This novel, with its elements of supernatural, fantasy, horror and romance, is sharply written, fast paced and brims with crackling interaction between its two romantic leads. When Selestra meets Nox, they're not too impressed with each other. In fact, Nox has determined to kill her, along with her death-obsessed mother and immortal father the king.
Subsequent meetings don't fare much better. These two carp, snap and fence verbally with each other, yet save each other's lives repeatedly. It's like “Much Ado about Nothing” meets “The Magic Flute”. The novelist brings us along on this spark-filled adventure as the two learn to let go, of their mutually damaged pasts, parental hurts, long-held grudges and misconceptions. Nox is always cocksure of himself, an attitude that fills Selestra with annoyance. She, on the other hand, suffers from crippling self-doubt instilled in her by her witch mother and soul-devouring father. Both of them were heavily invested in keeping Selestra from grasping her true nature and the full potential of her poewr.
It's heady stuff, all right, and the romance isn't the half of it. Selestra is on her way to a destiny she must claim if she wants to be more than a frightened girl and Nox is in search of a legendary magical sword, a mythical artefact that almost everyone views with suspicion.
While the action is heavily male-oriented, Selestra is no fainting damsel in distress. Fighting lessons given to her in secret make her almost as capable as Nox in a fight, something she has no trouble displaying to a surprised Nox. It is this melding of feminine with masculine that plays subtly under the novel's other themes and we can see how unbalanced the world becomes when one energy is exalted above the other.
It's a love story. It's an adventure story. It's sorcery-and-sword derring-do and religious mysticism. It's just the novel for people who are looking for something bold and daring, decidedly different and filled with romance with its share of edged pertness.
Subsequent meetings don't fare much better. These two carp, snap and fence verbally with each other, yet save each other's lives repeatedly. It's like “Much Ado about Nothing” meets “The Magic Flute”. The novelist brings us along on this spark-filled adventure as the two learn to let go, of their mutually damaged pasts, parental hurts, long-held grudges and misconceptions. Nox is always cocksure of himself, an attitude that fills Selestra with annoyance. She, on the other hand, suffers from crippling self-doubt instilled in her by her witch mother and soul-devouring father. Both of them were heavily invested in keeping Selestra from grasping her true nature and the full potential of her poewr.
It's heady stuff, all right, and the romance isn't the half of it. Selestra is on her way to a destiny she must claim if she wants to be more than a frightened girl and Nox is in search of a legendary magical sword, a mythical artefact that almost everyone views with suspicion.
While the action is heavily male-oriented, Selestra is no fainting damsel in distress. Fighting lessons given to her in secret make her almost as capable as Nox in a fight, something she has no trouble displaying to a surprised Nox. It is this melding of feminine with masculine that plays subtly under the novel's other themes and we can see how unbalanced the world becomes when one energy is exalted above the other.
It's a love story. It's an adventure story. It's sorcery-and-sword derring-do and religious mysticism. It's just the novel for people who are looking for something bold and daring, decidedly different and filled with romance with its share of edged pertness.