I lost a couple of hours of good sleep because I couldn t wait to get to the ending. If you re a fan of hard science fiction, paleontology, or a good adventure, take the time to read End of an Era. It blows Jurassic Park out of the water. The Grand Ellipse is best described as Jules Verne s Around the World in Eighty Days, set in Paula Volsky s own particular fantasy world. The participants, or Ellipsoids , must complete a circuit of the nations of the world, with passports stamped at predetermined stops.
Any means of travel is acceptable.
This would be of no particular interest in a world that is currently being conquered wholesale by one of the nations upon it, except that the eccentric king insists upon strict neutrality even as one of his mages invents an extremely powerful weapon and leaked news of it despite the king s orders to the contrary. Given that the winner of the race known as the Grand Ellipse will be granted an audience with the king, the importance of the race becomes monumental. Naturally, each Ellipsoid also has pressing personal reasons to win the race. Unsportsmanlike conduct doesn t even begin to describe the conduct of the Ellipsoids and their supporters, which includes everything from petty vandalism and horse theft to murder and selling one s rivals into prostitution. The main viewpoint character, Luzelle Devaire, has to overcome the obstacle of being a respectable, ambitious woman in a world where the most advanced nations are at a Victorian level of propriety and an adventuress is a prostitute who enjoys travel.