Lord of the Fading Lands (Tairen Soul) (edition 2010)

This book had a lot going for it, in ways I didn’t quite expect, but the romance part didn’t work for me, which kind of ruined it. ( )

LORD OF THE FADING LANDS sounded so promising: sexy, soul-scarred Fey shifter who falls in love with a human woman, born into a culture hostile towards his kind? A fated romance beset by political intrigues and an evil dark lord? Awesome, I’m in.

The book gets started when Rain, the Fey shifter, consults an oracle that sends him to Celieria, the heroine Elysetta’s home town, just as her parents sign a betrothal agreement pledging her to a total creep, Den.

There are all sorts of undercurrents with the betrothal – Ellie is one of those “not traditionally pretty” girls who’d be a modern-day supermodel, tall and thin with “too wide,” “too red” lips, bright green eyes and curly red hair. She’s felt ugly and unwanted all her life, partly because of her looks but equally because she’s got a history of “seizures” that were cast as demon-possession and treated with horrific exorcisms.

Ellie’s seizures pushed her mother to extreme religious devotion, and – closely related – a strong dislike of the Fey. It’s really the mother’s idea to marry Ellie to Den, because even though Ellie hates the guy, her mom thinks Den is “normal” and that’s good enough.

The mom pretty much invites Den force himself on Ellie. Even though Ellie resists Den’s advances he’s able to take liberties which force her into the betrothal. I found the mother hard to understand; she seems to love Ellie and want the best for her, but mostly acts as though she hates Ellie and wants to make her miserable. I was hoping to dig deeper into the mother’s motivations, but it seems we're just supposed to accept the contradiction between her feelings and her actions.

Then Rain arrives on the scene, claims Ellie and announces that the betrothal is void. So that’s a pretty tangle, right? Seemed like the conflicting pressures of familial love, romantic love, legal complications, deep-dark-secrets and religious prejudice could brew up a heady conflict for Rain and Ellie. Add in some court intrigue and it should have been a thrilling ride. Unfortunately...not much happens. I found myself thinking, over and over again, “OK, that’s cool, now when’s the good stuff going to start?”

The answer? Never.

Instead we get pages and pages about planning Ellie’s wedding. Which…seriously? This is tedious enough to deal with in real life, I don’t want to read about it. Yet somehow, with the evil dark lord on the loose and the villains plotting and the prideful queen who thinks Ellie is an upstart, there’s still plenty of time to sit around unwrapping presents and debate bouquets. When Ellie isn’t preparing for her wedding she’s...preparing for other parties! Exciting, right? What will she wear? Can she learn to dance in time? If you think this sounds like a fun story rather than a tedious distraction, LORD OF THE FADING LANDS is the book for you.

The romance, too, had the potential to be interesting. Rain once scorched the world when his beloved died. He’s not certain whether he can – or wants to – love again. When he recognizes Ellie as his truemate, he’s not immediately thrilled. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long for the bond to change his mind. Soon he’s utterly devoted, so much so that his number one desire in the world is convincing Ellie to return his feelings.

For her part, Ellie's dreamed of the Fey and having a truemate of her own since she was a child. She puts up a token resistance but it’s not clear why, since (a) Rain is better than Den and (b) she really likes him and (c) he’s her dream man. So there’s no conflict to the romance – only Ellie’s prudery, which I found annoying. She’s twenty-four but acts like she’s fifteen, putting up a fuss every time Rain kisses her, bashful and ignorant about any kind of physical intimacy.

The crazy thing is that I got to the end of the book and I was still thinking, “Oh, man, after all this buildup, book two is probably full of all kinds of crazy stuff…” And then I remembered the old maxim, "fool me once, shame on you…fool me twice, shame on me," and decided against continuing with this series. One book full of non-events is enough.
( )

Absolutely amazing storytelling at its best. I really enjoyed the new world she developed in this book. I loved all of the characters in here and the romance was very sweet.
Fair warning - this book is more like a chapter in a series of books. The story is not finished at the end of this one & it appears the first 4 books are really just one story. On to the second one! ( )

Absolutely amazing storytelling at its best. I really enjoyed the new world she developed in this book. I loved all of the characters in here and the romance was very sweet.
Fair warning - this book is more like a chapter in a series of books. The story is not finished at the end of this one & it appears the first 4 books are really just one story. On to the second one! ( )

I was in the mood for a soppy fantasy romance and this filled the criteria well. An easy enjoyable read. ( )