Jaran

I wasn't crazy about this book. For one, I thought it was pretty clear this is an early work of Kate Elliot, and secondly, the characters and the plot, if you can call it that, didn't click for me at all.

Theoretically this is science-fiction. Earth is part of the Chapalli empire, and has once rebelled against it under the leadership of Duke Charles Soerensen. For an inexplicable reason, the Chapalli rewarded this act with giving him a high rank in their Empire. Our protagonist is Charles' heir, his younger sister Tess. Heartbroken, she wants to travel to a planet her brother rules over, Rhui, where it's forbidden to display technology, and the Chapalli are not actually allowed to travel to the planet at all. Confused? Yeah, it's just all very jumbled. Anyhow. Tess stumbles onto a plot where the Chapalli have secretly infiltrated Rhui and have gifted the local tribe of Jaran with valuable Arabian horses. Following the aliens she gets lost on the plains and is picked up and adopted by a Jaran tribe.

From that point on it's kinda Mary Sue traveling with Mongols, being superb at everything, and the brooding and arrogant leader and all the other guys want her or befriend her.

Apparently Kate Elliot has a thing for forced marriages as a plot device, because the Jaran leader forces Tess into marrying him, just like in the Spiritwalker series, which really finds me baffled. It ultimately worked for me in Spiritwalker, but here, I disliked Tess, and Ilya, and couldn't care less about the other characters.

I am totally undecided if I want to continue the series. What's up with the Chapalli plot? What was the point of it? I don't know! But I also don't know if I am intrigued enough to go on. Probably not.

It's weird, my wife loves this book and her taste is usually impeccable. I am assuming she liked the horse bits way more than I do. :P