I have to admit that I'm a sucker for trilogies. Give me a series of books that's going to be three books in length or longer and the chances of me buying them are far higher than if the story is only contained in one book. But it has to be in separate books; omnibus editions just aren't the same thing, because then it might as well just be one book.

However, extended series of books can also be one of the biggest sources of frustration for a reader. If, like me, you spend a lot of time browsing through used booked stores you can find yourself in the unenviable position of getting hooked on a series by purchasing volume one, only to find that the books have been long out of print and your chances of ever finding it are non-existent.

Such was the case with Midori Snyder's Oran Trilogy, New Moon, Sadar's Keep, and Beldan's Fire. It was first published in 1989 by one of the many mass market Science Fiction/Fantasy imprints in the United States. But by the time I picked up the first book, New Moon, the books were long out of print. Of course every bookstore and library I checked looking for the other two books would only have the first book in the series.

Increasing my frustration was that I came across another of Midori Snyder's books, The Innamorati and thought it was brilliant. So I'm sure you can imagine my happiness when I discovered that a new imprint of Penguin, Firebird Books had recently reprinted the entire series in very affordable mass market paper backs. Of course I ordered all three books immediately. (I had lost my copy of New Moon, book one, years ago)

Now I had to hope that the books lived up to my expectations and memory. It had been around ten years since I had read New Moon and I could only hope that I would like it now as much as I did then. The other two books are a blank slate, so they only have to live up to my expectations generated by twelve years of hunting for them; so no pressure.

New Moon is set in the city of Beldane in the country of Oran. Oran is currently occupied by Silean troops who had been invited into the country by The Fire Queen to help her quell a rebellion. The thing is, Zorah, The Fire Queen, issued that invitation nearly two hundred years ago and still looks as if she is barely nineteen years old.