Meet the Grand Masters
Who are the Grand
Masters?
The
twelve Grand Masters on the Council are the most powerful entities in the
galaxy, or so they claim. Their psychic powers are incredible, and secret.
At
the beginning of Book 1, Grand Master’s Pawn, much of the information about the
Grand Masters is unknown. The new pawn, Violet, learns about them through her
empathic sense and conversations with the other pawns. Finally, she meets her
Grand Master, Athanor, and two others. Exposure to a Grand Master’s power can
be lethal to ordinary people. Fortunately, Violet is protected by her secret
psychic power.
During
Book 2, Grand Master’s Game, Violet meets all of the Grand Masters on the
Council. She learns their names, auras and some of their emblems. Some are her
allies, others are deadly enemies. The twelve Grand Masters include six humans,
male and female, and six aliens. We will learn more about the aliens in Book 3.
Human
Grand Masters
Nathan,
Lord of Lightning, is the Chair of the Council. His eyes flash green psi fire
and his emblem is a bolt of lightning. He is proud and dominates the Council.
Pashtari
Hanuman, is the oldest of the Grand Masters. He has a benign face, like a
Buddha, and yellow-white aura. His emblem is a white monkey. Hanuman is the
monkey-faced Hindu god.
Morrigu,
the Red Queen, is a prominent adversary in the books. She has four arms and
strawberry blonde braids in a hideous amalgam of Celtic and Hindu mythology.
Red is her psi color and her avatar is a red cobra, poised to strike.
Garron
Lionheart has a handsome face with golden hair and blue eyes. His emblem is the
lion rampant.
Ravaleen, the Meilai of Marina, is a green
skinned woman with flaming green eyes and turquoise hair. She is as beautiful
as a fairy queen.
Athanor
Griffin is the youngest of the Grand Masters. He attended the Terran Space
Academy at the same time as Violet’s parents. He has a hooked nose, long black
hair and glowing blue eyes. His emblem is the griffin rampant. Athanor took a
risk when he selected Violet as his pawn because her father prophesied the doom
of the Council of Twelve Grand Masters.
Alien
Grand Masters
Radjuser
resembles an orange octopus. He emits orange slime and psi fires. He was killed
at the end of Book 1.
Amarylla
Threeleaf is a planetoid alien. She has three pink petals and trailing roots.
Her aura is pink and her emblem is a trefoil.
Umloa
Thundercloud is an amoeboid, a semi-transparent green blob filled with bubbles.
Baxicki
is a brown insectoid with six thin legs.
Eziz
looks like a bunch of dry twigs with dots of gold eyes at the tips.
Sulkar
is a yellow pebble covered with undulating filaments.
How can you become a
Grand Master?
To
achieve the status of Grand Master involves:
1.
An inherited potential for psi talent.
2.
Training to control your talent, since nascent psi powers can be erratic.
3.
An initiation ordeal. The details are secret, although not everyone will
survive the horrid ritual.
Spin across the galaxy as Violet and her Grand
Master hunt their enemies.
Cracks in the portal web threaten galactic
civilization, and suspicions fall on the mysterious Grand Masters with their
immense psychic powers. Once, there were twelve Grand Masters, humans and
aliens, on the Council. Now there are eleven. One was killed when the young
pawn, Violet, rescued her Grand Master, Athanor, from the Red Queen’s dungeon.
The Red Queen fled the fight and now she lurks out of sight, regenerating her
energies.
Athanor devises a risky plan to expose his
enemies on the Council and force the Red Queen into the open. His strategy will
employ Violet’s empathic skills as his secret weapon. Meanwhile, she wrestles
with her erratic talents and doubts about their unequal partnership. In their
search for revenge, they contend with the portal crisis, psychic traps and
hostile aliens. In the inevitable battle of Grand Masters, Violet and Athanor
each will face their worst nightmares. What is the sacrifice for victory?
The battle
between the Grand Masters continues in book two as Griffin forces the council to
choose sides when he demands recompense for the destruction of his home and
imprisonment by the evil Morrigu. When Violet is brought in to testify, she
tries to determine which of the council are for and against them through her
hidden powers of empathy.
While Violet believes her empath abilities make her
unlovable, for who wants a mate who can read their every emotion and thought,
it is her most powerful skill. With it she understands and befriends various
species. And these friendships she makes are long lasting, so even after time,
when situations have changed, when she needs something, her prior friends come through
for her.
While there
may be power in evil, Violet and Griffin prove there’s also power in good. Which will
win is still in question, but my money is on good.
What isn’t
in question is Aurora Springers ability to weave a complex and extraordinarily
powerful story with masterful battles and constant dangers for our two main characters one
moment and then create love scenes of tender emotions to balance the story line.
And I must also mention her extraordinary detail to all the various sentient
beings that fight for and against our protagonists. Her descriptions are so
vivid, that not only can you believe and picture them as living creatures, but
you may dream about them at night. I certainly have.
If you want
an extraordinarily complex but fabulous story, written exquisitely, then the
Grand Master’s Game is for you.
5 out of 5 stars.
Aurora Springer is a scientist morphing into a
novelist. She has a PhD in molecular biophysics and discovers science facts in
her day job. She has invented adventures in weird worlds for as long as she can
remember. In 2014, Aurora achieved her life-long ambition to publish her
stories. Her works are character-driven romances set in weird worlds described
with a sprinkle of humor. Some of the stories were composed thirty years ago. She
was born in the UK and lives in Atlanta with her husband, a dog and two cats to
sit on the keyboard. Her hobbies, besides reading and writing, include outdoor
activities like gardening, watching wildlife, hiking and canoeing.
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Thanks for posting about the Grand Masters!
ReplyDeleteI'm reading Grand Master's Game and thoroughly enjoying it. Thanks for sharing descriptions of the Grand Masters. What an imagination you have, Aurora!
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