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The idyllic life of royal twins, Darius and Dyla Telkur, from the planet Otharia takes a horrifying turn when their parents are murdered.  With their cousin appointed as Regent until Darius comes of age, it doesn’t take the twins long to figure out that he’s bent on stealing their throne one way or another.  To escape their cousin’s wrath and a trumped-up murder charge, they flee to the only safe place they know – the forbidden and quarantined planet Earth.

Safe on Earth for the moment, the only way for them to return home is to find an ancient 10K traveling crystal left behind by their Otharian ancestors who visited Earth 1500 years ago.  Enlisting the help of a London university archeologist, they begin their search for the crystal from clues buried deep within the Arthurian lore of Merlin and Lady of the Lake.  What they find instead is evidence of a secret trade pact between Otharia and Earth that was established centuries ago.  Before Darius and Dyla can understand what it means, they’re in jeopardy again; this time  by the local crime boss of London and his band of thugs.

Everything is connected, but time is running out for the royal pair.  They must find the traveling crystal and open a portal home soon before their cousin is crowned the next Duke of Telkur and their lives are forfeited.

The Quest for Nobility was a bit slow to start but a very enjoyable adventure to read once you get through the first chapter. Though it dragged a bit for me, it was necessary to give a bit of history in the beginning, something to look back to and remember when Darius and Dyla are forced with the decision of going to Earth to unravel a  few secrets.

All of the characters were enjoyable no matter if they were sweet as pie or willing to put a knife in your back while you turn. Perfectly fitting together as well as clashing a good amount of the time, all seems very realistic when you think of those types of personalities and  relationships beyond a book.

The adventure takes place on a planet called Otharia where the people look and act very similarly to you or I and their culture is fashioned after what one would find in sixteenth-century Europe, with barons, dukes, duchies. There is also a lack of many of the technologies we see everyday leaving them to a very basic lifestyle of that time period. The only part that really breaks it from a blast from the past is that they use portals to travel among their planet ans even to Earth.

Most people on Otharia are ‘gifted’ with one of the three major types of psychic abilities: empathy, telekinesis, and telepathy.  These ‘gifts’ separate the lower class to the royalty. leaving those with little to no powers on the low-end of the totum pole and the others with abilities to enroll in training and become educated.

The Quest for Nobility is very different from what I normally choose for my personal collection but was very enjoyable and once into it I couldn’t stop reading. The pace picks up to a very nice speed and carries you through to the end without any breaks.

Find this book as well as more information about Debra L. Martin and David W. Small at Two Ends of the Pen, a blog sharing the writings that both authors share.

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