, she did it! The human pairings of masters of opposing elements (Fire and Air, Water and Fire) learned to work together and overcome their fears to pull it off!
Good job.

[Adrienne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great conclusion to the series

Masters of the Elements explores personal tragedy, self doubt, prejudice, grief and the power of love through four different protagonists. Each one learns about his or her own power while grappling with aspects of the past and present that threaten to cripple them. Watching them all rise to the challenge while learning to lean on each other reminds us of how strong we all are at the core.

Delver starts quietly and builds steadily into a gut-wrenching climax involving all the characters you've come to love and ending the series perfectly.