Pellinor

The series mainly revolves about the character of an adolescent girl named Maerad, who was forced into slavery along with her mother as a child, after the sacking of the Bard school of Pellinor.

After their brief but enjoyed stay at Innail, Cadvan takes Maerad across the country of Annar to the city of Norloch, intending to have her instated as a full Bard and given her Name, and also to see his old teacher Nelac.

En route, they discover that the Nameless One's corrupt Bards, the Hulls, are roaming freely, so that non-users of magic are terrified and terrorized; that Maerad is descended on her mother Milana's side from Lady Ardina, a faerie creature, an Elidhu, who still lives in the forest as monarch of a Lothlórien-like settlement, Rachida; and that Maerad has a younger brother, called Hem or Cai, who, like her, is an inheritor of the Gift.

When Maerad and Cadvan, who has become her tutor, reach Norloch, they discover that corruption has penetrated even here, in that the First Bard of all Annar, Enkir, has fallen under Sharma's influence.

Therefore, Cadvan and Nelac invoke an archaic ritual called the Way of the White Flame, by which Maerad is initiated as a full Bard.

Their peace is shattered by dark events at the annual "Rite of Renewal" and the news that they have been named traitors to the White Flame after the shocking revelations of The Gift, which causes them once again to flee.

Hem has difficulties fitting in this strange land; he does not know the local language and finds it hard to make friends after being a loner for many years.

In this climate, Hem makes his first friend in the form of a girl, Zelika from the eastern school of Baladh, and begins to discover his own unique talents and his place in the "Treesong".

He travels through places which most haven't been through, like the underground city of Nal-Ak-Burat and the Nameless One's stronghold, Dagra in the constant companionship of a white crow, Irc, whom he rescues in the beginning of the book.

And Hem, fleeing the advances of the Black Army, must endure betrayal and mortal illness in his search for Maerad.

But the Dark grows ever more powerful - will brother and sister reach one another in time or will all be lost in a final, apocalyptic battle?