In Bright of the Sky, Kay Kenyon introduced a milieu unique in science fiction and fantasy: The Entire, a five-armed radial universe that exists in a dimension without stars and planets and is parallel to our own universe. Stretched over The Entire is a lid of plasma, called the bright, which ebbs and flows, bringing day and twilight. Under the vast canopy of the bright live many galactic species, copied from our own universe.
Former star pilot Titus Quinn loves The Entire, but now he must risk annihilating it by destroying the fortress of Ahnenhoon. To sustain a faltering Entire, Ahnenhoon's great engine will soon reach through the brane separating the universes and consume our own universe in a concentrated ball of fire.
Quinn sets off on a journey across The Entire armed with the nan, a small ankle bracelet containing nanoscale military technology that can reduce Ahnenhoon and its deadly engine to chaos. He must pursue his mission even though his wife is held prisoner in Ahnenhoon and his own daughter has sent the assassin MoTi to hunt him down.
As he traverses the galactic distances of The Entire, he learns more of the secrets of its geography, its fragile storm walls, its eons-long history, and the factions that contend for dominance. One of these factions is led by his daughter, who though young and a slave, has at her command a transforming and revolutionary power.
As Quinn wrestles with looming disaster and approaches the fabled concentric rings of Ahnenhoon's defenses, he learns that in the Entire, nothing is what it appears. Its denizens are all harboring secrets, and the greatest of these is the nature of the Entire itself.
Industry Reviews
A finalist for the 2009 Endeavour Award, to be presented in November in Portland Oregon! The Endeavour Award, which represents a collaboration between writers and fans of SF and Fantasy to encourage the growth of literature in the field and recognize works of excellence, is accompanied by a $1,000 grant. "...[a novel] in which Kenyon's imagination is matched by her storytelling, where the excitement and tension of not knowing if Titus will succeed in saving The Rose or when the double cross will happen. Kenyon expands our knowledge of the world(s) and tells a fairly fast paced story at the same time. She uses old and new characters in different ways, and rewards those readers who took the time to get this far. A World Too Near is well worth the time." -- Adventures in Reading, May 17, 2008. "...is equally appealing to science fiction and fantasy fans...Complex characters with shifting, sometimes twisted, motivations and loyalties combined with a tightly paced plot full of political intrigue and tense action make for a much stronger second outing in the Rose and the Entire. The conclusion...leaves you hungry for the next volume. A definite 'A' title." -- King of the Nerds, March 28, 2008. "...reminiscent of a good C.J. Cherryh novel, where every conversation is fraught with potential misunderstandings and real, dangerous consequences for anyone who makes a mistake as to the meaning of another character's statements...The Entire and The Rose is an on-going work, one that has already taken us to one of the most imaginative creations in recent science fiction history. A World Too Near immerses us in that creation, and pulls us even deeper in to the story of a man who wishes nothing more than to be re-united with his family. That combination of story and setting makes for a novel that races from one peril to the next, and leaves the reader eagerly waiting for the next installment in the series." -- SF Site, May 2008. "...one of the few series where the second book is better than the first...What really makes this book superior is the moral dilemma...Although the books are clearly science fiction, they will appeal to those who enjoy fantasy as well since much of the plot involves traveling through the wonders of this alternate universe. Even though the series is only halfway through, it is clear that if Kenyon can maintain this level of quality throughout the whole thing, this will be one of the important series of the 2000s, and help put Pyr (are they still considered a small press?) on the map." -- SFRevu, July 2008.
