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Sunstone Scrolls #3
Starsilk
Reyna, a princess, and the hunter Juaren share a dream that sets them in conflict with a greedy enemy who seeks their very souls.
248 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1984
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 3, 2020
When I was younger, I couldn't appreciate this book the way I did the first two. Reyna can't turn into a magical bronze lady with stone and sun powers, so where's the attraction? I've never felt satisfied to only have these three stories in this world. The Ender's Game world has almost countless entries that explore different planets and cultures with familiar characters. Brakath is only the setting for two books, with this book expanding into what's beyond their dim sun. I wanted more stories with Barohnas and redmane guardians and valley life.
I found, after reading this book, that it is enough after all. Because the book ends with the understanding that the Brakath that we've come to know and love must change. No matter how romantic I find their values of sacrifice and community. No matter how safe it feels for their world to remain isolated from the threats of humans evolved elsewhere with their greed and weapons. No matter how ideal their utopia, the rest of the world knocking at their door had to be acknowledged. And it's much like that in our lives too.
Like Khira, we must acknowledge and utilise our fear. Like Keva, we must embrace the power of our voices and actions. And like Reyna, we must be brave enough to break from the comfort of tradition.
This trilogy ends on a story with beautiful details that wrap up the themes. How the Armini dine only to critique, Verra's traditional dress, the palace daughter placed in the arms of her father, Reyna's acceptance of technology, and finally, some actual romantic moments XD
I found, after reading this book, that it is enough after all. Because the book ends with the understanding that the Brakath that we've come to know and love must change. No matter how romantic I find their values of sacrifice and community. No matter how safe it feels for their world to remain isolated from the threats of humans evolved elsewhere with their greed and weapons. No matter how ideal their utopia, the rest of the world knocking at their door had to be acknowledged. And it's much like that in our lives too.
Like Khira, we must acknowledge and utilise our fear. Like Keva, we must embrace the power of our voices and actions. And like Reyna, we must be brave enough to break from the comfort of tradition.
This trilogy ends on a story with beautiful details that wrap up the themes. How the Armini dine only to critique, Verra's traditional dress, the palace daughter placed in the arms of her father, Reyna's acceptance of technology, and finally, some actual romantic moments XD
November 21, 2020
This book is the third in the Sunstone Scrolls trilogy.
Reyna is a barohna’s daughter all set to make the trip into the hills to face the challenge which will make her into a barohna herself or die in the attempt. Her parents are Khira and Iahn from Bluesong (the previous novel in the sequence) who have fallen out over this tradition, with Iahn returning to the plains where Khira met him. On the day of the annual dance - when it seems the inhabitants of Brakrath choose mates - Reyna meets a hunter, Juaren, one of the last of his kind. That evening though it is her mother who picks out Juaren to dance and take to her bed. Some weeks later Khira tells Reyna she will not be the next barohna, her unborn sister will, and forbids her to take go on her challenge. The Arnimi, off-planet humans reliant on instruments to a very un-Brakrathi extent and who have been studying the people of Brakrath for many years, have discovered which part of the brain allows a palace daughter to become a barohna and Reyna has not inherited it. That her father is himself an off-planet Rauthimage is almost certainly a factor in this and Khira has therefore been forced to mate with a Brakrathi to fulfil her purpose of providing a daughter to replace her as barohna.
The communication from Birnam Rauth (of whom Iahn is a clone) via the bluesilk from the previous book in the sequence provides a new purpose for Reyna’s life though as the Arnimi propose she travels to the likely planet where he is held captive to find and, if possible, rescue him. Her companions will be Verra, an Arnimi, and Juaren, whose dynastic purpose having been fulfilled is something of a spare at the palace.
Reyna’s tale is interspersed with details of the lives of some sithi, indigenous bear-like creatures of Birnam Rauth’s prison planet; in especial, Tsuuka, mother of several sithi one of whom, Dariim, is so enthralled by a red starsilk that he disobeys her strictures about penetrating deep into the nearby forest and falls into danger. There creatures called spinners produce the starsilks which sing to the sithi and also protect the eldest tree within which Rauth is trapped.
Through the third person text, Reyna keeps asking herself questions, as does Tsuuka. As a means of information provision (I hesitate to call it dumping) and illustration of Reyna’s lack of knowledge of the sithi’s planet, this is fine but there was perhaps too much of it.
As if to prove that Science Fiction is rarely about the future the Arnimi recording medium of choice in this book is tape. In Starsilk’s year of publication, 1984, of course, this would have seemed unremarkable and to have invented another a seemingly unnecessary extrapolation. How much has changed in the past 36 years.
The journey to find out where and how starsilks were produced and Birnam Rauth sequestered is where the trilogy has been headed all along. Though it takes us off Brakrath with its unusual culture and doesn’t really illuminate those of the Arnimi and the inimical Benderzic, it is not a disappointment. This is good, solid SF - even if it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the genre.
Reyna is a barohna’s daughter all set to make the trip into the hills to face the challenge which will make her into a barohna herself or die in the attempt. Her parents are Khira and Iahn from Bluesong (the previous novel in the sequence) who have fallen out over this tradition, with Iahn returning to the plains where Khira met him. On the day of the annual dance - when it seems the inhabitants of Brakrath choose mates - Reyna meets a hunter, Juaren, one of the last of his kind. That evening though it is her mother who picks out Juaren to dance and take to her bed. Some weeks later Khira tells Reyna she will not be the next barohna, her unborn sister will, and forbids her to take go on her challenge. The Arnimi, off-planet humans reliant on instruments to a very un-Brakrathi extent and who have been studying the people of Brakrath for many years, have discovered which part of the brain allows a palace daughter to become a barohna and Reyna has not inherited it. That her father is himself an off-planet Rauthimage is almost certainly a factor in this and Khira has therefore been forced to mate with a Brakrathi to fulfil her purpose of providing a daughter to replace her as barohna.
The communication from Birnam Rauth (of whom Iahn is a clone) via the bluesilk from the previous book in the sequence provides a new purpose for Reyna’s life though as the Arnimi propose she travels to the likely planet where he is held captive to find and, if possible, rescue him. Her companions will be Verra, an Arnimi, and Juaren, whose dynastic purpose having been fulfilled is something of a spare at the palace.
Reyna’s tale is interspersed with details of the lives of some sithi, indigenous bear-like creatures of Birnam Rauth’s prison planet; in especial, Tsuuka, mother of several sithi one of whom, Dariim, is so enthralled by a red starsilk that he disobeys her strictures about penetrating deep into the nearby forest and falls into danger. There creatures called spinners produce the starsilks which sing to the sithi and also protect the eldest tree within which Rauth is trapped.
Through the third person text, Reyna keeps asking herself questions, as does Tsuuka. As a means of information provision (I hesitate to call it dumping) and illustration of Reyna’s lack of knowledge of the sithi’s planet, this is fine but there was perhaps too much of it.
As if to prove that Science Fiction is rarely about the future the Arnimi recording medium of choice in this book is tape. In Starsilk’s year of publication, 1984, of course, this would have seemed unremarkable and to have invented another a seemingly unnecessary extrapolation. How much has changed in the past 36 years.
The journey to find out where and how starsilks were produced and Birnam Rauth sequestered is where the trilogy has been headed all along. Though it takes us off Brakrath with its unusual culture and doesn’t really illuminate those of the Arnimi and the inimical Benderzic, it is not a disappointment. This is good, solid SF - even if it doesn’t quite reach the heights of the genre.
March 2, 2015
Finally read the concluding book to the trilogy - I enjoyed the first two books as a child/teen. A story that left me wanting more!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews