Beneath the Thirteen Moons [Mass Market Paperback]

Picture a world entirely of swamp where people lived in homes carved into the trees.

Mahri Zin was what the Royals called a water rat. She was a boat-smuggler whose only thought was to kidnap a Healer to cure her hidden village, even if it killed her. Mahri had a high tolerance for zabba, but even with all the power the root gave her she could not save her village without the knowledge Healers had. When she finally kidnapped a Healer, he turned out to be Prince Korl Com'nder! Even so, Mahri could not return the Prince of Sea Forest until her village was safe.

Korl was the most arrogant, spoiled-rotten man with an extremely healthy ego. He fell for Mahri even when he had woken up to find that Mahri had taken control of his muscles with her root enhanced powers and was knocking out his guards with her bone staff. She WOULD be his! What he wanted, he got! He just had to make her understand it.

Korl was a Healer first, a Prince second. But when they realized the only way to save the village was to have a Bond of Power, they still hesitated. A Bond was for life, unbreakable. Whenever one of them died, the other would too. They would be One, knowing each other inside and out. They would See into each other's very souls. They would share power...until death.

Korl's time with Mahri and her village would change him. However, when he finally returned to the Palace Tree, his half-sister would do all she could to kill him and take the Crown. Only Mahri could save him. Together, Mahri and Korl would change the entire world as they knew it!

***** In a single word, "Wow!" I mean W-O-W-! I have never read such a wonderful tale as this. Kathryne Kennedy's computer must smolder from the power she creates in her stories! I simply cannot describe how awesome or how thrilling I found this novel to be. I am begging everyone out there who reads my words here...BUY THIS BOOK! If you love romance and fantasy (magic powers) you will NOT be disappointed. Enough said. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

On an unknown planet somewhere in the future, humans have created a new civilization; one that requires Zabba to survive. For Mahri, a swamp-rat and a smuggler of Zabba root, she is content to live in the wild swamp. But when a serious illness threatens those she cares about, she travels into the city, to the Healers Tree trying to get aid for the people in her village. Hoping to kidnap a low level healer that won't be missed, she is instead horrified to discover she has abducted the crown Prince Korl!

Ms Kennedy has written a where technology is lost, huge creatures of the sea rule the planet and people live in giant trees that serve as cities and land. I love this world! It's a different version of Kevin Costners' WATERWORLD, but one I found so much more believable. Monsters still live underwater and giant birds of prey (think flying dinosaurs) live above the tree canopy. The forests are so beautiful thru Maris' eyes and described so well by Ms Kennedy. There is both beauty and danger in the jungle; were animals are familiar, and yet and the same time so different than our Earth animals.

Zabba root is coveted by the Royals, as is the true history of Mahris's people hidden by them as well. Zabba, from what I understand, opens the mind, and depending on the person's tolerance depends on the extra-sensory abilities allowed.

While the attraction between Mahri and Korl has a lot of chemistry and sparks flying, Mahri fights the attraction' at the same time it's an instantaneous union. She doesn't trust him, yet she is too easy on him. Regardless, I really liked Mahri as a woman. She is strong, independent and yet discovers she needs more to be complete. Korl is strong and is studying the Healing arts to help his people. He is a healer first, then the crown prince. However, with Mahri he is tenderhearted (like all hero's should be) yet still manages to have the arrogance you would expect as due his station of Crown Prince. I felt he was the epitome of a good alpha hero.

Jaja, Mahris' pet is part monkey-part fish, as well as telepathic. In my mind I had such a visual of all his facial expressions that between his actions and his personality I laughed out loud.

BENEATH THE THIRTEEN MOONS is such an awesome story! I only hope Ms Kennedy has plans for future novels as I highly recommend this novel.

This book was reviewed for: http://pnr.thebestreviews.com/

Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques

If you are like me and kicking yourself for missing Beneath the Thirteen Moons in its first incarnation, then now you can rest easy because Kathryne Kennedy's first book is available once more. And I for one am thrilled to finally be able to get this book in my hot little hands.

Mahri Zin is a swamp rat, making ends meet as a smuggler of zabba root, prized for the power it gives the user to See into the minds of others and influence the environment. She's proud and she's a wilding, able to use zabba's power far more than most people, as yet unaffected by overdosing as happens to so many others. Now her village has been struck ill and is in desperate need of a healer. Mahri has no qualms about kidnapping a healer to save her people, though she gets a little bit more than she bargained for in the process.

Prince Korl Com'nder has the gift of healing, but he also has a duty to his family as rulers of the Sea Forest. He's always been granted anything he desired, so he gets a rude awakening, quite literally one night, when he is kidnapped by an outlaw who demands he save her family and their village from a terrible illness striking them down. The last thing he wants is to be whisked away into the expansive waters of their world, though he soon finds out that is exactly what he needs.

Now Korl and Mahri must join forces to save Mahri's village, and defeat an enemy determined to steal the crown rightfully belonging to Prince Korl. However, there is only one way to do both of those things, and it comes with a price that means permanent changes to both their hearts and their lives.

Beneath the Thirteen Moons is a beautifully told and incredibly realized fantasy world from the imagination of a master, Kathryne Kennedy. The Sea Forest planet is a world inhabited by humans crash-landed there so long ago they no longer remember their original home. The landscape is so brilliantly done that I was right there with Mahri on her adventures. The world is so amazingly vivid that I had no difficulty imagining the beauty of the world and its inhabitants. I especially loved the natives of this striking land. We don't start seeing them until later in the story but they were so exotic, compared to Mahri's people.

Korl and Mahri have an immediate attraction, though Mahri is resistant for so long, convinced she had no need for a partner again, after losing her mate. They are consistently at odds in the beginning and I loved watching the fireworks as Korl's royal pride clashes with Mahri's determination to save her village. Korl knows right away he desires Mahri, no matter how resistant she is to his charms. Seeing the relationship develop between this couple, as Mahri comes to terms with her growing love for Korl, makes for many sigh-worthy moments. The character growth happens gradually throughout the novel until both Korl and Mahri reach the point where we know their love will carry them through everything thrown their way.

Beneath the Thirteen Moons is a delightfully entertaining blend of fast paced action and tender emotion, interspersed with plenty of humor (most often in the form of Mahri's scene-stealing companion, the monkfish Jaja), and breathtaking intrigue. All of the elements I've come to expect from Kathryne Kennedy are here, and it is evident that her skill for painting magical worlds was present from the beginning, only growing and becoming more sophisticated with time and practice. I so thoroughly enjoyed my travels to the world of the Sea Forest that I hope we get a chance to come back for a visit in some later book.

© Kelley A. Hartsell, November 2010. All rights reserved.