Narragan rules with absolute power as Protector of "Lady" Orgon, a planet inhabited by superstitious people who
believe their Highlord of Darkness must be evil in order to do his job.
Narragan doesn't disappoint them. Gifted with both telepathy and telekinesis, he sometimes kills with his anger
alone. Yet the Highlord is also a man, haunted by memories of the father and predecessor who abused him and finally
died by Narragan's hand. A man with a wife he doesn't love, but children he adores and fears for.
Twins Bowyn and Allegra will have different destinies, thanks partly to gender and partly to their differing
inheritances from Narragan. Bow, of course, must prepare to become Highlord someday. Ally, born without telepathic
ability, won't need it because women cannot rule. Narragan is glad to have one child who won't have to suffer
everything that power costs. Or so he believes, until events - both on Orgon, and in the Empire of which that world
is one very small protectorate - force the adolescent Lady Allegra to leave her childhood behind forever.
This third book in an on-going series is a wonderful ride for fans of character-driven science fiction adventure.
It may leave hard SF lovers cold, though, because much of the plotting depends on elements which cross over into
fantasy. Author Murphy has created an intricate future universe, imagined in such detail that I found it easy to
believe this universe real. Her characters, villains as well as heroes, are multidimensional even when they play
relatively minor roles. Murphy does a particularly good job of making the story accessible to a reader coming in at
the tale's third installment. Except for an occasional copyediting failure (one of them quite amusing in its use of
the wrong similar-sounding word), I thoroughly enjoyed the read.