A KNIGHT OF THE WORD

Del Rey/Ballantine, New York, 1998, 1^st ed/2^nd pr.  ISBN 0-345-37963-2.  Hard cover, 309 pages.  Very good; spine ends lightly bumped; binding sound with headbands; bit of age spotting on outer page block; deckled fore-edge.  Dust jacket with price intact has a short tear at bottom corner fold; some light rubs, scratches and creases; small scrape at front and rear fore-edge folds.  Interior clean and unmarked.  ‘In the eleventh century the Welsh hero Owain Glyndwr was chosen to combat the demonic evil of the Void and disappeared from history to fulfill that mission. …  Glyndwr became a Knight of the Word – a draining and demanding legacy passed on eight centuries later to John Ross, a professor of English literature on tour in Wales. …  Each night he dreams of hellish futures wrought upon the world by the Void.  And each dream is of a future that will come to pass unless Ross prevents it in the present.  Crippled in body and soul by the searing magic he wields and the horrors he dreams, sustained only by his faith in the goodness of the Word, Ross drifts across America, a modern-day knight errant in search of the agents of the Void.  Then an unspeakable act of violence shatters his weary beliefs.  Haunted by guilt, John Ross turns his back on the Word. … But a fallen Knight makes a tempting prize for the Void, and merciless demons soon stalk Ross and those close to him.  His only hope is young Nest Freemark, who wields a powerful magic all her own.  Five years earlier, Ross had aided Nest when the future of humanity rested upon the choice she would make between Word and Void.  Now Nest must return the favor.  She must restore Ross’s faith, or his life – and her own – will be forfeit…’