This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.
Following the events of An Earthly Crown, the jaran conquest of Rhui intensifies as rebel hearts simmer with conflicting loyalties Across Rhui, the jaran have been taking over towns and bending all non-jaran to the law of their rule. With Ilya Bakhtiian in charge, the nomadic fighters are now preparing an assault on the royal city of Karkand. But within the campaign, another struggle looms. Ilya's wife, Tess, is not from Rhui, but from Earth, and her brother, Charles, is a duke of the empire that includes Rhui, even though he once instigated a rebellion against it. Still driven by thoughts of a human revolt, Charles travels to Rhui for key information about the past, hoping to bring back his sister--his only heir. Does she want to passively abide by either man's plan for her, though, and is any challenge to the ancient and mighty Chapalii realistic? His Conquering Sword is the third volume of the Novels of the Jaran, which begin with Jaran and An Earthly Crown and conclude with The Law of Becoming. … (more)
More epic SF about the Jaran (nomadic horse people on the planet Rhui) and the technologically advanced Earthlings (who are trying to infiltrate Rhuian culture without revealing their own off-planet identities) and the inscrutably alien Chapelli (against whom the Earthlings are rebelling and of whom the Jaran remain officially ignorant).
It's a big meaty book about culture clashes on lots of different levels, and it's as good as the previous two books (Jaran and An Earthly Crown). My favorite subplot was about the Jaran prince and the Earthling actress that he spontaneously marries. Neither has any idea of what the marriage entails, and they just can't communicate on a fundamental level, and disaster is clearly waiting in the wings...yet they just keep obstinately plugging along, unable and unwilling to perceive separation as the most merciful course. It's alternately sweet and wrenching; their concluding scene has all the external trappings of a fairy-tale ending and the internal dynamic of a hard punch to the gut. ( )
Book 3 of the Jaran series. The consequences of intermixing with the native people of the planet Rhui are having wider and wider consequences and Elliott continues to make it interesting. If you started out liking the first one, you'll probably still like it. Things must resolve in Book 4 so I can hardly wait to get started. Look to the final book for a summing up. **** ( )
Still love this series. I think it's an interesting mix of post-colonial critique, traditional folk tale, and political drama. One thing I was thinking about while reading is that there's not a lot of struggle in this one. There is one very sad main thing that happens, but other than that I mostly just enjoy reading because of the characters. ( )
Following the events of An Earthly Crown, the jaran conquest of Rhui intensifies as rebel hearts simmer with conflicting loyalties Across Rhui, the jaran have been taking over towns and bending all non-jaran to the law of their rule. With Ilya Bakhtiian in charge, the nomadic fighters are now preparing an assault on the royal city of Karkand. But within the campaign, another struggle looms. Ilya's wife, Tess, is not from Rhui, but from Earth, and her brother, Charles, is a duke of the empire that includes Rhui, even though he once instigated a rebellion against it. Still driven by thoughts of a human revolt, Charles travels to Rhui for key information about the past, hoping to bring back his sister--his only heir. Does she want to passively abide by either man's plan for her, though, and is any challenge to the ancient and mighty Chapalii realistic? His Conquering Sword is the third volume of the Novels of the Jaran, which begin with Jaran and An Earthly Crown and conclude with The Law of Becoming.
▾Library descriptions
No library descriptions found.
▾LibraryThing members' description
Book description
When Conquerors Clash on the planet Rhui, the Jaran tribes, under the leadership of Ilya Bakthiian have ranged far in their campaign to subjugate all who will not willingness veiled to their rule. Yet even as they prepare to besiege the royal city of Karkand, many another battle is being waged on a far more personal - and perhaps a more important - scale. For Ilya is married to Tess Soerensen, a woman born not on Rhui but on Earth, and a woman, too, who is the only heir to Charles Soerensen, leader of the failed rebellion against the alien Chapalii Empire and now a duke of that same empire. And Charles has come to Rhui for two reasons: to reclaim his sister, and to decipher long hidden and invaluable data about the Mushai, the legendary Chapalii who concealed his own rebellion against the empire.
But Tess has no desire to become anyone's puppet, and unless the three can make their own private peace and agree upon a common strategy for conquest, what hope do they have of overthrowing an Empire that was thriving before humans learned to walk erect?
)
)
Google Books — Loading...
Wikipedia in English
1
It's a big meaty book about culture clashes on lots of different levels, and it's as good as the previous two books (Jaran and An Earthly Crown). My favorite subplot was about the Jaran prince and the Earthling actress that he spontaneously marries. Neither has any idea of what the marriage entails, and they just can't communicate on a fundamental level, and disaster is clearly waiting in the wings...yet they just keep obstinately plugging along, unable and unwilling to perceive separation as the most merciful course. It's alternately sweet and wrenching; their concluding scene has all the external trappings of a fairy-tale ending and the internal dynamic of a hard punch to the gut. (