Paul Kearney, This Forsaken Earth

This Forsaken Earth

Paul Kearney

Bantam, November 2006, $12.00

ISBN: 0553383639

Half human and rumored half-deity, Rol Cortishane finds a home at sea on his black kassic man of war vessel The Revenant. There the privateer ruthlessly patrols the waters by the pirate cove, Ganesh Ka of Umer. Any Bionari Empire ships that venture in the vicinity are destroyed, and their treasures become the booty of him and his crew.

However, his harmonious sea life ends when an adversary from his salad days, the King of Thieves Canker, visits Rol with news and a request. Rol prefers either to ignore or feed Canker to the fish, but he knows he cannot, as his past that he prefers buried has surfaced. The woman he lusted after, the assassin Rowen, sent her strange bedfellow ally to obtain Rol's support, as she militarily backs her claim of Empress of the Bionari Empire. Feeling marked by fate, Rol leaves his beloved sea to go inland to assist Rowen.

Few fantasy writers since Gulliver's fourth journey (to the land of Houyhnhnms) can depict the insanity of choosing war as the best option as well as Paul Kearney does in his Sea Beggers' tales (see THE MARK OF RAN). The action-packed storyline grips readers even before Canker's request sends Rol on a landlubber adventure, and it never slows down while Rol and Rowen stir up the empire until the final climax. The battles at sea are incredible (on land they are well written but not as magnificent). Readers will appreciate this sword and sorcery thriller, and they will look forward to more tales of yore from Mr. Kearney.