Kate Elliott, Spirit Gate

Spirit Gate

Kate Elliott

Tor, September 2006, $25.95

ISBN 0765310552

When the Guardians ruled the Hundred, justice was the norm for everyone while their lieutenants the Reeves kept the peace. Prosperity hit every corner of the land, as everyone does well with nobody falling under the safety net provided by the Guardians and enforced by the Reeves.

Then the Guardians vanished while the Reeves lost interest in justice and maintaining the peace, as that meant hard work with no one to guide them. Malevolence has taken charge of the Hundred and its neighbors, due to indifference and a power vacuum. However, after enjoying the hedonism bestowed on the Reeves, Joss feels guilty that he has failed his homeland. At the same time that Joss gains a conscience and decides he must act, Outlanders led by Captain Anji and his wife Mai under the protection of his Qin soldiers have arrived in the Hundred as a last resort because a pandemic disaster seems imminent.

The first tale of the Crossroads is a complex fantasy in which prosperity that was once everywhere is limited to a select elite few, and whereas judicial enlightenment was the rule of law terrorism is now the norm. Those in power neglect those that are not. In this realm a hero begins to emerge so that readers obtain a fully developed society, filled with elaborate purposely convoluted belief systems that set the stage of what looks like will be a tremendous saga.