The Traveller - Book Review

I have not read this book but it comes highly recommended. Harlequin is apparently an English corruption of an Arab word read about it here:

'This strange figure is known to have operated in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. The name given the silent teacher who performed strange movements, incidentally, was aghlaq (plural aghlaqin, pronounced with a guttural "r" and European "q" as arlakeen, arlequin). This is an Arabic play upon the words for "great door" and "confused speech". There can be little doubt that his appearance to the uninitiated is perpetuated in the Harlequin.'

Reprinted by kind permission from The Sufis by Idries Shah

(Octagon Press Ltd., London)

There are several reviews here

In John Twelve Hawks' The Traveler, there are six different realms of existence, and most humans live in just one of them. Those who can travel between realms are called "Travelers" and they include some of the most influential people in history. Travelers are protected by a secret group called Harlequins. Maya, a 26-year old woman raised as a Harlequin by her father, has eschewed that choice and tried to live a normal life in London. She is convinced, though, that she must go to California to protect the Corrigan brothers. They're sons of a Traveler, and their abilities are just beginning to surface. The world is controlled by the Tabula, who keep records on every citizen in an attempt to control every aspect of public life. They are the enemies of the Travelers, and the Corrigan brothers are a threat to their power. Maya's task is made difficult by the fact that the brothers are not together, and different groups want to use them for their own purposes. A battle for the world begins to unfold. The Traveler has received positive reviews with the New York Times saying, "The Traveler is written with unlikely buoyancy. The ponderousness that afflicts so many big visionary books does not take hold here. The novel's style is page-turningly swift, and its theories are delivered without pseudoscientific harrumphing."