Across the natural divide provided by the Myrmidic Woods and the River Tor, Keaen and Tergan eye each other with an enmity as old as history. At the court of Keaen, Pandrak, the emissary of the magices of Skele, strives to fulfill his assigned duty: to ensure the survival of an ancient Covenant between the ruler and the people. But Pandrak is a man with divided loyalties.
In the city of Keaen, opposition to the Covenant is gathering strength. Would-be-revolutionaries are preparing for action, and at Castle Keaen, Armist and Tahlia are being readied for their assigned roles: Armist as his father's successor; Tahlia as bride to one of the provincial barons. Unwilling to submit to their fates, Armist and Tahlia flee the castle, threatening the stability of the nation. But when they learn the truth about their origins, they realize that the only way to go forward is to turn back.
"Keaen is a well-plotted novel with plenty of combat, twists, turns, setbacks, and revelations to keep the reader intrigued. The characters are strong, sympathetic and multifaceted, and the land has a fantastic edge without using genre cliches such as elves, dwarves, and dragons." - Dru Pagliassotti, The Harrow -
About the Author
Till Noever was born in Germany and emigrated to Australia at the age of twenty. He holds degrees in both Physics and Cognitive Sciences and his personal interests include: Samurai swordcraft, Eastern philosophy, space exploration, and research into human life extension.
Product Details
Paperback: 358 pages
Publisher: Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy Publishing; 1 edition (May 20, 2004)
Till was born in Germany into a family of visual artists; surrounded by books and no serious TV for years to come. He read like it was going out of fashion by the time I was six, grew up on Grimm's and Anderson's fairy tales, Karl May's adventures, American crime fiction, and German pulp sci-fi-especially the perennial 'Perry Rhodan' series, which, in Germany, is still going strong. He also developed a very early preoccupation with the notion of mortality. Personal extinction, decided the pre-teen, is a very bad thing indeed. Till still believes this to be true.
After studying astronomy and physics for over a year, one day he said 'enough' and walked out in the middle of a lecture, to apply for an immigration visa to Australia. He spent some years traveling around Australia and some of South and Central America, before, years later, resuming his studies in Australia, and later New Zealand--but this time with a strong leaning toward the life-sciences. Since then he has earned his living mostly with programming and technical writing, often in a biomedical context, in places ranging from Australia to Japan, to the UK and to the US.
Writing 'came' to Till in his very-late teens, but it was unformed and embryonic at best. In particular, he didn't know then what he knows now: that it isn't about 'writing' per se, but about telling stories. The change of languages from German to English held things up as well, and so writing didn't manage to get a decent foothold until some years later. There was also an incipient family, and things got delayed yet a bit more. Now, decades and more than a dozen novels, stories and screenplays later, with his two daughters grown up, he is still writing; comfortable finally with the language and the initially very daunting notion of what it means to conjure up and sustain a story.
Till does not believe in the need to be 'inspired', but that was is really needed is an urge, an itch that cannot be gotten rid of unless one tells stories. He basically writes what he would like to read: stories populated with characters he likes to love or hate; dealing with the basic parameters of the human equation: love, hate, generosity, greed, loyalty, betrayal, hope, fear, life, death, sex, peace, war, violence, forgiveness, retribution, curiosity, misunderstanding, reconciliation, ambition, surrender, cowardice, courage, and whatever else happens to come along. Among all that, good people who are trying to find their way through the minefields of their existence, attempting to eke a meaning from it; while not-so-good people, for reasons perfectly valid to themselves, do their best to put obstacles in the good-folks' way.
A long-running blog of Till's can be found at: keaen.blogspot.com.
This review is from: Keaen: For Life, For Love, For Liberty (Paperback)
This fantasy story is about the land of Keaen, whose central idea or concept is the survival of an ancient Covenant between the ruler and the people. One manifestation of that Covenant is that the ruler of Keaen can not marry or even have a lover. Heirs to the throne are created by the ruler impregnating any woman in the kingdom that he wishes. If a male child is born, that child is taken from the mother and spends his life in the castle. Armist is very uninterested in taking over as ruler, because he believes himself to be the product of such a union. His sister, Tahlia, is about to be married off to one of the local barons, a prospect that she equally dreads.
In Keaen, opposition to the Covenant is growing. Would-be rebels start to organize, semi-openly. One huge push is all that is needed to bring down the whole system. Armist and Tahlia aren't thinking about that when they flee the castle, throwing everything into chaos. They just want to get as far away as possible. Along the way, Armist and Tahlia find that they have friends within the castle.
Caitlan is the royal Weaponsmaster and Pandrak is the emissary of the magices of Skele (the head wizard). They have their reasons for wanting the system changed, so, in their own ways, they keep the pursuit away from Armist and Tahlia. Naturally, their father, King Hain, is not taking this lying down; their freedom doesn't last for long. Tahlia is forced into marriage with Baron Tegel, a fat, disgusting man with an unnatural liking for young boys. Armist is captured by forces loyal to Tergan, Keaen's neighbor and long-time enemy.
This one is very good. It's more of an adventure tale with narrow escapes, knife fights and carnivorous beings who come out at night. It may take some work on the part of the reader, but this is recommended.
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This review is from: Keaen: For Life, For Love, For Liberty (Paperback)
Keaen is a well-written, fast-paced fantasy adventure mixed with a dash of romance. Like all good fiction books it has characters we end up loving, and those we love to hate. The storyline has nice twists and turns and is never boring. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes fantasy adventure stories.
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This review is from: Keaen: For Life, For Love, For Liberty (Paperback)
As a reader unused to the fantasy genre, I was not sure what to expect from Till Noever's Keaen. However, I found the characters and situations accessible and engrossing immediately. I look forward to hearing more stories from the world of Keaen, so fully and richly described in the novel.
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