Australia is producing a flourishing crop of fantasy writers, including Isobelle Carmody, with her award-winning Obernewtyn series; Garth Nix, author of Sabriel, in which the heroine invokes magic by ringing handbells; and Jane Routley, with her debut novel Mage Heart and its sequel, Fire Angels. Routley creates a powerful character in Dion Holyhands, a strong-headed young woman who also just happens to be the most potent mage in the land of Moria. Exiled from Moria and estranged from her family, she is eking out a living as a healer in the neighboring country of Gallia. Her brothers come to beg her assistance in rescuing her older sister Tasha, who has been broadcasting terrifying dreams of possession by demons. Despite her fears of further persecution in Moria, Dion returns, only to become an unwilling pawn in the contest for Moria"s throne. Fire Angels combines an epic story with engaging characters and a passionate romance, and even leaves room for further sequels. The only objection, and it"s a minor one, is Routley"s confusing use of titles and names--more consistency and inventiveness ("Moria" will forever be associated with Tolkien, for example) would have been nice. --Blaise Selby