What do you think?
Rate this book
Crossroads #3
The Healing of Crossroads
Since she has become Keeper of the Book of Strangeways, BJ spends her days traveling throughout different realms, both real and imagined. On her journeys, she finds that outside of Crossroads, the creatures of myth and magic are falling ill. To save them, she must lure them back, to where they can be cared for and healed. But in doing so, BJ has opened a new road into Crossroads--and the land she loves in now in dire danger from the evil that has followed her home.
321 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1996
101 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
June 29, 2012
A much stronger book than the last one, Under the Healing Sign. This is an adequate stopping point, but I feel like the author wasn't done with these characters. If he was, why introduce Frieda and Andy? (Frieda being a vet student and sometimes-narrator of this book, Andy being B.J.'s cousin who probably has Huntington's chorea and is coming to her alma mater to study physics.)
This is also problematic in a couple of ways. B.J. learns belatedly that her lover is By Renesmee-Jacob logic, this should bother me more than it does. But Stefan is a faun, not a human, and some part of my brain wants to make excuses. Like: he has life experiences! He's fought in wars, been involuntarily addicted to morphine and recovered from that addiction, been a shepherd (you think that doesn't sound like much, you try caring for a flock of sheep on your own), gone to college. Also, there is volition there, none of this imprinting nonsense, and none of the implication that Stefan is a present for B.J., or vice versa. So maybe it really is different. Curiously, the only female faun we see, Melina, is a born-again Christian, i.e. chaste. I think this series maybe has some inadvertent mixed messages.
(Example: The latter at least might have been explored in further sequels, but we'll probably never know now. (Stupid Ace, always taking a chance on nifty niche-appeal series and then dumping them later. At least this seems like a pattern that is still in operation there.) But there are a lot of competent women in this series, so it is not an alloyed "females dumb and useless" thing. Far from it.
I like this series because it's an interesting look at what it is to be human and fallible but in a position where nobody's going to save the world but you. There are no flawless heroes here.
This is also problematic in a couple of ways. B.J. learns belatedly that her lover is By Renesmee-Jacob logic, this should bother me more than it does. But Stefan is a faun, not a human, and some part of my brain wants to make excuses. Like: he has life experiences! He's fought in wars, been involuntarily addicted to morphine and recovered from that addiction, been a shepherd (you think that doesn't sound like much, you try caring for a flock of sheep on your own), gone to college. Also, there is volition there, none of this imprinting nonsense, and none of the implication that Stefan is a present for B.J., or vice versa. So maybe it really is different. Curiously, the only female faun we see, Melina, is a born-again Christian, i.e. chaste. I think this series maybe has some inadvertent mixed messages.
(Example: The latter at least might have been explored in further sequels, but we'll probably never know now. (Stupid Ace, always taking a chance on nifty niche-appeal series and then dumping them later. At least this seems like a pattern that is still in operation there.) But there are a lot of competent women in this series, so it is not an alloyed "females dumb and useless" thing. Far from it.
I like this series because it's an interesting look at what it is to be human and fallible but in a position where nobody's going to save the world but you. There are no flawless heroes here.
May 16, 2022
Не могу сказать, что это достойное завершение трилогии. Автор идет по накатанному маршруту - почти всю книгу ничего не происходит, потом финальная битва и финиш. Первая книга поражала воображение, потому что мир, придуманный автором, замечателен, сама идея Перекрестка - так прекрасна и правильна. Вторая была более-менее. В третьей части недоумение возрастает от страницы к странице. Парочка персонажей, появившихся только в третьей части, - однозначно ни к селу, ни к городу. Что они здесь делают, какой великий смысл в них заключен - мне так и осталось непонятным. Положительная оценка осталась, ибо все-таки герои очень полюбились (и оценка не имеет никакого отношения к художественным достоинствам книги). А теперь будут мои возмущения по поводу самой большой загадки, т.е. финала книги. Спойлеры, я предупредила.
Ну, что это, блин, за поведение Бидж по отношению с Стефану? Да вы шутите? Ты работаешь ветеринаром в мифическом мире, лечишь единорогов, дружишь с грифонами... спишь с фавном, и потом тебя вдруг начинает волновать, что ему пять годиков?! И что их вид развивается быстрее, чем твой? Ну, ладно, она может чувствовать себя обворованной, потому что она не знала, что по сути детства у ее ребенка будет всего годик, но какую роль может играть возраст Стефана? Несомненно, его в этой книге мало и он не принимает особого участия в жизни Бидж, но разве на то нет причин? Разве он не согласен все бросить, чтобы быть с Бидж и их дочерью? Фуф! Выговорилась. Честно, автор - дурак. Уверена, что уйма женских сердец была разбита таким финалом.
