I read this before Red Gloves not after. And that raised a few questions for me during the book but they were few and fat between. Didn't stop me from enjoying the book itself. Call me a romantic. Or just pathetic, but I really enjoyed the cliche characters. The evil Orrin Blackheart and the priestess Evelyn. Falling in love? How dare they?!?Almost at the first glance they got it bad. A kidnapping, release and divine intervention. Can't get much more 'meant to be' than that. And if you wanted proof that she's pure, this warrior is standing in the rain, naked as the day he was born. And she only wanted to get him clothed. Off he goes to cut a swathe through hordes of odium and she is demoted to sweeping floors. Yet fate, corrupt bloated priest and a crude map brings them back together. Orrin and his crew plus a priestess. Sounds like a hell of a street gang. But they make do. Even though there isn't much obvious romance in this book, the pure...want...is enough to penetrate the densest of skulls. "The sapphire blue of your eyes""Lock your door tonight"Then there was him checking her ass out in her breeches. And pulling her into his lap in the privy. Not to mention Evelyn throwing herself at him. But the story move on. Odium fall and the queen rules. And after a single night of joyful, passionate, sheet staining pleasure, Orrin keeps his word to his men and uses his single boon to get his people pardoned. And before the prideful sorrow has a chance to take root in his girl, The Blackheart requests her hand in marriage in front of the entire court. The most ballsy thing he's done in the entire book.Then all hell breaks loose. The gassy head priest forbids it. The priestess renounces the church. The quickest wedding ever happens. The priest shits himself, most likely, and has a heart attack. And everyone lives happily ever after. But not just yet. No there is a single trial before connubial bliss can be attained. Nice party, nice people, nice food. And all of a sudden Evelyn is nowhere to be found. Where is she, you ask? She's being held at knifepoint as bait. See Blackheart was named Blackheart for a reason. And the man with the knife lost his wife to the former blaggard. But after a touching scene of self sacrifice it's all over. Orrin walks out alive. Evelyn argues with him over the finer points of not being a suicidal idiot. And they continue on with the business of being newly wed. While it can easily seem overkill it did answer a rather important question. What's gonna happen when his past catches up to him? Answer: not much. Overall a simple book with an obvious plot line. Part 2 of 3 but still a nice read. Well it seems each book focuses on a different set of characters. We're done with Red and Josiah and now on to Evie and Orrin. I'm pretty sure the next one will be about Bethral and Ezhren. This one started before the last one ended, so I got to see some of the same events from a different perspective. That was interesting. The characters were engaging and the plot was clever. I enjoyed this book and look forward to the next.
What do You think about White Star (2009)?
My Perfect kind of book - kingdoms at war with intreging cahracters and where love conquers all.
—jean
DNF - stopped about 25% - wasn't bad, just not my bag of tea
—Vampira
The words just flows thru so smoothly. Love it!
—laurenandelin
