I usually enjoy Grant's novels. She puts her romances in space! This one is more a fantasy than science fiction, although there was space traveling in the past on this world. It took me three-fourths of the book to realize that Uhrth was Earth. I don't think this is one of Grant's best but it really had promise.
The story begins when General Tao returns from the battlefield, sure that he has brought peace at last to his king and country. He pictures himself retiring to his family's vineyards and carefully choosing a wife. However, his king become jealous of the people's exuberance in welcoming him home and Tao is quickly accused of treason and thrown in jail, sure to be executed in the morning.
In the meantime, a palace worker who is from the ghettos of the Kurel is plotting to overthrow this king who was instrumental in the attack that killed her parents. Elsabeth works in the nursery with the king's children and is good friends with the Queen. However, she has been working with the king's own advisor to rid the country of the man who seems a bit mad.
Elsabeth helps Tao escape and hides him in her own house in the midst of the Kurels who have every reason to hate him. Of course, their relationship begins on a rough note but they eventually come to see that their mistrust of one another is reflected in the mistrust their people have of one another. In order for everyone to survive, they must all learn to work together.
I would have liked more interaction between Tao and the Kurel people. It would have made a much stronger book if he began to win the trust of her people while he learned that his own prejudices were foolish. Instead, Grant ends up sneaking the couple out to avoid a search of the ghetto then ends the book way too neatly. And their own relationship develops way too quickly.
What does this book have to do with my faith? This book made me think about how even Christians tend to mistrust one another and have all kinds of prejudices. Usually, their misunderstandings have more to do with how they translate and interpret God's word than their actual belief in Christ. Rarely do we Christians simply embrace our similarities. We see each other as competitors of the same crop and don't have much trust in one another's methods. We need to focus on what we have in common and trust one another in how we carry out God's will.
I don't recommend this book unless you are a big Susan Grant fan.
Happy reading!
Amelia
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