7 / 10
Ну, что это, блин, за поведение Бидж по отношению с Стефану? Да вы шутите? Ты работаешь ветеринаром в мифическом мире, лечишь единорогов, дружишь с грифонами... спишь с фавном, и потом тебя вдруг начинает волновать, что ему пять годиков?! И что их вид развивается быстрее, чем твой? Ну, ладно, она может чувствовать себя обворованной, потому что она не знала, что по сути детства у ее ребенка будет всего годик, но какую роль может играть возраст Стефана? Несомненно, его в этой книге мало и он не принимает особого участия в жизни Бидж, но разве на то нет причин? Разве он не согласен все бросить, чтобы быть с Бидж и их дочерью? Фуф! Выговорилась. Честно, автор - дурак. Уверена, что уйма женских сердец была разбита таким финалом.
7 / 10
June 1, 2017
What a very weird book with SO VERY MUCH going on. But a lot of what there is is fun! If often confusing! Certainly it's very more-ish, though.
(And then there's the entire Gek... everything. That whole plotline. I have some other quibbles -- I would have liked a few more things spelled out about the Stefan plotline, I have some serious questions about the griffins, I'm not sure what the deal was with Matt -- but that's the big one. Oh, and Needs More Gredya, but there sure was a lot of other plot going on, and I can't really fault her for taking one look at it and deciding to be elsewhere for a while.)
(And then there's the entire Gek... everything. That whole plotline. I have some other quibbles -- I would have liked a few more things spelled out about the Stefan plotline, I have some serious questions about the griffins, I'm not sure what the deal was with Matt -- but that's the big one. Oh, and Needs More Gredya, but there sure was a lot of other plot going on, and I can't really fault her for taking one look at it and deciding to be elsewhere for a while.)
June 17, 2023
It's been years since I last read this book. It was a bit disorienting to fit the story into what I remember of the two books that precede this one, but in the end not a big deal. It's a fun story, fast-paced, with the vet bits that I skipped over.
It's a little thin on emotional depth, though, even when dealing with things like slavery and relationships.
Overall, though, a delightful fantasy adventure that makes me wish I could open a road to Crossroads.
It's a little thin on emotional depth, though, even when dealing with things like slavery and relationships.
Overall, though, a delightful fantasy adventure that makes me wish I could open a road to Crossroads.
October 31, 2014
Having killed Morgan, BJ is prepared to settle into a more mundane life of caring for animals. But the problems she introduced in the last book continue to plague her. She has to go after all the creatures she moved out and try to build a new ecosystem. Everything that was getting pregnant in the last book is now having babies. And BJ herself is having a small complication in her relationship with Stefan.
The attempt to deal with an ecosystem yet talk only about maybe four species still amused me. It feels like a very small world. The final enemies didn't surprise me, but I was disappointed the book thought it had to end with yet another invasion of Crossroads. Can't the place get by without an invasion every few months? If the main problems hadn't been an invasion, I think it would've worked a lot better.
And some of the critters that moved out had truly strange problems. I can't for the life of me understand how the centaurs had been captured and forced to serve. Their entire mindset is against slavery of any kind; I can't see them settling in rather than revolting until they're all dead.
The third thing that really bugged me was BJ's relationship with Stefan. She gets pregnant by him, has the baby, and then dumps him like a week after childbirth because... he's too young for her? There's no real reasoning. There's not nearly the time spent on it as there was in the first book when BJ was justifying to herself why she couldn't start a relationship with him.
On the other hand, there's a lot more of the young griffins. They were the highlight of the book. They're so smart, but like the Griffin says at the end, largely self-read. Everything they know they read from books. This gives them some rather interesting ideas about how the world works.
Overall the series is a good look at veterinary medicine, though as a fantasy it falls rather flat. I'm glad I got the set, as I haven't read enough books where gryphons are used, much less ones where they end intelligent and as the main characters. For general reading, though, I rate this one Neutral.
The attempt to deal with an ecosystem yet talk only about maybe four species still amused me. It feels like a very small world. The final enemies didn't surprise me, but I was disappointed the book thought it had to end with yet another invasion of Crossroads. Can't the place get by without an invasion every few months? If the main problems hadn't been an invasion, I think it would've worked a lot better.
And some of the critters that moved out had truly strange problems. I can't for the life of me understand how the centaurs had been captured and forced to serve. Their entire mindset is against slavery of any kind; I can't see them settling in rather than revolting until they're all dead.
The third thing that really bugged me was BJ's relationship with Stefan. She gets pregnant by him, has the baby, and then dumps him like a week after childbirth because... he's too young for her? There's no real reasoning. There's not nearly the time spent on it as there was in the first book when BJ was justifying to herself why she couldn't start a relationship with him.
On the other hand, there's a lot more of the young griffins. They were the highlight of the book. They're so smart, but like the Griffin says at the end, largely self-read. Everything they know they read from books. This gives them some rather interesting ideas about how the world works.
