"The Lord-Protector's Daughter"

L.E. Modesitt, Jr. is the bestselling author of over forty novels encompassing two science fiction series and three fantasy series, as well as several other novels in the science fiction genre.

He applied the Page 69 Test to The Lord Protector’s Daughter, the seventh and latest volume of the Corean Chronicles Series, and reported the following:

Sensing someone nearing, Mykella turned toward the parlor door. She felt as though it had to be Salyna. At that, she froze. How could she know that?

Yet the door opened, and Salyna stepped inside.

“What’s the matter?” asked Salyna. “You look upset.”

That’s the first full paragraph on page 69, and in many ways, it is representative of The Lord-Protector’s Daughter. Mykella bears the name and the heritage of a noted ancestor who often knew things without knowing why. Yet she is merely the ruler’s daughter, to be matched and married off to whatever scion of whatever neighboring land will be in the best interests of the land of Lanachrona.

Even so, she and her sister Salyna strive to escape that fate.

Mykella shook her head. “I was just thinking. I just have to get out of the palace. Would you like to take a ride with me in the Preserve tomorrow? If it doesn’t rain, that is?”

Salyna smiled. “That would be lovely. Since it’s in the Preserve, I can even bring my new saber. It’s a fighting saber, and I even got Moraduk to let me sharpen it on the grindstone.”

“Would you really want to be a Southern Guard, even if they took women?”

“No,” admitted Salyna, “but it’s the only way I can learn about weapons, and since I’ll likely be matched to some younger son somewhere, I want to be able to protect myself. I had to prove to Undercommander Areyst that I could use a dagger before he’d let me pick up a saber.”

Mykella does not have her younger sister’s size or skill with arms, but what she does have is the ability to read people.

Despite her sister’s light tone, Mykella could feel the determination behind those words, a determination that concerned her, although she could not have said why.

Even though page 69 tells of a short interaction between two sisters, that interaction does foreshadow their interplay throughout the book, as well as Mykella’s concerns for those she loves. And in that sense, page 69 is very representative.

Learn more about the author and his work at L. E. Modesitt, Jr.'s website and his blog.

Check out the complete list of books in the Page 69 Test Series.

--Marshal Zeringue