Part 3: The Main Characters in The Third Earth: The Beta-Earth Chronicles, Book 5

The Third Earth, Book 5 of the Beta-Earth Chronicles, remains the most neglected volume in the series. To date, not a single review of the book has been posted since its publication last November.

That’s a serious shame as The Third Earth is such a different book from the previous four volumes. At the end of book 4, A Throne for an Alien, Malcolm Renbourn and five of his wives were forced to cross the multi-verse together to take on new missions on Cerapin-Earth. In The Third Earth, the six Renbourns must split up into pairs to follow different quests for most of the story. For the first time, the narrative isn’t revealed by alternating perspectives but rather a more traditional third person voice.

Of course, the most important changes, other than an entirely new setting with very different versions of humanity on this earth, are the transformations the Renbourns go through as described below. Cerapin is a planet dominated by pairs, and their characteristics are also described below. Any single-bodied humans, like four of the Renbourns, are considered defective mono-minds called “nams.” Championing Nams is but one of the quests the deities impose on the Renbourns.

So while most of the names below will be familiar from descriptions from the first four books, they need to be re-introduced here to showcase their changes.

Dr. Malcolm Eric Renbourn. In the transfer to Cerapin-Earth, Malcolm’s sight is restored and his biological clock is reset to make him 20 years younger, at least physically.

Elsbeth Caul Renbourn. Elsbeth is the only member of her family not to be transformed in the transfer other than to gain twenty-years of her biological clock reset. On Cerapin, Elsbeth births her daughter Olrei three years after the transfer, date unknown in Alphan or Betan calendars.

Lorei Caul Renbourn: In the transfer, Lorei splits her consciousness with Doret who remains on Beta-Earth. As a result, both Lorei and Doret are able to share their experiences across the multi-verse. Lorei finds a priestess of the single-bodied “Nams” in a pyramid hive where the two join forces to help end Nam indignities on Cerapin.

Jolbar Renbourn: In the transfer, the consciousness of Joline and the spirit-entity of Bar fuse into a new being, their shared body divided between their two Beta-selves. One half has the buttery locks of Joline and her finely shaped features; the other half has Bar’s pudgier features and one blue eye.

As all the Renbourns are forced to split up and travel different paths on Cerapin, Jolbar is the only Renbourn wife to stay with Malcolm throughout all their adventures.

Kalnenia El and Le: In the transfer, Kalma and Alnenia become an identical pair looking much like normal Cerapin pairs. In their new bodies, each wife has the puffy forehead-lobes that cover the organs that permit them to not only share their thoughts, but also their physical sensations together simultaneously. They have the usual long, wolfish teeth of Cerapins and, most obviously of all, share the huge, protruding, squared jaws and wide feet. Their bodies have natural markings on their otherwise grey skins, multi-colored splotches, streaks, and uneven stripes illustrating their limbs and torsos.

Because of their transformation, the Kalnenias plead for Malcolm’s permission to end their marriage to bond with a male Cerapin pair, the Onab brothers. Malcolm does so and each ex-wife bears pairs of sons for the Onabs.

Pidghe El and Le: At first, the Pidghe pair are house servants assigned to Malcolm and Jolbar before they seduce Malcolm partially to fulfill their secret duties as spies but also to gain acceptance in the only household on their planet where a man appreciates their especially bright minds and mental possibilities, as well as their, on Cerapin, unusual facial features. Unlike most Cerapin pairs, the Pidghe girls don’t have puffy foreheads, long teeth, huge chins, or large feet. As a result, they are considered extremely ugly and deformed by their own kind but, in Malcolm’s opinion, considered rather cute.


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