The Kindly Ones
By:
Sign Up Now!
Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title.
Learn about membership options,
or view our freely available titles.
- Synopsis
- Even after years on Orestes, Trey Maturin could not overcome an intense dislike of the Orestean social code. All the more so because, as sworn Medium for the great House of Halex, Trey was frequently a dutiful but reluctant partner to the code's often cruel injunctions. For 1,500 years, the Orestean code had held together a society carved out of a cold, material-poor moon of the planet Agamemnon, dividing its territories among five great Families. The code demanded the utmost loyalty to one's Family. To break it meant "death"--a legal declaration that banished the offender into a sharply defined social limbo. He or she became a ghost, unseen by the living. One could communicate with the dead only through a Medium, such as Trey; to do otherwise meant suffering social death oneself. There had been a time when the harsh code had served its purpose. On a world simmering with interfamilial rivalry, it had, with sanctioned Feuds, kept in check the ambitions and hatreds that might have completely destroyed Orestean civilization. But working for the House of Halex, Trey had long felt the tremors that would begin to undermine the code. For the Halex Family had been pioneering off-world trade, building their only marketable resources, fur and wool, into a rich source of income. Such commerce had brought new, exotic influences to insular Orestes... and excited the jealousy of their chief rival, the powerful, unscrupulous House of Brandr. The Brandr, who had been biding their time, reopened an ancient feud against the Halex. And suddenly Trey, who had sought to remain apart from the Orestean code, was thrust into the center of the deadly power struggle--becoming, by default, the custodian of the 15-year-old heir to the Halex patriarchy.... trapped by duty while the world, seething with economic and social unrest, moved toward war and devastation. Hunted by the Brandr, abandoned by the other Families, Trey's only allies were a crippled off-world spaceship captain and a ragtag band of ghosts. But those allies had their own ambitions and dreams to fulfill, and the bold, dangerous plan they conceived threatened to shatter what was left of Orestes.
- Copyright:
- 1987
Book Details
- Book Quality:
- Excellent
- Book Size:
- 343 Pages
- Publisher:
- Baen Books
- Date of Addition:
- 11/25/15
- Copyrighted By:
- Melissa Scott
- Adult content:
- No
- Language:
- English
- Has Image Descriptions:
- No
- Categories:
- Literature and Fiction, Science Fiction and Fantasy
- Submitted By:
- Marilyn
- Proofread By:
- Bobbi Elaine
- Usage Restrictions:
- This is a copyrighted book.