Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Thaddeus: A warrior cursed with a Blood-Rage. Stephen: A terminally ill prince. Separated for nine years, they are reunited again by two warring factions of Gods and a mysterious mist of light, all of whom have their eyes on Stephen. Knowing the dangers of his Blood-Rage, Thaddeus must determine if he is the best choice to become Stephen's warrior guard. But with the Aggregate System of Gods involved, he may not have a choice. In spite of his terminal illness, Stephen may be the prophesied Catalyst who will bring about the downfall of the Aggregate. In order to hold on to their reign, the Aggregate have a plan... and that plan includes the manipulation of Thaddeus's love for Stephen.

CONTENT ADVISORY: This title has a bittersweet ending.

 

Book Review

I totally enjoyed this fast paced, titillating romp into the magical realm of the Harp and Sword Chronicles, where kings and priests fight over who will reign supreme as the gods wrestle for power among them. The author has built a beautiful world where fantastical creatures lay in wait in thick, overgrown forests and fierce warrior soldiers swear allegiances to their chosen kings and deities as they try to protect those whom they love.

This wonderful start of what is sure to be a compelling epic adventure, is written in the vein of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones, but in the lovely shorthand storytelling treatment of todays modern, e-reader friendly style. Nothing is lost as a result, rather the story moves along at a good clip while still imbedding your senses with the genuineness of the world the author has built. Within moments I could taste the dust on my tongue, smell the stale scent of grog in the air, and hear the clash of steel on steel as sword slashed sword.

The book captivated me right off with a troubled heroic character whom I swiftly sympathized with as he tries to forestall an impeding tavern brawl, mostly due to the fact that the instigators have no idea of whom they are messing with. Both they and I quickly found out in the ensuing skirmish, and I was swept into the life of the mysterious, dark and handsome young warrior known as Thaddeus. In short order we find out that our hero is tormented with a curse that sends him into a battle rage so fierce that all who seek to fight him are doomed.

The author supplies us with a bevy of supporting characters as well as intriguing glimpses into the political and spiritual climate of the magical warring land she has built. I commend her for giving the characters names and characteristics that are different enough from each other, that there is no confusion as to who you are reading about... as can sometimes happen when you are dealing with five-plus characters in an epic style fantasy such as this.

As the allies and enemies entered the story I found myself torn, as all of the characters have appealing characteristics, and the bad guys, while not overly sympathetic, are seemingly not completely bad, their intrigues being such that they appear to switch allegiances from time to time. I mean there are definitive bad guys, but they are, um, just as hot as the good guys. Mixed between passages portraying the intrigues and conflict there are beautifully romantic male/male pairings, lovers parted, want-to-be lovers, lovers who love for political gain... all having exquisite moments of expressive sex ranging from heartfelt kisses to seriously hot sex.

This first book sheds much light on the history of the land and its people and introduces us to the meeting of the primary young lovers of the series, the cursed dark warrior, Thaddeus, and the terminally ill fair-haired Prince Stephen. There are many secondary pairings in the book as well, all of them equally intriguing as this primary pair.

I loved this story not only because of its well built, gritty, magical realm and charismatic storyline; but because it combines so many of the traits I love in a sword and sorcery novel: political conflict, violence, horses, swordplay, magical spells, curses, gods, beasts and scheming, angst-ridden, sexy, courageous, outrageous, to-die-for gorgeous hot men in all sizes and shapes. If you like, David Gemmell, Fritz Leiber, Robert Jourdan, Lynn Flewelling, David Eddings, Michael J. Sullivan, Jacqueline Carey, Robert E. Howard or any of the other fine authors of fantasy realm sword and sorcery novels, you'll probably really enjoy this book.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been purchased by the reviewer.

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 357 pages/74478 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	21-April-2012
Price
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