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The Highlord's Daughter
Part Three of the Highlord of Darkness Series

by Christine W. Murphy



      Narragan rules with absolute power as Protector of "Lady" Orgon, a planet inhabited by superstitious people who believe their Highlord of Darkness must be evil in order to do his job.

Narragan doesn't disappoint them. Gifted with both telepathy and telekinesis, he sometimes kills with his anger alone. Yet the Highlord is also a man, haunted by memories of the father and predecessor who abused him and finally died by Narragan's hand. A man with a wife he doesn't love, but children he adores and fears for.

Twins Bowyn and Allegra will have different destinies, thanks partly to gender and partly to their differing inheritances from Narragan. Bow, of course, must prepare to become Highlord someday. Ally, born without telepathic ability, won't need it because women cannot rule. Narragan is glad to have one child who won't have to suffer everything that power costs. Or so he believes, until events - both on Orgon, and in the Empire of which that world is one very small protectorate - force the adolescent Lady Allegra to leave her childhood behind forever.

This third book in an on-going series is a wonderful ride for fans of character-driven science fiction adventure. It may leave hard SF lovers cold, though, because much of the plotting depends on elements which cross over into fantasy. Author Murphy has created an intricate future universe, imagined in such detail that I found it easy to believe this universe real. Her characters, villains as well as heroes, are multidimensional even when they play relatively minor roles. Murphy does a particularly good job of making the story accessible to a reader coming in at the tale's third installment. Except for an occasional copyediting failure (one of them quite amusing in its use of the wrong similar-sounding word), I thoroughly enjoyed the read.

The Book

Hard Shell Word Factory
February 2006
eBook (also available in paperback)
ISBN:
eBook 0-7599-4337-0
Paperback 0759943389
SF
More at Amazon.com
Excerpt and eBook purchase
NOTE: repeated mentions of rape and torture; some violence and sex; nothing beyond what most readers expect in a book written for adults, though.

The Reviewer

Nina M. Osier
Reviewed 2006
NOTE: Reviewer Nina M. Osier is the author of 23 published books, including 2005 EPPIE winner Regs and Fictionwise bestseller Sagarmatha.
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