AN EARTHLY CROWN
(The novels of the Jaran: Book 2)
Kate Elliott
DAW Books, 1993
ISBN:0-88677-546-9 (paperback)
CONFRONTATION OF CONQUERORS--In Jaran, Kate Elliott introduced us to the planet Rhuii, an
interdicted, low-technology, human-populated world, and to the
nomadic jaran tribes, a people on the brink of uniting under one
charismatic warlord, Ilya Bakhtiian.
An Earthly Crown returns us to Rhuii as the jarantribes, led by
Ilya, are sweeping across the plains to conquer the settled lands,
city by city. At Ilya's side, and a partner in his victoires, is his wife Tess, a woman of whose true origins
Ilya himself is unaware. For Tess, born on Earth, is the sister and only heir
of Charles Soerensen, leader of the failed rebellion against the alien Chapalii
empire and now a Duke of the Empire.
Charles, who has continued his subversive activities against the
alien overlords, now finds himself caught in a deadly game of
interstellar politics and realizes that he must go to Rhuii to reclaim
both his heir and knowledge long hidden there of an ancient
rebellion aginst the Empire. But once there, Charles finds
himself caught in a battle of wills with Ilya, who is equally adamant about
keeping Tess on Rhuii. Yet what neither realizes is that Tess has her own
agenda for the future, and that this clash of powers may prove the death knell of both the jaran tribes
and the hman rebellion.
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