The telepath Elemia has spent her whole life training for her chance to marry the god-king in his far-away capital, but then she meets Abbas—and everything comes apart as they fall for each other.
As a half-breed, Abbas is barely tolerated by his own people, and Elemia is cast out of her order of novices for being with him. As punishment, Elemia is to be sold in marriage to Abbas' older brother, though her mind has already joined with Abbas'. The lovers would do anything to avoid this untenable situation, but even if they escape, they will still have to deal with the god-king.
As a half-breed, Abbas is barely tolerated by his own people, and Elemia is cast out of her order of novices for being with him. As punishment, Elemia is to be sold in marriage to Abbas' older brother, though her mind has already joined with Abbas'. The lovers would do anything to avoid this untenable situation, but even if they escape, they will still have to deal with the god-king.
Before I even start harping about Adonis Devereux book(s) I must say make a confession.
I don’t read Romance. Duh!
How can I not read in my own genre? Well, because I see myself more as a writer of Erotica than Romance. Usually my stories contain just enough plot to hold the sex together, I admit it quite freely.
How can I not read in my own genre? Well, because I see myself more as a writer of Erotica than Romance. Usually my stories contain just enough plot to hold the sex together, I admit it quite freely.
What I do read (apart from Erotica) is mostly Fantasy and historical fiction.
And here is where Adonis Devereux’s books hooked my greedy little reading soul. It is true that A.D. is published as a Romance author, but the truth is that this couple (there’s two of them, I like to call them Adonis *and* Devereux) write great, grand, powerful fantasy, fantasy which happens to contain a strong element of Romance and, open your little wicked ears, my darlings, nice and hot sex scenes.
A.D.’s two books so far (Worth his Freedom was their first novel, Bride for the God-King the second) are both set in an extraordinarily rich, vivid and original fantasy world called Gilalion, where humans live together with a different, longer-lived race called the Ausirs. Ausirs are tall, handsome and horned. You may think that horned humanoid creatures would be quaint, but that is only until you learn that rich and powerful Ausirs will have decorative patterns enamelled on their horns, or braid their hair so as to enhance their height and shape. At that point you are hooked on Ausir aesthetics, and they begin to look gorgeously exotic rather than bizarre. You also begin to realize that A.D.’s creatures are not a chance jumble of anatomical parts but a wonderfully thought-out creation.
Ausirs have a language of their own. I do not know if A. and D. secretly went the whole Tolkien way and invented the whole language, but the thrilling beauty of Ausirs’ names for people, gods and cities is another gem of the Gilalion universe.
In this book, which is set in the Ausir’s own cities of Godswatch and Kartalon, you come to know a bit better the intricate religion and rituals of this race which in “Worth his Freedom” were only a minor element, as that story was set in the human city of Nirrion. While Ausirs and humans live close to each other (and sometimes together) on Gilalion, and they can interbreed, their relationships on the whole are not exactly friendly and this conflict lies at the core of all the lovers’ troubles in both books. In an archaic world dominated by patriarchal values and religious precepts, girls have a pretty narrowly predefined role to fulfil, and it takes guts to follow their romantic dreams, even more so if their love interest in of a different and despised race. A.D.’s girls have guts aplenty though, and Bride for the God-King sports another wonderful heroine, Elemia of the Sapphire-Moon (thrill!) a beautifully shy and fearsomely strong young woman with a very surprising destiny. I must admit that Abbas, the hero, pales in comparison and is a bit of a passenger in their story, but that does not spoil the reading.
Elemia is a telepath of the ancient Order of Yuilan (thrill!) and the plot delves deep in the rituals, history and purposes of this religious order, and with it, in the whole Ausir lore; the plot has several very interesting twists, and unlike many such plots it does not miserably deflate in the end, but carries the suspense and excitement to the very last page.
One final note, about the bad guys. In A.D.’s first book the villains were a bit too villainous for my taste, a bit too black/white, bad/good. But here A.D. found a much better balance, I think, and while the villains are still undeniably bad they are more layered and surprising. I greatly appreciated this development.
Oh, and final, final note, A.D. writes in a beautiful, sophisticated prose. Yes, Romance authors can do that!
I am always left with a taste for more of Gilalion when finishing a book from A. and D., so it comes as good news that their third novel’s release is just a few days away. It’s called “Chasing Earth and Flame” (oh, did I mention how intriguing these titles are?), and will bring us back to Nirrion, to explore something new and very interesting called elemental magic.
