SOLVED. Sci-Fi/ Fantasy trilogy, YA? Female MC with power (telepathy? Psi Powers?) rebels against evil government she works for, she's accused of treason. Male character may have been bodyguard/ servant/ anchor for her powers? Read 1980s/1990s. [s]

[Misty]

Hey, I’m looking for a trilogy I read back in either the 80s or 90s. I remember it was science fiction or fantasy and may have been a YA. The main character was a woman who worked/lived in a government that she slowly started to realize was evil. She had some sort of ability - maybe telepathy or psi type powers? I think they were normal for people in this government but not every person in society had them. There was a guy (non romantic, at least in the first book, don’t remember about the rest) who was some sort of bodyguard or servant or somehow needed for her powers, I’m not sure.
The major scene I remember is at the end of Book 1 where she’s about to be executed for treason but manages to escape. The author was female and, I believe, converted to Christianity between books because, in Book 2, the MC suddenly talked about getting saved during that execution scene which I know didn’t happen (this could have been later changed in either book, in later drafts so it may no longer be there/have been added/ whatever).
I THINK I actually found the series on Amazon a few months ago, either it was the series or one that sounded VERY similar but I somehow lost it again. So it's on Amazon, assuming that WAS the series, I just can't seem to find it again (I could have sworn I bookmarked it, or even bought it but apparently not!).
Anyway, any help is greatly appreciated, thank you! 😊

[Kris]

Misty, would you say this book is for adults? (YA = teens, in this group)

Could this book be sci-fi/ fantasy (because of her powers)?

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[Misty]

Kris wrote: "Misty, would you say this book is for adults? (YA = teens, in this group)

Could this book be sci-fi/ fantasy (because of her powers)?

I added a few details to the header/topic title. You can upda..."

It's possible. I know I read it as a teen and I usually stuck to YA, but I'm not 100% positive it if was or not. Thank you! I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner. For some reason I never got a notification for it. Any help is appreciated! :)

[Rainbowheart]

Was the main character under 18?

Do you think the series was by a Christian publisher?

[Misty]

Rainbowheart wrote: "Was the main character under 18?

Do you think the series was by a Christian publisher?"

The way I remember it is that the first two books were either not Christian or were not overtly so, and then the third book suddenly was (in at least one section) as if the author might have changed publishers between Books 2 and 3, but I'm not positive. I remember the main character in Book 3 talking about a religious experience in Book 2 that was definitely not there as the author had done a bit of retconning of her own work. So, yes, I think it might have been but it may have only in Book 3, or it might have been, but it might have only been from Book 3 or it could have been completely re-released under the new publisher (sorry for being confusing!). :)

[Aerulan]

I'm just tossing this out there it doesn't fit everything, but it fits a lot. The main male character is an enemy not a servant/bodyguard. But that retconning being saved fits what I remember when I jumped from the old version to the new without realizing it had been changed.

He convinces her to defect from her government which had ordered her to kill herself as part of a cultural practice meant to keep lines of inheritance for nobility uncluttered. In the original he just convinces her she deserves to live just as much as someone who isn't "a spare" in the revised Jesus is the reason for her choice.

Firebird by Kathy Tyres.
The author converted and rewrote/published the books with a heavy Christian slant.

[Misty]

Thank you so much!!! I do remember very clearly that she was about to die in Book 2 (though I remembered it as her being almost executed, not suicide) and then in Book 3 that's where it was suddenly a conversion experience that I knew hadn't been there in Book 2 (she was like thinking back to it and being like here's what happened, and I was like, that is definitely not what happened at all!). I must have originally read them in the transition period and then couldn't find them because she re-released them (there was actually one other book I'd found because the author completely rewrote and retitled the book, not because of a conversion, but just because he wanted too, apparently). Yay! Thank you! :D :D

[Aerulan]

You're welcome!

[Rainbowheart]

Yay, glad it's solved!