Overall the series is a good look at veterinary medicine, though as a fantasy it falls rather flat. I'm glad I got the set, as I haven't read enough books where gryphons are used, much less ones where they end intelligent and as the main characters. For general reading, though, I rate this one Neutral.
April 5, 2025
Once again, this is one of my favorite series no matter how much it hurts me.
It feels very different from the first two books, but BJ (still our main viewpoint character despite a couple of chapters in Frieda's POV) is no longer a vet student struggling with grief and a terminal diagnosis, she's the Stepmother Goddess of Crossroads. Her perspective on everything is different. Plus, we get a new crop of ambulatory rotation students with their own issues that Crossroads may or may not be able to help with, and the lingering aftereffects of the war with Morgan. Reading it at age 20ish, it felt like a lot. Reading it at 46 with BJ at 28, I kept groaning "You're a baby and shouldn't have to be in charge!" And there are the young griffins. My heart.
I wonder a little if maybe there were meant to be four books, then the publisher decided to make it into a trilogy. The character of Dyvedd and his relationship with Fiona seems...rushed, somehow, and I would have liked to see him try out farming and maybe find someone who knew about his father. I also would have loved to see the reintroduction into Crossroads of the other species that had to be evacuated, and get some closure on Gredya and Bambi's pregnancies.
Noted that there is body horror of two types in this story, and I am spoiling them both here. One is the pure horror of the ravaged unicorn, the carnage on the dodo island, and the battle when BJ realizes what she's brought into Crossroads with the Grym. And the other is BJ's pregnancy, the accelerated gestation that comes with having a half-faun baby, the necessary caesarian birth, and BJ's realization that the father of her child is five years old and her daughter is going to grow up almost as fast.
It feels very different from the first two books, but BJ (still our main viewpoint character despite a couple of chapters in Frieda's POV) is no longer a vet student struggling with grief and a terminal diagnosis, she's the Stepmother Goddess of Crossroads. Her perspective on everything is different. Plus, we get a new crop of ambulatory rotation students with their own issues that Crossroads may or may not be able to help with, and the lingering aftereffects of the war with Morgan. Reading it at age 20ish, it felt like a lot. Reading it at 46 with BJ at 28, I kept groaning "You're a baby and shouldn't have to be in charge!" And there are the young griffins. My heart.
I wonder a little if maybe there were meant to be four books, then the publisher decided to make it into a trilogy. The character of Dyvedd and his relationship with Fiona seems...rushed, somehow, and I would have liked to see him try out farming and maybe find someone who knew about his father. I also would have loved to see the reintroduction into Crossroads of the other species that had to be evacuated, and get some closure on Gredya and Bambi's pregnancies.
Noted that there is body horror of two types in this story, and I am spoiling them both here. One is the pure horror of the ravaged unicorn, the carnage on the dodo island, and the battle when BJ realizes what she's brought into Crossroads with the Grym. And the other is BJ's pregnancy, the accelerated gestation that comes with having a half-faun baby, the necessary caesarian birth, and BJ's realization that the father of her child is five years old and her daughter is going to grow up almost as fast.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 14, 2009
A more accurate review would be a 1.5. I didn't HATTE it, but didn't enjoy it all that much. BJ Vaughn, vet to the animal or part-animal citizens of Crossroads, needs to get them back, because the other worlds they were exiled to (for their own safety) are making it impossible for them to reproduce safely.
BJ turns into a blithering idiot. She irresponsibly brings new species in without considering how they will fit in to the ecology/geography of the Country. She takes stupid personal risks and makes tons of bad decisions. Stein and the Griffin are always commenting how smart she is and how she sees the meta-ideas behind what's really going on, but I don't see it.
The last chapter just flabbergasted me. She makes a life decision based on some stupid ageist ideas she has. I mean, she's dealing with centaurs, griffins, fauns and unicorns on a daily basis, but apparently hasn't given up her middle American mores.
Uck. I'm going to try to sell the set. I don't want them on my bookshelf.
The Bad Guy(s) in this book were so obvious. How could a reasonably intelligent person not figure it out?
BJ turns into a blithering idiot. She irresponsibly brings new species in without considering how they will fit in to the ecology/geography of the Country. She takes stupid personal risks and makes tons of bad decisions. Stein and the Griffin are always commenting how smart she is and how she sees the meta-ideas behind what's really going on, but I don't see it.
The last chapter just flabbergasted me. She makes a life decision based on some stupid ageist ideas she has. I mean, she's dealing with centaurs, griffins, fauns and unicorns on a daily basis, but apparently hasn't given up her middle American mores.
Uck. I'm going to try to sell the set. I don't want them on my bookshelf.
The Bad Guy(s) in this book were so obvious. How could a reasonably intelligent person not figure it out?
September 27, 2024
re-read 2/22/2014
March 26, 2009
I wish there were more books set in this world. i loved all these books.
March 23, 2011
I loved this series and still have it on my bookshelf
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews