The Copper Crown by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison
5 out of 5 stars
Read at least five times since the late 80s
Synopsis:
WHEN EARTH MEETS KELTIA WILL STAR EMPIRES FALL?
When lore became legend on ancient Earth and the powers of magic waned, the Kelts and their allies fled the planet for the freedom of distant star realms.
But the stars were home to dangerous foes, and millenia later, the worlds of Keltia still maintained uneasy truce with two enemy empires -the Imperium and the Phalanx. Then, at the start of the reign of Aeron, mistress of high magic and queen of all the Kelts, an Earthship made contact with her long-fled children. And while Earth and Keltia reached out to form alliance, the star fleets of the enemy mobilized for final, devastating war….
My Thoughts (Warning: Spoilers):
Every couple of years, I get the urge to pull out this novel and re-read it. All of the characters and events, including an alternate history that I so yearn to be true, are so compelling.
A scout ship from Earth stumbles upon an advanced civilization in a far sector of the galaxy. And they hail from Earth’s dim ancient past! The Kelts have a vast empire and many Protectorate worlds outside of their Curtain Wall, a vast shimmering force field that surrounds the entire sector protecting the Keltic home worlds.
Aeron, the current Ard Righ (High Queen) of all Keltia, gambles on friendship with the Earth mission, immediately placing Keltia at war with other factions in this section of the galaxy that were in a tense balance before the arrival of the scout ship. Through treachery of the most heinous kind, the Formorians and their allies (descendants of the Egyptians), the Keltic home world is taken and held while Aeron manages to escape.
Her only hope is to retrieve several ancient magical artifacts last used by the “Arthur” of this alternate future. We are left, at the end of this book, as Aeron escapes and starts on this seemingly impossible quest.
This book is like Star Wars (a space opera) but also has high epic fantasy elements (magic and psi powers). Kenneally weaves them all together with strong characters and epic struggles.
