taken to his own house for interrogation. The group finds bar-Binyamin and his son David. They go to Allenby's residence to expose him as a traitor and rescue Narayan Singh. Unknown to them, French agent Henri de Vascogne is leading a second group to do the same thing. This second group includes Cassandra, Charles, Sita, and Sita's bodyguard. Both groups catch Allenby, Ignatieff, and a cult of Kali worshippers in the middle of a cannibal sacrifice. Sita's bodyguard is killed defending them, and David bar-Elias destroys Allenby's home with a homemade explosive. Sita and her group are confronted by the King-Emperor himself. He is also making plans for a state visit to France on the Imperial zeppelin Garuda. King's group makes a secretive journey to Bombay and kills Allenby, while Cassandra's group escort the King-Emperor to his zeppelin. As the Garuda prepares to take off, King's group sneaks on board. The captain takes the King-Emperor hostage and reveals that he has planted evidence implicating other governments in the assassination attempt, in order to trigger a major war. He blows himself up, killing himself and King-Emperor John and damaging the Garuda critically. King kills Ignatieff in a brutal sword duel, with help from Ibrahim Khan. Air pirates force the ship down. As the guards hold off the raiders, Ibrahim Khan and Sir Manfred are sent to get help. The Peshawar Lancers arrive to drive away the raiders and guide the survivors to safety. Prince Charles marries Cassandra, and Yasmini marries King. Major themes Though The Peshawar Lancers is set in 2025, 23 years into the future from when the novel was published, Stirling does not use 21st century technology. Stirling postulates that without the resources and innovation of Europe and North America, technological advancement would have been slowed due to the local conditions of the surviving nations. Technology is progressing, though by time of the novel's setting, but still lags behind our level of technology. Air travel is done by hydrogen-lifted airship and motor vehicles are still rare. Plus there are occasional steampunk incursions like Babbage engines. In terms of biology, however, the Raj equals if not surpasses us in some fields. Unlike previous Stirling novels that preceded The Peshawar Lancers, there is less warfare and violence than one would expect considering Stirling's earlier works and instead focuses on conspiracy, espionage and diplomacy. One reviewer commented that The Peshawar Lancers had