Daniel, Douglas

Divine Lotus Ser.

Kathy Pennington just wants to go home to Chicago and be a scientist, like her father. The only problem is the immovable object in her path-- her grandmother, the Dowager Empress of the Val. The Dowager is determined to make Kathy her heir and successor on the throne; Kathy wants nothing to do with the Empire. Kathy has already survived assassination attempts, coups and culture shock. But when an airship carrying her is torn apart by an assassin's bomb, she is put to the supreme test of survival, as she and a small band of survivors struggle to escape murderous rebels through a primeval forest. But as she fights to stay alive, Kathy is confronted by strange secrets that cause her to question what she has been told about the world of the Val.