Emily Veinglory

Father of Dragons, the first instalment in the Ballot’s Keep series, was one of my first “official” reviews, meaning that, since there were not so many reviews of that book, mine was more than once linked; the particularity of that book was the unexpected event of Xeras, one of the hero, getting “pregnant” of a female dragon! All right nothing of the actual intercourse was “clear” to the reader, and we only knew that one night Xeras entered a dragon’s liar and the morning show more after he exited a little disoriented and with a “bump” on his hip. By the way Xeras was not exactly in an emotional situation that was good for him to be ready to face this unexpected turn of his life: still mourning the loss of his former lover, Drin, and fighting the attraction he was feeling for Carly, he was not at all ready to be a father, and consequently, responsible for another life.

When this second book starts, I had the strong impression that Xeras was depressed; it can be an harsh comparison, but to me he seemed like a rape’s victim: he was stuck with a daughter he didn’t want but for whom everyone is considering him as responsible of her actions. And Drinia, the little baby dragon, is a difficult child, above all since Xeras doesn’t know nothing on how to properly rise her. But the parent instincts are strong, and even if Xeras didn’t want Drinia, now she is there, and she is his own responsibility. I think Drinia is good to Xeras since she gives him a reason to be.

The second important issue for Xeras, and another reason for his depression, is Drin, his former lover. Drin is “haunting” Xeras as a ghost, he is a voice that is always in Xeras’s mind, advising him on what he has to do or what would be the best approach to something. Drin is a “good” voice, he wants the best for Xeras, and if it means that Xeras has to fall in love with Carly, completely and unconditionally, Drin is willing to let Xeras go. Problem is that Xeras is not ready to, and the fact that he named Drinia after his former lover is a good sign of it. Xeras is worried that, if he really falls in love with Carly (or if he admits with himself he is in love, since for me he already is), Drin will disappear. Actually, aside from some little sign here and there, I had the feeling that Drin was not really a ghost, but more a figment of Xeras’s imagination, that he was using Drin as an excuse to not let it go with Carly.

The novel is more a quest of Xeras for understanding himself, his role in the world and his feelings; the love story between Carly and Xeras is nice but not center stage, even if Carly is really a perfect man, kind and comprehensive and more than willing to come to terms with Xeras, even accepting to share him with a ghost if it means to have at least a little share of Xeras. Sincerely this was more the story of Xeras and Drinia, than Xeras and Carly, but it was nice, and Drinia is indeed a wonderful character.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1609282078/?tag=elimyrevandra-20 show less

This was an interesting read and very different. I got it because I hoped it would bring back my early life in fan fiction, how I found it, what it meant to me, the people I met, the fandoms I followed, the beta work I did, the zines I collected, the cons I went to and the friendships I made that continue today. It did not fulfil those hopes and was fixed on a fandom I had not interest in and held some opinions on fan fiction that are different from my own but all in all I was pleased to show more read it and it had me searching on line for more books of the same nature. show less

As always I found the writing style of Emily Veinglory a strange experience: it is like reading a modern tale written with a bardic style. I can't explain well, they are not the single words that make the magic, but all the novel in his complexity.

Sean is a professor by day and a witch by night. And is also a gay in the closet. One night, returning home, he is stalking by a vampire, an handsome vampire but also an hungry one. The only thing he can do is cast a spellbound to him, a love show more spell indeed. So now he has a vampire in love who wants to live with him and an all new series of problem: living with a man obliges him to make outing, his coven is not so happy he has used a spellbound on a vampire, an the fellow vampires of Thane, his new lover, wants him back.

In all this, Thane, the vampire in love, wants only to love and serve his new master, and he is more than willingly to also teach him the secrets of sex with a man. But it is only the spell that makes him willingly, it is not real love...

Sean is a strange character, apparently weak, but with a insight power nobody could image. Thane instead is more a supporting character than a leading, I think to him like the beatiful women in the adventure's movie: pretty ornament, but not more else. But in the end all we know that really it is the women who make the world turn...

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In a fantasy medieval world, Fisk is a simple peasant, but all of sudden, without him knowing why, a nameless God chooses him as vessels for his messages. The God starts using Fisk as his prophet, but with every vision, Fisk loses part of his body strenght, becoming almost crippled. To help Fisk in his duty, the God makes he meets Levin: Levin is a Protector Knight, an order which is devoted to protect for life the people they are assigned to. Levin's master, one of the men blessed by one of show more Fisk's vision, assigns Levin to Fisk: Levin's duty is not only to protect Fisk, but also to look after every his needs, included his physical desires. At first Fisk is almost embarrassed by Levin's attention, above all since he is a man that till now has avoided every sinful urges of his body, but then the God says to stop fighting, both Him than Levin.

The world Emily Veinglory recreates is very interesting, a form of feudal government where every small town is an independent keep. Above all them, Gods order people around, but not with an agreement between them: every God acts like an independent sire, and envy and little friction led their actions, and when a God is displeased, the consequences are tremendous.

Fisk reminds me a bit of the old saints of Christian's history, men like S. Francesco or S. Antonio, born in wealth but who chose to be poorer among the poor; the only difference is that Fisk is already poor, but he chooses not to improve his status thanks to the vision's gift. He is an humble man, and he underestimates himself. He believes Levin to be the important man in the story, and instead even Levin in the big design of God will not be able to see the right thing to do, only Fisk will be able to do that.

As often in Emily Veinglory's stories, sex is not the main event in the story, but this time sex is a bit more erotic and "clear" than in other books I read by the same author. In the previous books, the erotic encounters often are disguised in a bigger reason than the mere sexual act (Father's of Dragon, Wolfkin...): they are tools to reach a scope. In this case, Fisk and Levin make love for the pleasure, and they steal their time in spite of the God's will; there is also a time in which Fisk thinks, more or less, "at least I have this". show less