The Earthstone, book four of the Westria series, begins the quest of Julian, the missing royal heir, who opens the story trekking to the Master of the Junipers to find out who his biological parents are. Funny how he falls in with Silverhair at that pivotal moment, so uncle and nephew are reunited at the moment of self-discovery. But wait, Caolin is amassing a band of outlaws, or perhaps a real army, and is building a fortress on top of Red Mountain at the center of the kingdom where once he built his sorcerous temple and wore the Jewels and was defeated. And after 20 years without a king bonded to the land, the kingdom is slowly unravelling. So Prince Julian is needed, but how to have his claim recognized? Well, clearly he must find the Jewels of Power. And so we have the next four books of the series, one for each element and jewel.

In The Earthstone, we are introduced to the next generation of heroes on the requisite quest: Frederic, the son of the Regent who just wants to pursue a religious career; Rana, the red-haired girl who invites herself along on the adventure (can you say romantic interest?); and Eva, the older woman who joins the party later with her traumatically mute grandson Piper, the sole survivors of a bandit raid on their village. These, along with Julian and Farin Silverhair and Lady Madrone, a tree spirit with a human form assigned by the Lord of the Trees to help them, pursue the Earthstone. Of course, there's a face-off with big, bad Caolin, now the Blood Lord. He loses. Julian dies and is resurrected--can you see the religious themes here? Not very subtle. The plot is entirely predictable.

Once again, characters generally weak and undeveloped. Julian struggles between his need to lead and protect others and his fear of the demands of rulership and his anger at the Master of the Junipers secrecy all these years (and at his dead parents for abandoning him, of course). Farin struggles to figure out how he feels about his long-lost nephew while crying over his damaged harp. Frederic struggles between his secular responsibilities as the heir of a major political figure and his spiritual yearnings. Rana struggles to be accepted as an equal and welcome and contributing member of the expedition. Eva and Piper are essentially just plot devices for the other characters. Other characters are even more minimalist and peripheral.

Once again, apparent tension and difficulties essentially evaporate and go nowhere--most notably, the dwarf king holding onto the Earthstone deep in the heart of Red Mountain. Once again, good triumphs over evil, thanks to its intrinsic goodness and the inherent limitations of the evil perspective. Julian gets to commune with his dead parents because they're part of the pantheon now--the personification of good and the land and whatever.

What did I like? Diana L. Paxson clearly has a great love for California. It comes through in the vivid descriptions of the varied landscapes, the local foods, and the seasonal calendar of rituals. I liked the descriptions of the metaphysical landscape as well--interactions with the anthropomorphic Kindreds--the spirit essence of each type of organism. I liked how she portrayed each element so vividly. I liked all of the story that didn't involve plot or characters. And the characters weren't bad, just not particularly noteworthy.

I also liked the retrospective analysis of past events by the older characters of the previous generation reflecting on the people and events in Mistress of the Jewels. That is probably the most nuanced aspect of the series--each person recognizing how he or she, as well as the idolized king and queen, contributed to the disaster and how the circumstances helped shaped Caolin rather than dismissing him as a bad apple with no one to blame but himself. This is clearly an important theme of the series. It isn't about good vanquishing and destroying evil, it's about the limitations of evil and the need for forgiveness and healing. Which is why Caolin keeps turning up and why he's not quite as irritating in later books.

This fantasy series is basically a post-apocalyptic neo-pagan utopia set largely in California. I am not particularly familiar with pagan traditions such as Wicca, so it's hard for me to pick out what aspects she invented and which ones she lifted straight from the source material. The underlying premise is that after too much abuse by human society, the forces of Nature rose up in rebellion during the Cataclysm, wiping out most of humanity and the traces of its technological society about 800 years before the events in the novels. Only those people who had some connection to Nature survived into the new age. And in the kingdom of Westria, they formed a Covenant with the Elements and the Kindreds of all the different living things to live in harmony without seeking to conquer or control. And yet, the royalty of Westria have the four jewels that allow them to control the elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Go figure. The royals also basically become avatars.

Anyway, this is another fantasy series where the divine is real, palpable, omnipresent to those who have the psychic sensitivity to connect to the spiritual (read: astral) plane of existence. Similarly, people with that kind of empathic ability can connect with other people and even other organisms. Must be nice to not be hampered by the limitations of the spoken word or to never experience some sort of existential crisis of faith. I think this concept of divine, anthropomorphic forces that are tangible is one of the all-time favorite tropes of the fantasy genre. ( )