Tara Duncan
Tara Duncan (full name Tara'tylanhnem T'al Barmi Ab Santa Ab Maru T'al Duncan) is the heroine of the eponymous series of bestselling novels in French written by Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian.
Tara Duncan discovers that she is a powerful "spellbinder," possessing magic powers. She was raised on Earth as an ordinary teenager by her grandmother and initially knew nothing of magic. Her adventures begin when she is 12 and take her to the planet Other World and beyond. Magic is present in those worlds, as are evil wizards, giants, "vampyrs," dwarves, elves, sirens, and two-headed business administrators.
Tara's companions in her adventures include her fellow Earthling Fabrice and the friends she makes on OtherWorld: a half-elf called Robin M'angil, the licensed thief in training Caliban Dal Salan, a shapeshifting princess Gloria Daavil nicknamed "Sparrow", and a short-tempered but warm-hearted female dwarf named Fafnir.
Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian, who is also the author of other series, has so far written thirteen main Tara Duncan volumes in French. William Rodarmor has translated two of her books into English. The English translation by William Rodarmor of Volume 1, Tara Duncan and the Spellbinders, was published by Sky Pony Press in June 2012. Volume 2, Tara Duncan and the Forbidden Book, was published in January 2013. An animated series that premiered in France in 2010 aired in the U.S. on the "Girls Rule" division of Kabillion.[1] Some of the books have also been translated into Japanese, Korean, Italian and Romanian.
Characters
Allies and Friends
Tara's gang is composed of Tara's two closest friends, Sparrow and Cal, who always follow her in her adventures.
Tara Duncan is the main character of the series. She is a teenage girl with dark blue eyes and blond hair with a white lock. She is also quite tall and has an athletic body. Her magic skills are incredibly powerful because of being genetically tampered with by a renegade dragon, and she has to fight with a mysterious dark spellbinder, while learning to be the heiress of a whole empire. However, Tara uses her magic to help people, by doing things that were called impossible before, such as curing vampyrs who drank human blood. Tara is brave, strong-willed and loyal, and she doesn't hesitate before diving into an adventure that could cost her her life. She would do anything for her friends, whom she loves a lot. Her familiar is a large white pegasus named Galant. In volume 4 she begins a relationship with Robin M'angil which will end after volume 8, when she leaves him. Tara and Cal get together in volume 10 and go on to have twins named Danviou and Celia in volume 13, then a son named Daylon in volume 14.
Robin M'angil is the son of T'andilus M'angil, head of secret services of Lancovit, and Mevora, a human who is passionate about books and editor of numerous treaties. Being half elven is pretty rare on Otherworld, since the elves don't want to make their race weaker by mixing it with human's genes. Robin really suffers because of the stigma of miscegenation and is rejected by other elves. He is a great warrior and owns the arc of Llilandril, a ferocious elf warrior whose spirit still lives in the arc. He has silver hair with black highlights, crystal eyes and pointy ears. He would do anything to protect and save Tara. They broke up in volume 9 but Robin still loves Tara more than anyone. His familiar is Sourv, Cal's Hydra,a blue shelled monster with 7 heads, whom he named Toto at the age of 4.He will eventually fall in love with Sael and, at the end of Volume 12, he will go out with her. He will then become Ambassador Substitute of Daovor in volume 13. His name means Faithful in Elvish language.
Caliban Dal Salan "Cal" is a Patented thief in training (kind of a spy in operation for the government). Cheeky, daring, brave and agile, he always makes jokes, having a great sense of humour and of sarcasm. He is small and thin, has black messy hair and grey eyes. He is described as having an angelic face. He was also madly in love with Eleanora, another licensed thief, who believed that Cal has killed her cousin and tried to get revenge. After she dies in volume 6, he becomes obsessed with avenging her at any cost. His familiar is a red fox named Blondin. He becomes Tara's boyfriend in volume 11.
Gloria Daavil "Sparrow" is a princess of Lancovit, but she will never be queen, only being the niece of king Bear and queen Titania. She is nicknamed "Sparrow" because she is really shy, but she becomes more confident over time. Her ancestors are Beauty and the Beast which causes Sparrow to be able to change from human to beast. She is pretty and has long and curled brown hair. Sensitive and reasonable, she is Tara's best friend. Her familiar is a white panther named Sheeba. She is Fabrice's girlfriend with whom she goes on to have 5 children.
Fafnir is a red-haired dwarf from Hymlia, a strong and ferocious warrior. Being the daughter of a chieftain, she is the equivalent of a princess among the dwarves. She can fight with an axe like nobody else. Like other dwarfs, she hates magic and tries to avoid it the best she can. She also hates the fact that she has magic powers, something that makes her somewhat an outcast, and repeatedly tries to get rid of them. Fafnir enjoys being around Tara because there are always great fights around the young heiress. She is often dressed in red leather. She becomes Sylver's girlfriend in Volume 8. Her Familiar is Belzebuth, more commonly known as Bel, an almost immortal demon pink kitten encountered in Demon Limbo.
