Touchstone was an interesting fantasy in a well-developed world. Cayden is an aristocratic young man whose dream is to be part of the theater world rather than be part of the court world. This puts him into conflict with his social climbing mother. The characters in this world are all blends of various kinds of paranormal creatures like wizards, elves, harpies, gorgons, fae, pikseys, gnomes, goblins and trolls with different kinds of magic. Cayden himself is a wizard but he also has dreams of the future. He went away to a school to try to learn how to control his visions with somewhat limited success. He does know that he can change the futures he sees but is determined to change them only for himself no matter what he sees in the future for anyone else.In this world, dramatic productions involve a lot of magic These dramatic productions are done by groups of four young men - and only men can officially attend the productions. When the story begins, Cayden is the tregetour for the group which apparently translates as author. He is in a group with two of his friends but they are looking for their fourth - someone to play the role of glisker. Jeska is the masquer and Rafe is the fettler. Along comes Meika who is an excellent glisker and an interesting character. The story is about how the group gels and becomes a very famous one and how they get along as they compete in the Trials held each year for performing troupes to travel on the circuits assigned by the King. As they travel their circuit, we learn more about the culture and the prejudices of the people. We also learn about the growing friendship between Cayden and Meika that is complicated by visions Cayden has had of Meika's future and his soul-searching about what he should do about what he sees.Not much really happens in this story and it is filled with new vocabulary that has to be learned in context. If you are looking for a rich fantasy world and want to start a new trilogy, you might be interested in this one.
