Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson
Once he had scorched the world.
Once he had driven back overwhelming darkness.
Once he had loved with such passion, his name was legend...
TAIREN SOUL
Now a thousand years later, a new threat calls him from the Fading Lands, back into the world that had cost him so dearly. Now an ancient, familiar evil is regaining its strength, and a new voice beckons him--more compelling, more seductive, more maddening than any before.
As the power of his most bitter enemy grows and ancient alliances crumble, the wildness in his blood will not be denied. The tairen must claim his truemate and embrace the destiny woven for him in the mists of time.
Thoughts:
First off before I read this book, I was prepared to dislike it. It's shelved in the romance genre, and no matter how many romance books I read I'll still always be wary of that lay of the land. The description on the back of the book had me giggling with it's silliness, and then someone told me this was a series about finding ones soulmate. Personally the over the top soulmate thing had me trying to check out before I could even crack open a page. Before I found out anything about the book I had already bought it, so I new I was going to read it. This book has loads of great reviews for it, and then there are the reviewers who are skeptic romantics like me who just thought it was hokey.
Well this skeptic has been silenced. Turns out this book has more then hot sex scenes surrounded by thin plot lines. In fact it was quite the oppisite.
The world Wilson built is a fantasy world that many an aspiring writer would love to have developed. You can see the races, sink into the life of the people, and let the history of this rich land poor over you. The Faye are intriguing people who live VERY long lives, many of the Faye characters living for over a thousand years. It's had creating character that can show the weight they carry living that long--sure Wilson doesn't really pull it off--but you can feel it at times. Its a sorrowful note that she hits. The Celierians are the humans in this book that are "good." They've had alliances with the Faye and have fought to keep the Elden off of them for generations. The Eld are the evil Mages of this tale. Who want to crush the Faye at all costs. Of course not all of the people of Eld are mages. Instead of being free people they are nothing but tools, Marked at birth until the age of six when they are nothing more then pawns for the mages to take control of there bodies. There are also other races, notably the Elves. Not much is said about them in history or in the progress of this book. I've always been a fan of elves so I'm curious to get more information on them. Plus, why aren't they really mentioned in the history?
Wilson has created a cast of characters that interact so well. Many times I found myself laughing out loud with the characters, to fist pumping in the air victoriously. Side character stole my heart just as much as our leading characters Ellie and Rain. I found myself at times respecting, laughing, and enjoying the Celierian Queen--clearly she's a bad apple. The plots that are building up around her making me worry, especially after Wilson reveled the love story around how the King came to court her. The Faye protectors of Ellie have warmed their way into my heart with their fierce loyalty and their humorous antics.
The plot builds up nicely with this title and I had no problem sinking into the politics and culture. If you're afraid that this is going to turn into sex and no plot, be assured. There's a lot of plot threads that start to build up and not all of them are resolved at the end of this book. There's a lot of lip biting moments in Lord of the Fading Lands.
The love story between Ellie and Rain plays out nicely. All that sex I was afraid this book was going to be dedicated to, not here. The Soulmate/bond thing isn't something that makes the two characters just jump in bed together. Instead Ellie still gets the choice of falling in love with Rain. It's a pleasure to watch both of them discover each other. Rain at times can be over protective, but lets be honest his enemies are going to want her dead or worse. So clearly a little over protectiveness is nice. Rain nearly destroyed the world when his lady love was killed over a 1,000 years before of the events of this book, so I was worried how much Wilson would play that card. She plays it nicely, never making the reader feel over powered by Rian's suffering, but still making us want to shed a few tears for him. At times Rain can be annoyingly ill tempered to a fault, sometimes reminding me of a spoiled pouting child. In the end that's the charm of Rain Faye to the bone, flying cat at heart. Ellie is still getting fleshed out in this book. You can see the strong and determined woman she is gong to develop into.
Bottom Line:
This book needs to be checked out just for the buzz alone that it's stirring. Don't let the soulmate and romance shelving fool you, this book could hold its own in with the Epic Fantasy. It has a fantasy world that rivals many that I've come across, plus has the added bonus of making me fall in love with more then just the main characters. You'll laugh out loud with this book, have "fist pump of victory" moments, bite your lip in worry, and just get all tangled up with this book.
Sexual Content:
Some witty sexual jokes, a few slightly graphic scenes, and then one sex scene at the end. Nothing to over the top.
5/5- Fabulous, a beautiful obsession!
| Add it: |
Amazon: Lord of the Fading Lands (Tairen Soul)
goodreads: Lord of the Fading Lands
No comments:
Post a Comment