"Donna Sundblad's, Windwalker, is a journey abundant with fantasy, compassion, promise, romance, and fright.
Windwalker is set along volatile seashores, under the dreamy skis of the mystical world of Ranaan. A world engaged by intense protagonists who struggle against despair with courage, while others swell with hatred and intolerance.
Unerringly, as ancient prophecies warned, a fair-skinned native tribe, the Jonnick, arrive on the shores of Ranaan, plagued by sickness, beset with a curse, seeking refuge.
The righteous Stygian welcome the tribe, unaware that the foreseen disease that the foreigners bring is the least of their worries.
Five hundred years later, the births of the Arich born on a moonless night and the Augar born with a bumble foot, mark the onset of prophecy fulfilment, and the time of joining.
A few years later, with their world on the verge of destruction, the most improbable couple, a crippled Jonnick girl with a hidden Stygian bloodline (Jalil), and a lonely Stygian boy, raised as a Jonnick, (Manelin) unite, and find themselves thrust into challenges beyond their wildest fears, as they set out on a quest to unravel the true meaning of the prophecies, while a wicked queen does everything in her power to thwart the fulfillment.
Author Donna Sundblad, does an amazing job of pulling you into her fantasy world. She awakens the senses and stimulates curiosity. You feel, the cool mist spray your skin, as you see and hear the waves crash at the mountain base, the breeze through your hair. Salt from the sea tantalises your taste buds and fear rips at your intellect.
Donna convinces the readers of many convoluted effects, one being the ability of Windwalker characters to transform and travel with the wind from the past, present and into the future.
The Stygian prophecies may or may not be fulfilled, but there is promise that the reader will be. This is a journey you don't want to miss. It will leave you yearning for the sequel and fantasizing about walking on the wind.
Loreena Russomanno
