"Good to have these tales back in print"
The Golden Queen. The insectoid Dronons defeat the human
Tharrin, killing Queen Semarritte. Chaos reigns over the
10,000 worlds with the Dronons beginning to take control.
Semarritte's consort Lord Versace clones a new queen from
the deceased. While the Dronons want both dead to secure
their position, Veriasse and Queen Everynne hop from
planet to planet buying time and allies. Beyond the Gate. Allies of the Queen that she met while
leaping from planet to planet with Veriasse, Gallen and
Maggie hide from the Dronons. While Gallen and Maggie also
face local trouble from humans as well, they finally
marry. However, they have a royal assignment to go off
world to rescue a female Tharrin, Cerravanne, a former
leader who the Dronons converted into an Inhuman infecting
and converting everyone she meets. These two well received science fiction thrillers are
combined into one fine book that readers who enjoy an
alien species threatening the human outer space empire
will want to read. Both tales are strong action adventures
with heroic lead couples. Personally this reviewer enjoyed
The Golden Queen more as the planet hopping of the stars
seem real and the people met on these various orbs
genuine; while Beyond the Gate is well written it needs a
leap of acceptance that the champions from a backwater
planet can so easily adapt to planet jumping. Still David
Farland provides two fine save the galaxy tales of heroes
battling unbeatable adversaries. Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted August 8, 2005
Reviewed by PNR Group Member
Posted January 25, 2007
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Originally published as two books, Worlds of the Golden Queen is a stellar tale of love, adventure, sacrifice, and war set in a fantastic future. In the first novel, The Golden Queen, the insectoid Dronons have slain the human queen Semarritte, thowing into chaos the ten thousand worlds over which she reigned. Desperate to save mankind, Lord Veriasse, her near- immortal consort, has created a new queen: Everynne, cloned from the dead original. Hotly pursued, Everynne falls in with cocky bodyguard Gallen O'Day; the pious Orick, an intelligent black bear; and the beautiful orphan Maggie Flynn. With Gallen and the others newly sworn to her service, the young queen begins the great struggle against the aliens. Leaping from world to world via an ancient system of instantaneous transport gates, the heroes face terrible dangers and great wonders as they seek the heart of the dronon worlds, carrying the battle straight to the enemy. In the second novel, Beyond the Gate, Maggie Flynn has become, by test of combat, the new Golden Queen. Gallen, Maggie, and Orick face an attack by Dronons on a planet where humans have achieved the pinnacle of genetic engineering. They must stop them while guarding the secret of Maggie's whereabouts, for she is only the Golden Queen until her champion, Gallen, is defeated by a Dronon challenger. In the midst of a slam-bang story, Farland raises and examines deep questions of humanity's definition and identity.
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