Mortal Suns
Lee presents the marvelous world of Akhemony, where the sun is worshiped and the Heart Drum of the kingdom is never silent, lest the heart of the kingdom cease to beat. One of the queens of Akhemony struggles to give birth to the king's child, a beautiful but seriously crippled girl--she is born without feet. Her mother immediately consigns her to the Temple of Death. Yet, later, the girl is retrieved from doom, raised as a princess of the kingdom, and eventually chosen as consort to its king. From that station, she witnesses the downfalls of the kings and of traditional ways. Lee embellishes this reasonably simple plot with great richness of detail, and she makes Akhemony, though it calls to mind a number of places in our world's history, a unique place. As is her wont, Lee weaves style, subject, and characters into a seamless whole.Frieda MurrayCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved