Sword of Shadows (Kristell Ink, Grimbold Books)
by C.N. Lesley
This book is all about a quest for a legendary sword, but the Excalibur of this tale is the key to an alien race. It’s not only a war of swords and stealth, it’s a war for genetic and technological superiority.
In part two of this futuristic riff off the Arthurian legend . . . Shadow, the submariner/land-dweller half-breed mother of the Once and Future King, has been left by her sons in doomed undersea Avalon . Kai and Arthur were banished to live with the Terrans, by Seers who fear Arthur’s psi powers: powers which nearly destroyed them. These powers also give Arthur an edge over their common enemy, the Nestines. All three genetically-changed post human species are at war, but only those whose thoughts are not clouded by the Nestines can see the Nestines as the driving force, or see them at all. This blindness to the threat is accomplished by technology, but can be dispelled by Arthur and Shadow’s tremendous psi powers, or by rival technology.
Emrys (this version of the legend’s Merlin) is no longer an uploaded personality, but he continues to guide them cryptically. Their path to the Sword is clouded by betrayal, physical barriers, and the fears of love.
And, wow – what a take on doomed Arthur leaving on a voyage for healing, across a wide sea.
