‘The Book of Atrix Wolfe’ by Patricia A. McKillip

  I’ve yet to come across an author who can match Patricia A. McKillip’s gift of imagery, a most important talent in the fantasy genre.
  In “The Book of Atrix Wolfe,” McKillip takes readers to the castle of Pelucir, where a great battle is waged against the inhabitants by the ruling house of Kardeth. The powerful, shape-shifting mage Atrix Wolfe senses the danger and leaves the wolves in an effort to prevent the destruction from reaching the bordering Chaumenard, the home of mages, farmers and scholars.
  The White Wolf of Chaumenard, as Atrix is known, takes human form and speaks to Prince Riven and a bargain is struck. Atrix creates the magical and destructive Hunter, a dangerous force that can’t be controlled.
  His power snagged a hunter out of a dream, turned his acorn eyes as black as ravens’ eyes, crowned him with an immense tangle of horn. Among the horns the mage set the moon that warriors most feared: the black moon that cast no shadows, under which anything might move. He took the fierce, starving hounds out of the field, turned them huge and black as night. He did not notice, as he took the memory of a white horse and turned it black, and set sparks of flame between its teeth, the reflection of green in its eyes. He made a warrior with no allegiance but to death.
  Little does Atrix know that his magic has other horrible side effects in addition to the bloodshed left in the Hunter’s wake. The Queen of the Wood’s daughter, Saro, is ripped from her world and sent into the human realm, sad and mute. 
  Decades later, Atrix has not forgiven himself for the brutal force he created and the deaths he caused. The Queen of the Wood has not stopped looking for her daughter either.
  Pelucir’s young prince Talis, whose father was killed in the battle at Hunter’s Field, is sent to Chaumenard to learn the ways of the mages. And learn he does. When he stumbles across an old spellbook he discovers he can access the world of the Queen of the Wood. Talis becomes the key to redemption for Atrix Wolfe, the connection between the great mage and the Queen of the Wood, who longs for her daughter’s return.
  McKillip’s lyrical storytelling quickly draws readers into this story. She paints a fantasy land where it’s easy to get lost, to wander through the green woods.
  It was morning; gold light poured among the trees. The leaves hung still, shining green flames; if a wind rose, it seemed they would ring together like fine glass. Sun laid soft, warm hands on Talis’ hair; he lifted his face to it blindly, felt light like sweet wine on his lips.
  You know what you are getting when you pick up a McKillip novel, and for fantasy lovers, it doesn’t get much better.  Reading her books is like falling into a painting, slipping inside the frame into a land of kings and castles, magic and mages.