Shorn (Sky Seekers) [Paperback]

Larissa N Niec (Author)

Book Description

Series: Sky Seekers | Publication Date: October 1, 2008

A riveting tale of oppression and resilience, the consequences of vengeance, and the malleable nature of truth, Shorn marks the debut of an exciting new voice in fantasy. "I will make final reparation for the crimes of my ancestors. I will be the one to pay the debt." So the young soldier, Jhared Denaban, swore on the night of his Becoming: he would be the one to balance the bloody debt earned by his ancestors, the faithless Avelune. Stripped of his birthright and shackled under the oppressive laws that protect Avelos from those who bear the Avelune curse, Jhared enters his country's service desperate to prove himself free of an evil legacy. But the memory of betrayal hasn't faded. His countrymen despise him and his own kind distrust him. Even those who raised him cannot hide their fear. Bound into servitude, Jhared is sent to the border, assigned to protect Avelos from foreign enemies and devastating magical forces. But the assignments that matter most are the ones for which he has no training. As he searches for the source of increasing political unrest, he must struggle against the instincts that drive him toward self-destruction and the people who believe his death is the only way the debt can be paid. Caught in the plots of the powerful, Jhared finds the truths of his past and the history of his kind growing more uncertain. He must resolve conflicting notions of duty and justice, loyalty and freedom, reparation and love. If he and his beloved country are to survive, he must confront what it truly means to be Shorn.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Jhared Denaban, a young soldier of the land of Avelos, lives under the Avelune Curse because he descended from a tribe that betrayed their land and earned themselves the label of Shorn. As Jhared labors under the strict laws forbidding the Shorn to hold public office or enter the priesthood, he discovers that Avelos faces not only enemies from without but also rivalries and deceit from within, and he suspects that the stories of his ancestors' shame may not be totally accurate. Niec's debut novel, the first of a planned four-book series, creates a fascinating world of rival clans and sacred rituals, tainted by a dark, shameful past and subject to predation from its enemies. This is also a coming-of-age story and belongs in most fantasy collections.
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Review

-Niec's debut novel- creates a fascinating world of rival clans and sacred rituals, tainted by a dark, shameful past and subject to predation from its enemies. This is also a coming-of-age story and belongs in most fantasy collections.-

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-Library Journal

"Shorn" is a unique fantasy, sure to please those on the look out for a new obsession to read.

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-Midwest Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Mercury Retrograde Press (October 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0981665403
• ISBN-13: 978-0981665405
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,457,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

LARISSA N. NIEC is the author of the fantasy novel, SHORN, Book One of The Sky Seekers. After graduating from Grinnell College with a bachelor's degree in psychology, Larissa moved to Cleveland, learned to knit, and entered a doctoral program in clinical psychology. During her post-doctoral training at the Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, writing fiction became an outlet to manage the emotional challenges of working with traumatized children.

Currently, Larissa is a clinical child psychologist in Michigan, where she teaches at Central Michigan University and directs a clinic for young children with emotional and behavioral problems. She has a number of non-fiction publications in the areas of child maltreatment and child development. SHORN is her first novel.

CAEL'S SHADOW: Book Two of The Sky Seekers is due to be released in spring 2011.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Repeatedly defies expectations, June 18, 2008

By 

G. McVey "Picatrix" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shorn (Sky Seekers) (Paperback)

Every time I thought I'd found a comfortably familiar fantasy trope in this novel, I found it turning into something richer and more complex.

Shorn is set in a medievalesque society with a volatile mix of clan politics, religious intrigue, and inter-cultural conflict, none of which are written in a way as to allow the reader to come to easy conclusions about who is right and who is wrong, or who is good and who is evil. Its hero, Jhared, is part of an oppressed minority within that society, a minority that struggles to repay the debt incurred by their ancestors' betrayal in the distant past. (At least, that's what they've been taught: what makes Jhared a compelling character to follow is the extent to which he believes that the rest of society is *right* about him and his people, even though there are hints that the truth of the matter may be more complicated.) The story begins as he takes up a life of military service, which soon sets him and his fellow soldiers against potential war with a neighboring country, a mysterious magical threat, and internal politicking by those who want to see him fail.

The writing is crisp and well-crafted. The characters (major and minor) are as nuanced as the society that surrounds them, and the plot takes enough turns to have kept me, as a reader, never quite willing to close the book at the end of a chapter.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A unique fantasy, September 3, 2008

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shorn (Sky Seekers) (Paperback)

To pursue justice for those that hate you takes a determined individual indeed. "Shorn" is the first book of the Sky Seekers series. Jhared Denaban has set his goal in life to settle the debt of his ancestors. In doing so, he must face the animosity of his own people, and deal with insurmountable odds. Facing a whole slew of inner conflict, "Shorn" is a unique fantasy, sure to please those on the look out for a new obsession to read.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking on many levels., July 30, 2008

By 

Many Feathers Boy "Brandon" (NC/SC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shorn (Sky Seekers) (Paperback)

Shorn is, on one level, a novel about a young man learning his place in the world he lives in. I shy quickly away from the 'coming-of-age story' description, but that is a part of it. More, is coming to know one's self through what you have been taught. What Ms. Niec has given us is a portrait of a juxtaposition between truth and lie, fact and fiction, faith and knowledge, society and the individual. Are you what you are told you are? Are you the product of your ancestors, or something unique in and of yourself? Many of these questions are addressed, if not outright asked, with such a skillful hand that it is hard to imagine this is her freshman novel. I anxiously await the next installment, looking for other points of view beyond the one's we've seen in _Shorn_, hoping to see for myself what the truth of the story is.