Her Sister's Keepers

Hadra Archives #6

by Diana Rivers

Nhazul, a restless young Hadra from Ossen, travels to the forbidden Shokarn city of Nhor. There she becomes embroiled in a daring and dangerous raid on the 'Gray Place', a huge cave under the city where Weavers are imprisoned for life. When the Hadra are blamed for the raid, Nhazul is forced to stand trial for her actions.

Genres: LGBT

308 pages, Paperback

First published July 15, 2007

About the author

Diana Rivers is a lifelong writer/artist who lives in a house designed by her and built entirely by women’s hands. Her best known work is The Hadra Series, which channeled itself into her life and continues to spur stories. She lives in Arkansas and remains an advocate for peace, justice and ecology.

(from http://www.bellabooks.com/Bella-Autho...)

Reviews

[Dannica]

I really liked the characters in this one, especially Tulli and Maidorn and their relationship forged in pain and bondage and then brought with difficulty into a life of freedom, but also Kitra and Nhazul and pretty much everyone. The style is a bit frustrating though; chapters range from one to five pages, rarely longer, and I usually prefer my chapters longer than that, especially when the POV character changes every chapter. It takes a while to get into the rhythm of the book. I find it interesting how Rivers' first Hadra books are very utopian and focused on how the Hadra function and how they are an ideal society, but then her later Hadra books (this book, but also to some extent Clouds of War and The Red Line of Yarmald are a bit more critical of Hadra society's rigidity and its isolation from the rest of the world. I wonder if the last book in the series will continue this more critical trend. Also, this book has a theme of fate in it, and plays with the concept of its central character simply being pulled along by the tide without really controlling her actions, and whether she should be culpable for those actions, which is very fun, especially since the "fated meeting" is between two characters who don't develop a romantic relationship and barely develop a friendship, but still feel a connection, whether it be one of fate or one of debt. Very fun stuff.