Children of the Star

Noren knows that his world is not as it should be--it is wrong that only the Scholars, and their representatives the Technicians, can use metal tools and Machines. It is wrong that only they have access to the mysterious City, which even in boyhood he longed to enter. Above all, it is wrong for the Scholars to have sole power over the distribution of knowledge. The High Law imposes these restrictions and many others, though the Prophecy declares that someday knowledge and Machines will be available. No longer the heretic he one was, Noren has come to believe in the Prophecy's intended fulfillment. Yet the more he learns of the grim truth about his people's deprivations, the less possible it seems that their world can ever be changed. Is it right to keep on promising them a brighter future?