Sarah Zettel, Sword of the Deceiver

Sword of the Deceiver

Sarah Zettel

Tor, Mar 2007, $27.95

ISBN: 0765304228

The Hastinapura Empire has been the superpower ruling Isavalta with its military might and has forced its neighbors to pay tribute for five centuries. While celebrating her womanhood rite with her family before she royally marries, Sindhu Princess Natharie learns that the Empire demands that her parents, King Kiet and Queen Sitara, send a regal human tribute. Father and daughter conclude the only reasonable person that would be acceptable as a hostage to Pearl Throne Emperor Chandra is her as why else would he time his demand as the rite of passage begins. Thus on what should have been a most joyous occasion, Natharie instead start a dangerous journey.

At the Hastinapura court, everyone ignores the teenage barbarian from the south as being beneath them, This enables Natharie to learn that her host and his followers worship the Mothers, whose gory, abusive High Priest, Divakesh has begun a campaign to bring his religion to the outer nations including Sindhu. Her only hope to save her family and her people from a massacre resides with Chandra's brother Prince Samudra, but he just returned home after a one-year diplomatic mission and his influence has been superseded exponentially by Divakesh.

Fans of romance and epic political fantasies will cherish this terrific Isavalta saga that can stand alone yet also adds to the lore of the previous tales (see THE FIREBIRD'S VENGEANCE). The action is fast and furious as the countdown for a blitzkrieg backed by religious fervor is nearing the doomsday second with only two people trying to prevent a bloody, ethnic cleansing even as their love for one another blossoms but takes a back seat to saving the lives of innocent people. Sarah Zettel shows she is a superior fantasist.

Harriet Klausner