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Elizabeth Kerner Books In Order

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Publication Order of The Tale of Lanen Kaelar Books

Song in the Silence (1996)Description / Buy at Amazon
The Lesser Kindred (2000)Description / Buy at Amazon
Redeeming the Lost (2004)Description / Buy at Amazon

Elizabeth Kerner is an American bestselling fantasy fiction author known for “The Tale of Lanen Kaelar” series. Kerner was born in Florida in 1958 and had a Navy father who moved the family around a lot. The family lived in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island until she was seven before they moved to the south. Elizabeth found the south depressing with its lack of seasons, autumn leaves and snow. She has since then lived in Forest Grove in Oregon, New Orleans, Hilo in Hawaii, East Sussex and Edinburgh. She went to the University of St. Andrews in 1976 from where she graduated with a master’s in Literature and English in 1981. After she finished her college studies she worked as an apprentice to a variety of folks in Hilo such as an artwork and furniture restorer, a goldsmith, and a bookbinder. However, while she has lived in a variety of interesting places, she so loved Edinburgh that she moved back in 1995.

She first got into reading when her father was moving the family around the country on his many assignments. Once they moved to the south of the US, she so missed the north and it was at this time that she became a voracious reader. She read the likes of the “Three Musketeers,” “The Count of Monte Cristo,” the Arthurian legends, and J.R.R. Tolkien but could not find any novels that had female role models and so she often pictured herself as a knight. During this time she was also reading Nancy Drew to keep up with her contemporaries and to read something that contained female characters that were not evil or foolish like Milady or Guinevere. She realized there was a dearth of female characters to emulate, which is why she determined that she was going to become an author to right the imbalance. She started writing while she was in high school when the family was living in New Orleans and has never looked back since. In addition to a variety of apprentices she spent several years editing scientific and medical journals and books. She spent six years as a copy editor with the Royal Astronomical Society and edited Monthly Notices for the edgy astronomy journal. However, even as she worked a number of jobs and apprenticeships, she continued to hone her writing skills and published her first novel “Song in the Silence” in 1997.

As the daughter of a Navy man who moved around a lot, the question of where she was from or what place to call home has always been a preoccupation. She took her love and fascination for dragons, fairy tales, legend, and mythology and combined it with her curiosity of her identity to craft her trilogy. She particularly loved a story about Oriental dragons that could take on human form and thought them wonderful and mysterious. She would then spend years trying to find the perfect dragon story until she realized that there was no such thing and she should just write. She went on to write “Sing in the Silence” and its sequels that would make The Tale of Lanen Kaelar Trilogy. The series is a trilogy that tells a story of humans reestablishing contact with dragons that for unknown reasons had fled mortal lands millennia past. Elizabeth Kerner tells the story of complex histories, cultures and hidden love between dragons and humans in an interesting narrative style. Her novels focus on feminine strengths and goals and avoids the chest-thumping common in epic fantasy quests. Sick of the typical fantasy women warriors that were portrayed in leather lingerie as sex goddesses, she writes strong female characters. Her lead character Lanen shows incredible courage, bravery, honesty, willingness to learn, and compassion in looking to understand, slay or outwit her opponents. She starts out as a naïve and sheltered girl and quickly becomes an intelligent woman who makes reasoned decisions that helps her avoid the typical quest traps.

Elizabeth Kerner’s debut “Song in the Silence” is a story that introduces Lanen Kaelar, an unmarried woman in her mid to late twenties. She has spent her whole life living on a farm and dreaming of when she would get out so that she can have some adventure. Her father had been a stable hand and had trained her by night that she is now highly skilled with a blade. When her father suddenly dies, she sees it as an opportunity to leave the farm and have some adventure on her own. She heads for “Dragon Isle,” an exotic island that can only be accessed once every century, given that its storms that have wrecked tons of ships that try to reach it out of season. Once on the island, she finds herself having to fight a demon lord who wants to kill her. She eventually falls for the dragon that may just be her father and the king of dragons. The novel is full of badass old people, gooey romance, former thieves, spies, and epic fight scenes.

“The Lesser Kindred” is Kerner’s sequel to “Song on the Silence.” Lanen Kaelar and her husband are home from their adventures in Dragon Isle and looking forward to enjoying newly wedded happiness. They had managed to vanquish demons but archmage Berys finally managed to climb the ranks and perform the rites that had made him ruler of the land of Gedri and master of all demons. Varian her husband is a dragon that had been transformed into a human form known as the Gedri but the reason for which he had been changed is unclear. Lanen too gets transformed into some form of Gedri but she is not a full one. In the meantime, the true dragons known as the Kantir have to flee their homeland and go back to Kolmar, the homeland they left more than five millennia ago. In seeking to understand what is happening to their bodies and their land, Varian and Lanen seek out the Lesser Kindred. They are dragons that had lost their souls several centuries when they were banished from Kolmar.

“Redeeming the Lost” the third novel is a story of humans, demons, dragons and their complex interactions that make for a solid conclusion to the trilogy. The Lesser Kindred have been denied speech and sentience for the better part of five millennia during which they have been in exile. The Greater Kindred dragon race has something of an ambiguous relationship with the human race since they are to an extent still sentient. However, since they are not as telepathic as their cousins and as such they are viewed with some reservation. The human race has to deal with the bloodthirsty and treacherous demons that wish to either exterminate or enslave them. The world’s fate depends on the return of the Lesser Kindred and whether they will come back as intelligent beings and with their power of speech restored. Varien and Lanen will also play a significant part in the whole saga of saving the world.

Book Series In Order » Authors » Elizabeth Kerner

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