Fiction Subjects, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Available on Bookshop
Write a review
Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Log in to track your reading progress.
Overview
The Sunderlies--for Doyce's and Jenret's 16-year-old twins, Jenneth and her brother Diccon--the very name is a summons to exotic adventure. So when Jenret proposes taking the family along on a business trip there, the twins can hardly contain their excitement. Yet, almost from the start, the journey seems overshadowed with bad luck or evil intent. But real disaster strikes at sea.Synopsis
The Sunerlies—home to convicts, rebels, and the unwanted refuse of society—or so it has traditional been. Even now it is a land where, for the law-abiding population, the price of safety is eternal vigilance. For Doyce’s and Jenret’s sixteen-year-old twins, Jenneth and her brother Diccon, the very name is a summons to exotic adventure. So when Jenret proposes taking them—and any friends who wish to make the journey—along on a business trip to the Sunerlies, the twins can hardly contain their excitement. The only thing more thrilling is the newfound bond Jenneth has made with the ghatten Pw’eek and Diccon with her sister ghatten Kwee. Yet almost from the start the journey seems overshadowed with bad luck—or evil intent. Though Doyce, newly retired from the position of Seeker General, has come along in the hopes of restrengthening her emotional ties with her husband Jenret, they seem to be caught in a kind of private war neither can control. And before the party even sets sail, “accidents” begin to occur. First Doyce is thrown by her mount. Next a campfire explosion menaces Jenneth, Diccon, and the other children. Yet despite these ill omens, they are determined not to turn back. But the real disaster strikes at sea, when a storm sweeps Jenneth and Pw’eek overboard. Desperate to find his lost twin, Diccon has no way of knowing what the worst of all of them still lies ahead—in the Sunerlies, where a once-vanquished and long-vanished enemy waits—a fanatic determined to eradicate Resonates and Seekers alike…Editorials
VOYA -
Greeno continues the story line and characters from her first trilogy The Ghatti's Tale in this intricately-plotted beginning of the second trilogy, Ghatten's Gambit. Doyce Marbon resigns her post as Seeker General early in the novel. She and her Bondmate, the ghatta Khar, one of the large cat-like creatures capable of forming a mind-bond with certain humans, accompany Doyce's family and friends on a sea voyage to the Sunderlies. This region is a wild and rough land, once home exclusively to exiles from society but now a thriving and unique territory. The party is plagued by mischief and misadventure along the way, but it is difficult to determine exactly who the target is. Their luck seems to turn when Doyce's sixteen-year-old twins, Jenneth and Diccon, bond with a pair of sister ghattens, Pw'eek and Kwee; but during a storm, Jenneth and Pw'eek are swept overboard. Diccon goes in search of his sister on his own, and the party further fragments when they reach the city of Samranth and Jenret, Doyce's husband, leaves an injured Doyce behind while he searches for his children. Greeno handles the numerous plot threads skillfully as they twist and turn around each other, finally converging at the resolution. The characters are complex, realistic, and appealing, expressing and evoking authentic emotions. Only Pw'eek's baby talk gets a little wearing at times, but it is still endurable. The book is accessible to readers new to the series, but it is best appreciated by those who have read the previous trilogy. An especially good pick for libraries that own or are willing to purchase the first trilogy: Finders-Seekers (DAW, 1993/VOYA August 1993); Mindspeakers' Call (DAW, 1994/VOYA August 1994); and Exiles' Return (DAW, 1995). VOYA Codes: 3Q 4P J S A/YA (Readable without serious defects, Broad general YA appeal, Junior High-defined as grades 7 to 9, Senior High-defined as grades 10 to 12 and adults).Book Details
Published
November 1, 1998
Publisher
Penguin Group (USA)
Pages
512
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9781101165751