Book Review
Peridot (Episode 3: Avatar) by Tyree Campbell (Hiraeth Press)
This novel is the third installment in the “Peridot” adventure novel series written by Tyree Campbell. The series is up to four books or “episodes” so far as published by Hiraeth Press.
The main character in the series is Patricia “Ricia” Ryder, a young American expatriate living off-the-grid in France. Ricia had previously crossed paths with the ancient Celtic Goddess Sequana, who endowed Ricia as Peridot, a superheroine with powers received in exchange for doing the Goddess’s bidding. Additional key characters introduced in the previous first two novel installments include among others Ricia’s close friends the Togolese immigrant Nathalie, the journalist Stephanie, French underworld figure Mad Paul Spiridot and Sequana’s archrival the ancient Olympian God of War himself, Mars.
Episode Two had introduced the plot element of The Caesar Talisman, an ancient gold coin with the power to make the holder a military strategist capable of conquering the world. Sequana had bestowed the talisman upon Ricia/Peridot, with the task of keeping it out of the hands of Mars and his Earthly mortal avatar representatives.
This third installment in the series advances that plotline along with introducing and interweaving two new subplots. The first elevates Sequana’s role in the series. At the Goddess’s bidding, “the three Musketeers” of Peridot, Nathalie and Stephanie restore a French countryside rural shrine to Sequana. Miracles begin to occur at the shrine, thereby restoring Sequana into the everyday life of local villagers. Secondly, romance is introduced into the storyline, as Peridot reveals her secret identity to Georges Follette, the Mayor of Grenoble, thereby embarking upon a relationship. And of course, the adventuring and conflict continues around the various parties seeking to obtain and control The Caesar Talisman.
I enjoyed reading and reviewing the first two installments in this novel series and had the same reaction to this third installment. Key to the series storyline is the main plot thread of the Celtic Goddess Sequana’s mysterious intentions. In Book Three much is revealed as the Goddess both seeks to restore her presence among the human faithful and works with Peridot to outmaneuver the attempts of Mars to steal the talisman. I particularly enjoyed two scenes from this plot thread, that of a crucial direct confrontation between Sequana and Mars, as well as an episode set on Mount Olympus as Zeus plots and strategizes with Mars to steal the talisman.
One of the key strengths of the series, as well as one of it’s most entertaining elements, is author Tyree Campbell’s rich and detailed characterization of deep friendship amongst “the three Musketeers” of Ricia/Peridot, Nathalie and Stephanie. And this latest installment of the series continues the value of that effort. We see the friends help each other through life’s twists and turns such as supporting Nathalie with her challenges as an immigrant as well as clashing and conflicting with each other, such as when Stephanie betrays Ricia by publicly revealing her private romance with the Mayor.
Chapter-by-chapter, scene-by-unfolding-scene, Campbell successfully alternates between the human interest elements of the story characters and the fantasy/superhero story pieces. It’s a nice balancing of real word versus fantasy story details and action, resulting in a third-in-a-row very entertaining installment in this action-adventure series. So by all means, a hats-off recommendation is in order to both start reading this series back at Book One and pick-up a copy of this Book Three installment in the ongoing Peridot adventure novel series!
-Alan Ira Gordon