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story identification - Book series where they collect either stones or gems


I'm looking for a fantasy book I read about 10 years ago. I don't remember a lot of it, but there are a few things I still know:




  • The setting was in medieval times. There was no traveling dimensions. I can't recall whether there was magic or not. It wasn't on Earth, but on some invented world.

  • I believe it was a trilogy, with a focus on the son of some nobility.

  • The goal for the characters was to collect a certain number of stones or gems (I believe there were 5 of them), all in certain colours. Every stone has a certain power attached to it.

  • I believe it started out with one or two characters, but the group grew and every character had a certain colour stone at the end.

  • What is important about the gems is that they are unique. It's not part of a bigger magic system, but they are artefacts from somewhere.


There are some minor incidents I can recall vividly:



  • They build up a fellowship with some stereotypical fantasy builds: an old school fighter, a minstrel, a female archer and probably more.


  • At one point, they mention that if one of the guards in a country falls asleep on duty, he will be kept awake by his garrison/brothers in arms for seven days. At some point the minstrel falls asleep, and the old fighter teaches him how to stay awake.

  • They travel through a forest full of leeches and other insects to reach one of the stones.

  • Also, I seem to recall there was a member of an underground evil organisation among the nobility, who tried to poison someone and were able to do that because they built up an immunity to the poison.


Does anyone has a clue what this series might be?


Suggestions by kind people, but not what I'm looking for, are:



  • The Seventh Tower

  • Deltora Quest

  • Diadem


  • Westria

  • Sword of Heavens series



Answer



Ea Cycle series by David Zindell might be a possibility.


Wikipedia's plot description of The Lightstone, the first book:



The immortal Morjin, the Lord of Lies, has reappeared in the world of Ea once again to conquer all the land for himself and create a world filled with madness. To stand against Morjin, King Kiritan of Alonia invites the people of Ea to begin a quest for the Lightstone, a relic with unlimited powers in response to a prophecy that could lead to Morjin's doom. Valashu Elahad, seventh and youngest son of the king of Mesh, is one such knight that takes the pledge to search for the Lightstone, although he has reasons of his own. Valashu has the gift of empathy, a gift and a curse he inherited from his grandfather, which causes him problems along the path of the warrior, a family tradition. Hoping that the golden cup may cure him of his "affliction", Val sets off for Alonia, joined by his teacher, Juwain, and his best friend, Maram. Eventually his party grows to have seven significant individuals, each with their unique gifts and abilities to light the way on their journey throughout the continent for the Lightstone.



The Wikipedia article also lists the stones and their powers:




Gold Gelestei (lightstone) - Power over all matter, energy, space and time, and all of the other gelestei. Can do just about anything


Silver Gelestei (Silustria) - Reflects, protects, and magnifies the powers of the soul, including those of mind, including logic, deduction, calculation, awareness, ordinary memory, judgment and insight.


White Gelestei (Kristei) - Allows particular people to look into the future / perceive events distant in either space or time


Blue Gelestei (Blestei) - Quicken and deepen all kinds of knowing and communication for mind speakers and truth sayers


Green Gelestei (Varistei) - Power over the forms of living things. Can be used to heal or twist creatures into different shapes.


Red Gelestei (Tuaoi stones) - draw upon the sun's rays, as well as the earth's magnetic and telluric currents, to generate beams of light, lightning, heat or fire.


Black Gelestei (Baalstei) - devour light and are the stones of negation. Made originally to control the Red Gelestei. They can be wielded as weapons to attack people physically, mentally and spiritually, sucking away their vital energies and will.


Purple Gelestei (Lilastei) - unlocks the light locked up in nonliving matter so that matter might be changed, molded and transformed. Sometimes called the alchemists' stones.




tvtropes.org listed Atara (a crack shot with a bow) as The Action Girl trope example - that could be the female archer.


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