Book I. The High Empress came to her people from a distant planet far across the sky. This work tells of the beginning of the Slave War, and of the Empress before she rose to power.
Size: 831 KB (153,168 words)
Genre: Erotica
Sex Contents: Some Sex
Tags: Ma/Fa, Ma/ft, ft/ft, Romantic, Fiction, Science Fiction, Slow, Violent
Review by Deepnight Reader [other reviews by Deepnight Reader]
Reviewed:
Serendipity can be a wonderful friend, discovering this story was most definitely a stroke of good fortune.
'Beautiful Stranger' is the first book of the series 'A Legend of the High Empress'. It is the only completed story in the series, but in itself is complete and thoroughly satisfying.
Posted before Genre categories were introduced on SoL, it could be classed as part Science Fiction, part Fantasy, and perhaps Historical in the sense that it tells the story of past events on the distant world of Aranis. The author's description of the story just above this review gives the basic premise.
It is set in a time of peace that is about to be shattered by aggression of great ferocity. Note the violent code, as the author describes a war were terrible acts of barbarity are committed by an enemy that aims for unrivalled power. Events of war are not dodged or covered up, tucked away in strings of euphemisms, but directly confronted and exposed to show the true picture of a war fought in ancient times. It's scary, depressing, but adds a genuineness to the narrative. Horses are not tamed on Aranis, hence armies move on foot. There are no metal swords, knives are made of hardened bone, and the major weapons are bow, arrow and spear. Unusual and inventive.
The description of the planet Aranis is built up a little at a time. It's length of days and years, its night sky, the forests, the poisoned Wastes of Ninev, (the home of the Pirate Slavers), the nation that has its cities under the sea, the city in the clouds suspended below vast hydrogen balloons and tethered to the mountains, the flying ships; the author describes a world that captured my imagination and brought back that 'sense of wonder' that scifi-fantasy readers treasure. The characters are similarly described so that you feel immersed in the events of the story.
Some of the battles are brutal, the ending when victory is at hand shocking, but the overall story is very satisfying.
Hmm, in my enthusiasm I've missed some things that a reviewer should comment on. Plot is very good, sex is restrained but good. The style in which the story is presented is excellent and satisfying. In some parts of the narrative the author uses words that create wonderful atmosphere. The use of single words as a sentence to create effect is an example. The author is an accomplished word craftsman.
There are a smattering of errors that good proofing would quickly eliminate, such as a few missed quotation marks, wrong name used in an exchange of speech, the odd homonym mixed up. All easily put to one side as I hurried from one chapter to another.
So this is the setting of the story of Anna Petrov, the young woman from Earth who embarks on her journey to become the High Empress. It is worth reading.
It is a gem!
