The Mark of Ran - Softcover

Kearney, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553813749 ISBN 13: 9780553813746

Publisher: Bantam Books (Transworld Publishers a division of the Random House Group), 2005

Synopsis

The world is dying, forsaken by its Creator. Man schemes and plots and makes wars across it, forgetting that this turning earth does not belong to him alone. Another race once dwelled here. Some believe they were the last of the Angels, banished to this world for a forgotten crime; others that they were demons imprisoned here by a disgusted Creator. Rol Cortishane's quiet life is about to come to an end, for in him runs the blood of this Elder race. Driven from his home, he seeks refuge in the ancient citadel of Michal Psellos, where-he is trained to be a killer of men, an assassin without pity. His tutor in murder is the beautiful and deadly Rowen - one whom he loves without hope. THE MARK OF RAN is the beginning of Cortishane's story. A tale in which he journeys across the breadth of this teeming, wicked world and finds a legendary Hidden City where the desperate and the dispossessed fight for survival. This is the first of the chronicles of Rol's great voyages, and those of his compatriots; a band of outcasts who took to the wide oceans of the world when every nation of the earth set its face against them. Ussa's Orphans they were called, the Beggars of the Sea...

About this title

About the Author

Paul Kearney was born and grew up in Northern Ireland. He studied English at Oxford University and ived for several years in both Denmark and the United States. He now lives by the sea in County Down with his wife and two dogs.

From the Back Cover

The world is dying, seemingly forsaken by its Creator. Mankind schemes, plots and wages wars across it, forgetting that another kind once dwelled here. To some these were Angels, exiled for a long-forgotten crime; to others they were demons...

And in the veins of Rol Cortishane runs the blood of this Elder race. Driven from his home, Rol finds sanctuary under the malign wing of Michael Psellos who bequeaths him a sword with a blood-lust of its own. After years spent mastering the art of murder from one he loves without hope, the beautiful but damaged Rowen, he defies Psellos and returns to the high seas. Gathering a band of like-minded outcasts around him, Rol goes in search of the Hidden City where the desperate and the dispossessed fight for survival against those who would enslave them.

New and exciting. There are echoes of the best in other fantasists and yet it s all Kearney s own delicious style SF Site

Think Master and Commander with added magic Kearney writes well, his prose roars along like a riptide and he delivers plot broadsides with panache Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Guardian

A triumphant return for one of the very best British writers of hard-edged, visceral, gritty, fantasy fiction consistently and typically excellent you are in for a treat alienonline

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Books (Transworld Publishers a division of the Random House Group)
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0553813749
• ISBN 13: 9780553813746
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400