Fabrice is Tara's oldest friend from Earth, son of the Transfer Door's guardian. He discovers that he also has magic powers because her mother was exposed to the emanations of the Transfer Door during her pregnancy. However, his magic is weaker than his friend's, and he's obsessed with the idea of gaining more power, sometimes by flirting with dark magic and forbidden spells. Described as really handsome, he is tall, has blond hair and dark eyes. He also really loves charades and often ends his sentences with one. In love with Sparrow, his quest for more powers complicates their relationship. His familiar was a blue mammoth named Barune, but was killed in volume 6 by Wiberns(type of dragon).
Villains and Enemies
- Magister is the master of all bloodgraves, Tara's worst enemy and the one who kidnapped her mother Selena when Tara was four years old. Magister's goal is to free the demons, and he needs Tara's blood to do it. He wants to rule the world and is pretty cruel, but sometimes he also shows more human feelings, such as his love for Selena. He always wears a mask that changes color according to his humor. It is not known who he really is and one won't know it until the end of the series.
- Selenba is a terrible vampyr who drinks human blood. She is particularly cruel and violent with her victims, and has pleasure by making them suffer the most as she can. She is willing to do whatever Magister tells her to do; it is later revealed that she is secretly in love with him. She has long white hair and red eyes, is thin and tall, and has really pale skin. She used to be the fiancée of Safir Dragosh, who is still in love with her and is willing to do anything for her.
- The Red Queen is a red female dragon, self-proclaimed the queen of the Forbidden Continent. Bigger than other dragons that Tara has met, she uses humans as her slaves and organizes fight between werewolves, dragons and humans.
Supprting Characters
- Lisbeth Tylanhem is the Empress of Omois. She is Tara's aunt and Danviou's sister. Like Tara, she has long blond hair with a white lock and dark blue eyes. Bad-tempered, she has the reputation of being the prettiest woman of Otherworld. Often coloring her long hair to match her dresses and tiaras, her beauty is legendary and devastating.
- Sandor is Lisbeth's half brother and Emperor of Omois. He replaced Danviou when he died. He also has long blond hair, often tied in a low ponytail. He is a really good warrior, leader of Omois army, and also teaches Tara how to fight.
- Selena Duncan is Tara's mother. She has been prisoner of Magister during 10 years, she is set free by Tara in the first book. Selena has long curly brown hair and green eyes.
- Isabella Duncan is Tara's grandmother and also the woman who raised her for twelve long years after the demise of her parents as an infant. She's very ambitious, which sometimes makes her a bit selfish and even cruel. She is known as being a top-level spellbinder and bad-tempered.
- Jar and Mara are the fraternal twin brother and sister of Tara, children of Selena and Danviou. They were born shortly after Selena's kidnapping (she was then pregnant since two months), and Magister raised them to believe that he was their father. Thus, the twins have been infected by demonic magic and Magister's way of thinking, and they consider their mother as being weak. Jar is really cold and ambitious, more like Isabella, and his biggest wish is to become the emperor instead of Tara (he's even ready to kill her if he needs to). Mara is kinder and more like Selena, though she also doesn't bond with Selena that much. She is in love with Cal, who she admires a lot, and wants to become a licensed thief just like him.
- Chemnashaovirodaintrachivu "Master Chem" is a blue and silver dragon who works in Lancovit and helps Tara's gang. He often takes the form of an old wise man, but Tara and her friends later discover that his real age is equivalent to a thirty years old man in human years.
- Sylver, a new character in the seventh book, is a handsome and mysterious boy with long blond hair and a skin covered of cutting scales. Raised by the dwarfs, he's a fierce and formidable warrior. Kind, shy and a bit clumsy, he's immediately willing to help Tara in her quest, at the risk of his life. Only problem: When he's asleep, Sylver changes into a dangerous and strong creature who wants to kill and destroy everything. SPOILER: it is revealed that Sylver is the son of Magister and a female dragon called Ama, who was the daughter of Dragons' previous king.
Animated series
About the Author
Princess Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian was born in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, France and grew up in the Basque Country where she first heard the tales and legends that fueled her imagination. She is married and has two daughters, Diane and Marine. She holds a M.A. in Diplomacy and Strategy. She currently divides her time between family and writing. She is a contributor to the Children's Health Fund, founded by Paul Simon and Dr. Irwin Redlener, and the Princess SAM Foundation for Armenia. She currently lives in Paris. Sophie's first writing attempts were sketches of fantasy fiction. She wrote the fantasy novel series Tara Duncan between 1987 and 1990, but only found a publisher in 2003, when the Harry Potter books helped make magic and fantasy in books popular in France. A real princess, Sophie is a member of the royal house of Armenia and in line for the throne.