358 pages.
Located close to the middle of the SFR rainbow, but on the Romance side. I consider the telepathy to be sf since it was bred into people and not magic.
Book 3 in a series.
There isn't a lot of tech but there are spacecraft, hoverbots, genetic manipulation, and laser guns juxtaposed with the horror of gladitorial bloodbaths and creepy humans.
It's set in the far distant future with no mention of Earth, but there are dolphins and lots of current names.
Princess Elle and Prince Zander are kept very sheltered by their telepathic aristocratic parents. Spoiled and feeling oppressed just before their "coming of age" ceremonies, the brother runs off and is promptly captured by the female baddies (who remind me of the Bene Gesserit cult in Dune). Zander's family promptly gives him up for dead and no one looks for him--which bothered me because if they had they would have easily found him and the book would have been a whole lot shorter.
Add in Elle's cute and talented boyfriend, Boone, who vanishes searching for Zander because he was the only one who didn't automatically assume Zander was dead, legends of saviors, gladiatorial games, and prophetic dreams of soulmates and you have a good premise.
I didn't realize until partway through that it was the third in a series. As I haven't read the others I don't know if they *have* to be read in order. I understood the story fine without reading the others except for the lineage descriptions which got confusing. That said, I recommend starting at the beginning of the series.
At first, I wasn't sure if I liked this story but it got better as it went. I admit to not connecting with the heroine until very near the end of the book because she (okay, her twin a bit too) was selfish, bratty and a bit whiny until they grew up. They reminded me of some of the current preteen characters that annoy me. By the end they'd grown and matured, though for a while Elle was kind of scary in her power-hunger. Later, Elle turned out strong and had one heck of a good action scene at the pivitol moment. My dislike of the heroine as a child might also have been staved off if I'd started at the beginning of the series and "fell in love with" her parents during their story.
There's a HFN but definitely another book coming out. If you read the end you'll probably agree.
To sum up, not one of my favorite books but it was okay to read on a sweltering summer day. Others may like the romance of this since Boone was really sweet despite one scene.
Will I read the rest of the series? Probably. But not right now.
Currently reading: Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclair. I was hooked by the first page on this one.
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