In Eric Lustbader's richly imagined saga of The Pearl, magic and science clash on an epic scale. It is the people who use them who give magic and science their meaning, and Lustbader has created people you will never forget: Riane, the Dar-Sala-at; Eleana the woman she loves twice over; Kurgan the V'ornn usurper who raped Eleana and sired her child; Marethyn Stogggul, Kurgan's defiant sister, an artist who joins the Kundalan resistance; her lover, chief trader Sornnn SaTrryn, who secretly helps the resistance as well; and the fabulous Krystren, the Sarakkon woman from the mysterious southern continent, who comes north on a secret mission and will change the lives of everyone she meets.