Seventeen-year-old Lisen Holt begins to realize her life is fractured only after a stranger in long robes abducts her from a California beach and transports her home to Garla. Within moments of her arrival, Lisen is amazed to learn the society of this world reflects none of the misogyny or gender-based stereotypes she left behind on Earth.
Although she’s Lisen of Solsta now, questions haunt her, questions the sooth who stole her away refuses to answer. Who are the parents who abandoned her at Solsta Haven? Why did this sooth send her to Earth? And what is so important about her that this stranger has manipulated her life?
On the day following her return, she’s called to tend to the dying Empir of Garla who reveals she is Lisen’s mother. Lisen, born Ariannas Ilazer, is the Empir’s Heir. Propelled into a quest for the throne, Lisen will need to summon what magic she possesses in order to succeed. And all that stands between her and her birthright is the twin brother who murdered their mother.
Along the way, a friend will sacrifice her life for Lisen. Korin, the soldier Lisen relies upon, will prove his loyalty in countless ways. She’ll challenge her tyrannical brother as an equal. And, once throned, she’ll seek to develop the leadership skills required to fend off enemies at home and from the desert to the east.
She’ll rule for many years, respected by the nobles who surround her and the people who rely on her. But the day will come when the peace negotiated in exchange for her firstborn will be tested, and that child, now a woman herself, will turn on Lisen and Garla.
From Fractured to Pushing Madness, in a story told without timeworn fantasy clichés, our hero evolves from Lisen Holt, a girl from Earth dropped into a world where inequality of the sexes has never existed, to Ariannas Ilazer. As Empir of Garla, she’ll rule with confidence and a little magic. But in the end, she’ll become the mother who must somehow reconnect with her daughter before it’s too late.
I give you the books of Lisen of Solsta…
FRACTURED (Book I)
Many fantasy books with a female hero begin with a girl climbing a tree or running down the stairs while some old wise person—usually a man—chides her for her unladylike behavior. Fractured isn’t one of those…
TAINTED (Book II)
Some magical book series promise a female hero who’s equal to her male counterparts, but once she falls all over herself in love, she goes soft and mushy. Not in Tainted…
BLOODED (Book III)
Epic tales often claim to tell a female hero’s journey but cannot seem to do so without turning her into an Amazon so she can fight like a man. Blooded is not that tale.
REVIEWS FOR LISEN OF SOLSTA
Each of these books carried me to a new world, a new way of looking at this amazingly developed and described group. The story was clear, the plot exciting and the flow of the books excellent in all aspects for me as the reader. – Diane Compagno
D. Hart St. Martin writes in the enduring style of Frank Herbert and Sally Miller Gearhart, creating mythological cultures of Garla and Thristas in such compelling detail that even non-sci-fi-fantasy fans will be captured by her Lisen of Solsta series. – Judith Favor