By Colorado Kids Advisory Board member Darrel Lefevre

Title: Dark Quetzal, the Echorium Sequence
Author: Katherine Roberts
Publisher: The Chicken House, Scholastic
Number of pages: 320

For 11 years Kyarra has lived on the isle of echoes, not knowing her past history or relatives. Then in one day, much is revealed to her, her bringing up, her mom, and her dad…

Meanwhile the evil Lord of the Forest, Frazhin, is planning a way to change history and make himself more than the Lord of the Forest, and he is using his Dark Quetzal, Night Plume, to deliver the messages.

The peace was held by a group of choice people, called Singers, who sang five songs, challa, kashe, shi, aushan, and yehn. One singer, Rialle, has managed to free Night Plume’s mind with her songs when she was held captive by Frazhin. Now it is up to him, and Kyarra, who is Frahin’s lost daughter, to keep the peace.

I would recommend this book to fans of Lord of the Rings. (July, 2003)