The Courtesan Prince, by Lynda Williams, is set in a far flung Human future. Earth has become a distant memory, assumed long destroyed.

Humankind survives in the descendants of two waves of colonization from Earth; the Alpha Colonists paved the way and suffered a deadly cost. These first reality skimmers frequently lost their minds and their lives. Ultimately they lost their connection to Earth.

Eventually Earth produced genetically superior beings capable of withstanding the rigors of reality skimming and colonization began again. Earth used the Sevolites' enhanced reality skimming abilities to further their colonization but denied them basic human rights. When they and their human allies sought independence from Earth the ensuing war made orphans of them, too.

Thousands of years later Earth's offspring discover each other. It is not a happy reunion. Their cultures could not be more different.

The Alpha Colonists, who call themselves Reetions, are now a technocratic and socially liberal society.

Sevolites and their allies are rooted in maintaining the purity of the original, genetically superior blood lines. The Gelack culture is founded on family honor. Disputes are settled based on the principles of Okal Rel, upheld through Sword-Law.

Against the backdrop of this huge cultural gap a few people try to establish a relationship between the two long separated children of Earth.

Ann is a Reetion pilot. Her reality skimming days have left her in questionable mental health; to fly too much more could leave her permanently disabled. Her exceptional talent is well known however, and she is recruited to join an expedition to try and establish friendly contact with the Sevolite colonists, now known as Gelacks. The mission is the brainchild of the brilliant social anthropologist Ranar.

When they arrive at Trinket Ring Station to try and start a dialogue with the Gelacks subterfuge is already in full bloom. Ann will meet a young man who will change her life. Von's life is conscience-bonded to H'Reth; he has little choice but to impersonate the powerful Liege of Monitum, the man the Reetions have come to see. The chain of events that begins at their meeting will reveal more than Von's impersonation.

The Courtesan Prince is an ambitious story that dives headlong into the complex social dynamic of the family Houses on the Gelack home world, Gelion, where most of the action takes place.

There are great characters in The Courtesan Prince. Di Mon, Liege of Monitum hides feelings forbidden by his culture. Pregnant women hold onto paternity truths that could unseat their husbands. H'Reth tries to gain power through his conscience bond with Von. Young Von dances among all of them, trying to reconcile abilities he shouldn't have, protect those he loves and deal with a painful past he had no control over. All this, while he's stumbling blindly in to a future no one could have predicted.

Ranar and Ann struggle in a culture that solves problems at the end of a sword, not through the impartial adjudication of their culture's artificial intelligence arbiters.

This is a good story. The main characters are well realized, their emotional dilemmas convincing. The differing sexual mores of the two cultures are highlighted very well in the actions of the main characters as well as the secondary ones. The pacing keeps the story moving quickly, even if to a predictable outcome, given the book's title.

Maybe it's all about deciding where your story truly begins. To be honest it was all a bit much for me. I felt the weight of Lynda's effort to present the complexities of her universe in one fell swoop. It all seemed to come at me too fast. The prologue felt like a summary of two books jammed into four pages. I was being asked to remember a history lesson, not for one culture but two.

The Courtesan Prince is Von's story; the title makes that obvious. The machinations of opposing interests lose much of their potency for me when there is a sure outcome. The bits that piqued my interest were in Von's back story; in them I tasted the reality of Gelack society far more acutely than through the sword fights of vying factions.

While Lynda has previous writing credits in the Okal Rel Universe, this is her first solo novel. I can't shake the feeling that perhaps she bit off a little more than she could chew. The story seemed to lack balance; the Reetion expedition lost any pretence of being a neutral diplomatic mission almost the second they made contact. Both Ann and Ranar develop intimate relationships with Gelacks without having any idea of the consequences, not what a top social anthropologist should do, or allow others to do.

Von is shoved headlong into Reetion psychological procedures to further individual goals; another example of trained professionals happy to abandon their training at a time when ethical and cultural sensitivities should be top priority.

Contrasting cultures make for good storytelling, if the cultures are believable. For the life of me I couldn't figure out how a culture borne out of an advanced space faring society capable of advanced genetic engineering came to use sword rituals to settle disputes. The principles of Okal Rel offer a reason but I'm hard pressed to believe that sword play was the only solution to avoiding habitat destruction while still being able to wage war.

Despite the things that kept me from fully enjoying The Courtesan Prince I thought it was a lot of fun. Certainly never a dull moment! Ann especially is a very well rounded character, right down to the things about her that consistently annoyed me. She's the kind of character that feels real and will stay with me. I expect that when the second book comes out I'll be thinking of her as I make my purchase.

Synopsis
In this volume: When Earth's first attempt to conquer the far reaches of space was thwarted by the failure of a faster than light transportation system, the first colonists were abandoned.

Subsequent colonizations were successful but ideological differences in cloning caused renegade scientists to sever their contact with Earth and establish their own unique world.

Now, thousands of years in the future, the scattered descendents of humanity have evolved into two distinct planetary societies: the Reetions of Rire, who rely on advanced computer technology to regulate every aspect of their lives, and the genetically superior and honor bound Sevolites, of Gelion.

With one conflict already behind them, these two cultures are once again on the brink of war. But one last desperate mission is launched and somewhere within a dark region of space, Reetions and Sevolites find themselves torn between their own alliances and the inexplicable desire that constantly draws them closer together.

Will the brilliant anthropologist, Ranar of Rire, find out more than he bargained for in the strange undercity of Gelion?

Will the hot-headed Reetion pilot, Ann, learn that true love has a price? Will the Sevolite blade-dancer, Von, discover the dark secrets which hold the key to his world's survival? And will Di Mon, the proud Highlord of Gelion somehow find the strength to face the chaos that may destroy them all?