I remember deep in the mists of time, November 2000 to be precise. In the days when we used to chat on the old Stormboard — the one that looked like fly paper. Remember that? News had broken that Storm was going to be writing a new Wraeththu book and we were all bouncing around excitedly as if all our Christmases had come at once. Storm asked us if there were any characters or issues we would like to know more about. I said I wanted to know what happened to Flick.

There is a line in Enchantments that has always intrigued me because in the original trilogy it was never resolved. The line is word for word the same in both the original Enchantments and in Enchantments 2003. Spoken in Pell's voice about Flick, it is this: "He was a true friend, and when the time came, I turned the world upside down to find him again."

I think Flick is important to the reader, particularly the first time reader of Enchantments. Through Pell's eyes we are finding out about Wraeththu and this whole new world is opening up. So we identify strongly with Pell at this point and feel his fears and his frustrations. Flick is the one character at this time who offers most information, sympathy and support, he also shows his own vulnerability and I think the reader warms to him as a result. Flick goes on to become one of Pell's closest friends during his stay in Saltrock and so the bond continues. Later after Pell has travelled with Cal, died, lost Cal, been reborn, arrived in Immanion and learned that he is to become Tigron (jeepers — talk about a brief synopsis!) Seel reappears on the scene. Seel but no Flick. Flick has gone, left Saltrock and no-one knows where he is. Intriguing.

Then Wraiths happens and my questions are answered. We find out what happens to Flick when Cal returns to Saltrock. Cal, in the midst of his insanity and fucking up his own life and the life of all those around him, does actually impart some wisdom to Flick. In effect he tells his to find his own way, to step out of Seel's shadow and become truly himself. To give himself purpose and, I think, as his own personal tribute Pell, Flick decides to honour a promise he made and go and find Pell's family. Following a year and a day in the desert with a human created mystic and the acquisition of knowledge of the dehara, Wraeththu deities, Flick does eventually find what remains of Pell's family... and then it really starts to get interesting.

Whilst all this is happening with Flick there is a separate story line going on. Actually Storm's been a bit Dickensian here. She has at least three story lines going at once (Flick's, Ulaume's and Seel's) and then weaves them together as the story progresses. It's also a technique that Tolkien uses to the great frustration of the reader. You just get to a really exciting bit with one set of characters and then we're off to find out what's happening with another set of characters and you're left wailing in frustration. It's a very good technique to keep the reader welded to the settee, only emerging occasionally for stimulating cups of coffee (so you can keep reading for longer) and just to remind loved ones that you are still a resident of Planet Earth.

Ulaume was not a character that made a huge impression on me in the original trilogy. I found the hair thing interesting but by and large, for me, he was just an annoyance that Pell and Cal met along the way. Ulaume really comes to life in Wraiths. He makes a tremendous journey in this book, from Kakkahaar plaything in the deserts to family har and potter in Roselane. In taking on the child Lileem and in his growing relationship with Flick he discovers parts of himself he never knew were there. I love the idea of Ulaume keeping bees in the orchard of his Roselane home. Can you imagine Ulaume of the Kakkahaar doing that? I remember at one point whist reading Wraiths for the first time thinking that Ulaume and Cobweb had a good deal in common. Then later they meet up in Galhea and the seeds of a great and lasting friendship are sown.

Another person Flick comes across in his travels is Lileem. The first Kamagrian child we've met in our journey around the Wraeththu mythos. Her presence in Wraiths opens up a whole new areas of exploration namely the Kamagrian and other worlds. Incidentally in my November 2000 Stormboard posting where I asked what happened to Flick, I also said I'd like to know a whole lot more about Kamagrian. I got my answer there too, although I may not always have liked what I found.

In the original trilogy Kamagrian came across as the ones who had got it together, who had found the way, who had the answers. First impressions can be misleading can't they? Kamagrian have their problems, they have their issues and their leader very obviously has her own agenda. Through circumstance Lileem has a childhood that few Kamagrian children can have enjoyed. She is accepted and valued for herself and not generally looked on as a freak. She is intelligent and learns a lot for herself. I know a number of people ultimately ended up not liking her and thinking her very self centred. Lileem, I think, is a traveller and adventurer, she pushes the boundaries. The journey she makes is into knowledge and this takes her to another world. She 's a pioneer and like other pioneers, Amundsen and Hilary for example, she could not have reached her North Pole or climbed her Mount Everest without a huge dose of bloody minded self-centredness.

When Flick eventually reaches the Richard's house, Pell's former home when he was human, the family member he finds there is Mima. She has seen her entire family slaughtered or taken away, made a disastrous attempt to rescue her brother Terez from the Uigenna, has gone insane for a bit and then through a simple friendship with the child Lileem has accidentally become incepted into the Kamagrian thus regaining her sanity. She is one sassy cookie. I'm not sure that Thiede knew what he was taking on when he involved himself with the Cevarro family!

