"Science fiction romance at its' best"

On a world that is mostly water and where humans live in gigantic trees, the royals along with the aristocracy control the scientific knowledge that enables them to use the drug Zabba that enables the user to read minds, heal and communicate with other species. Mahri is a Wilding, a genetic anomaly capable of using use Zabba and harness its power even though she doesn't have the knowledge to heal the people of her village who are dying of a plague.

Though she is a swamp rat and a smuggler, she navigates her boat into the city to kidnap a healer and take him to her village. Along the way she learns he is Prince Korl and though he is a royal and she is a swamp rat, there is a deep mutual attraction that neither wants but neither can deny. During their time in her village they Bond. When they return to the city, Korl marries her to protect her from the laws she broke, never realizing his actions put them in dangers from someone very close to the throne.

BENEATH THE THIRTEEN MOONS is a terrific science fiction romance that will appeal to fans of Anne McCaffrey and Catherine Asaro. The natives of the water world play a key role in the actions of the protagonists though most people don't know just how intelligent this sentient species is. The romance is an integral part of the storyline and readers will love watching these darling lovers face up to their true fantasies. If this is an indicator of her output, Kathryn Kennedy is destined to be one of the sub-genre's superstars.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted November 22, 2003

Summary

When boat-smuggler Mahri Zin kidnaps a Healer to cure her family and he turns out to be the Prince of Sea Forest, she must use too much of the magical zabbaroot to escape his enemies. From her root-induced coma she learns that the natives of this planet plan for her to Bond with him, a joining so final that to tear it asunder would mean the death of them both. Mahri only wants her freedom, but as they plunge through the dangerous waters of the swamps she finds it hard to resist the physical lure of Prince Korl. And the Prince must change the entire world of Sea Forest in order to gain her heart, and ultimately determine mankind's survival on this landless planet.