WHEEL OF THE INFINITE

There's no doubt from the beginning of Wells's fantasy of alternate worlds that Maskelle is a powerful woman. Narrator Lisa Renee Pitts portrays her as one who faces the world head on and exercises her powers as necessary. In Pitts's performance, her brazen attitude is never far below the surface. Through slight variations in tone, Pitts conveys Maskelle's struggle to remain deferential until she's ready to confront the powerful. Although she's trying to be inconspicuous as a member of a traveling troupe of puppeteers, the closer she gets to the site of the Hundred Year Rite to remake the world anew, the less she's able to hide her power and intentions. J.E.M. [Published: AUGUST 2014]