The other member of the family that Flick eventually gets to meet is Terez who exists in a terrifying limbo because, due to Mima's heartfelt but misguided actions, his inception was never properly "fixed" by aruna. Through Grissecon, Flick and Ulaume are able to complete the inception but Terez remains a dark character. He is the catalyst that makes the family (as Flick, Ulaume, Mima and Lileem have now become) move from their isolated idyll and take part once again in the developing world around them.

They spend several years living on a river boat during which time Lileem grows up. They interact with the world but never truly become a part of it, fearful that the Uigenna who chased them from their home will find them again. Both Flick and Ulaume had particularly nasty encounters with the Uigenna. I love the scenes on the boat and the life they live at this time. It really put me in mind of the character Roux and the river rats in Joanne Harris' Chocolat. Eventually the family's journeying takes them to Galhea. The need to travel east has been prompted by Lileem receiving a "call." She has not experienced ordinary feybraiha as harlings do but has been "called" by the Kamagrian.

In Galhea the family meet up with Cobweb, Swift and Tel-an-kaa, who is responsible for the "call". Flick finally gets to see Seel again. Seel, what can I say? ?!*!??**! I really don't like the way Seel has turned out. In the original Enchantments he seems so together, so perfectly Wraeththu, the one with all the answers and knowledge (there go those first impressions again). In Wraiths he's exposed as petty, selfish and bitchy. His treatment of Flick is abysmal. Cobweb and Swift, well practised with Terzian and Cal, join ranks to undo Seel's actions and put things right. I also don't like the glimpse we get intimating Seel mistreatment of Tyson because Cal was his hostling. I'm surprised that Cobweb and Swift allow that to happen.

I think that Seel has only two saving graces in Wraiths. One is that he is an excellent town and country planner (wish we had him at Peterborough City Council) and is extremely hard-working. The other is that he eventually admits he got it wrong, apologises to Swift and finally realises what a special relationship he has with Swift. Although God help Seel when Pell finally finds out how Seel treated Cal on his capture in Imbrilim. One of those intriguing things we'll have to wait for in the next book.

The family travel on with Tel-an-kaa to the coast. Thiede, it appears, has become interested in them. They have several encounters which they imagine to be Thiede's work. Some of them are, others are from a different source. Only Lileem realises that along with the dehara they have another ally. Pellaz. A rather eventful sea voyage, a meeting with the Freyhella (a rather Nordic tribe) and a sedim assisted passage to Roselane brings the family to Jaddayoth where they make their home. Flick, for once, makes a demand. That is — he gets to keep the sedu. He has formed a strong connection with Astral, his sedu, and his work involves patrolling the borders of Shilalama. Whilst in a field on the mountainside above Shilalama, Pell finally turns the world upside down and he and Flick are reunited.

I really warmed to Pell again in this book. On reading the original trilogy, I had strongly identified with Pell in Enchantments. He's the one who introduces us to Wraeththu and their world. But following his treatment of Rue and how he is portrayed in Bewitchments and Fulfilments I had rather cooled on him. Then along comes Wraiths and Pell gets his chance to shine again. Initially though he rather uses Flick as a sounding board, someone to off load on and unintentionally, I think, drives a wedge between Flick and Ulaume. Pell is very good at putting right other people's problems but pretty damned lousy at sorting out his own — and how true to life is that? I think there is a wonderful sense of closure when Pell and Ulaume settle their differences. That scene where a lock of Ulaume's hair sneaks around Pell's wrist and gives him a quick hug is beautiful. Pell also has a very strong bond with his family. I love the bit where Pell and Mima take the sedim off on "Operation Rescue Senseless Relatives" to rescue Terez and Lileem from the other world.

Hmmmm... Just had a thought. Terez seems to make a bit of a habit of being a catalyst doesn't he? Albeit unwittingly. He is the catalyst that moves the family on from the Richard's house and he is the catalyst that gets Lileem to another world. Also has it struck people that Opalexian (spit, spit) was kind of hypocritical? She castigated Thiede for splitting up Cal and Pell and then goes and does the same thing with Lileem and Terez...

But I digress. Pellaz. It was a huge shock to me that Pell was aware of the Kamagrian. The impression I was left with in Fulfilments was that Pell had been unaware of their existence until Cal spilled the beans to the Hegemony. Although re-reading the speech Pell makes following Cal's revelation, I look on that with different eyes. I think this just goes to show Kamagrian duplicity. Opalexian has her own agenda and she only lets people know what she wants them to know. Although as part of a deal Pell has asked her to heal Cal. If Opalexian had revealed this to Cal she would have had a real fight on her hands to get him to trust her. It would have totally flipped out his paranoia.

Wraiths is not a cuddly, cosy "let's tie up a few loose ends and see how everyone is doing" sort of book. There are shocks and surprises in abundance and plenty of meat left for the rest of this trilogy. At the end of Wraiths Opalexian asks Flick to help in Cal's healing process. He refuses — Halleluyah he's finally learning to be assertive! On the way home he sees Cal in a market square in Shilalama. He avoids an encounter and runs home. No doubt to take his loved ones down to the deepest cellar, pile on the pillows and hope and pray to ride out the storm that he knows is coming.