Renloret is a pilot who prefers to spend his spare time in
the library rather than in meetings. He's got to work
today
though; a strategy meeting is called to discuss another
planet where the populace is intermittently at war. The
inhabitants don't like the idea of other races from space,
and earlier emissaries may be in hiding somewhere on the
surface. THE BLOOD: THE STONE'S BLADE follows a rescue
mission. There's a catch. The person they most need to
find
is a five-year-old girl whose blood may be able to save
her
race from a virulent disease.
With mystical stones which transmit visions to chosen
people, this story hovers on the edge of fantasy. But just
because we can't explain how something works, that doesn't
make it magic. Ani is a young woman on the planet which is
the rescue party's destination; she is summoned by a
telepathic dog friend Kela to the site of a plane crash.
Renloret alone is the person she manages to save. Just a
pilot, he doesn't even know all the details of the people
he needs to find. Ani is a blade instructor and keeps her
wits about her, hiding the scene of the crash in case
those
people who fear aliens should want to cause harm. For
all
she knows Renloret, who appears just like herself, is from
the continent opposing hers. However the crash has been
noted by others, including the police and army. How long
can she keep him hidden? And has the rescue mission ended,
in the wreckage of the spaceship?
The engaging story reminds me of Anne McCaffrey's
interplanetary books. I like the telepathic dog, and the
traveller's efforts to appear a native. A chapter about a
social event slows the story, but it shows us that well-
liked Ani has been keeping her own company since the death
of her parents a year previously. The local lawman Taryn
has an unrequited crush on her, and amusingly so does the
approaching general Dalkey, who has become something of a
stalker. I enjoyed fine details like the visual of the
moon
with rings in the night sky. There's more conversation
than
drama.
While this story contains a romance, it is understated and
suitable for young adult readers. Allynn Riggs is writing
a
sequel to THE BLOOD: THE STONE'S BLADE, which may answer
some unresolved questions. Crystals, swords and a
potential cure are a heady mix in this space fantasy.
Only the one known as The Blood can save Lrakira . . . but
is there time? The women of Lrakira have begun to die and
the Stones have chosen Renloret to rescue Lrakira’s only
hope of survival, a five-year-old child living on Teramar.
When his ship crashes on Teramar, Renloret races against
time to find the child whose blood carries the cure for
his people. But the child cannot be found, and to
complicate matters, Renloret is falling in love with Ani,
a female Teramaran blade ring champion with serious alien
issues and a need to be accepted for who she is. Renloret
must choose between the survival of his species and the
love of his life. The future of two worlds, Lrakira and
Teramar, hang in the balance and everything depends on
Renloret.
Thank you for the review, Clare. The sequel, The Balance, is headed to the editor's office and the cover is being developed. I look forward to your thoughts on it as well. (Allynn Riggs 4:41pm February 28, 2015)
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