Review of Return to Zandria

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Return to Zandria is a wonderfully comfortable fantasy novel that enthralls the reader from the very first page, beginning with young Ivy, whose troubles are all too realistic, but whose compassion and mature integrity are unusual, at any age. Before the reader realises, she is caught up in Ivy's path and rushing along with her, first just to find Zandria again; and then to save the magical world Ivy so remembers with love.

Ivy's perfect foil is her best friend, Lori, who comes along for the ride, against her better judgment, but who is well-grounded in consensus reality and as such, becomes the perfect skeptic to reflect Ivy's morality and faith in Zandria. Even when in the midst of the alternate universe of Zandria, Lori staunchly insists that magic does not exist. This, after meeting a fairy, and passing with Ivy from the near-summer forest near Ivy's home, into a land of harsh, cold, despairing winter.

Ms. Norris has a special talent with character, which almost seems to surpass the excellent plot and vivid descriptive settings. Her protagonists are particularly well-delineated, and they are the kind who promise to linger long in the reader's imagination, peopling it with their further potential adventures, and leaving readers asking, "I wonder what happened to --- next?"

Author Christine Norris skillfully weaves in recollections of Ivy's former sojourn in Zandria, three years earlier, yet does so in such a way that readers can joyfully pace through Return to Zandria as a stand-alone novel. However, only the hardened heart would refuse to read Talisman of Zandria, the first book which recounts Ivy's initial adventures in the magical land. In this reviewer's opinion, the wise reader will rush immediately to read ALL of Author Norris' books!