Bright and Shining Tiger

A stand-alone fantasy set in the same world as Taming the Forest King.

Runa is exiled from her kingdom, under penalty of death for witchcraft if she returns. She heads east - across a mountain range and desert until she reaches grasslands. There she is claimed by the Silvercat, the tuteletary beast of the Silvercat castellum to be the castellum’s mantic - the previous mantic and margrave having died and left no heirs. However, the rulers of the other castellas don’t like an outsider claiming the Silvercat castellum, and like it even less when she marries a barbarian as her margrave.

After beating off an attack of cannibals, Runa and her husband go horse hunting - horses being very important to the rulers of the castellas, and being show more in short supply. While in the wilderness, her husband is taken by a summoning spell arranged by the other rulers as they want Silvercat back in their hands. After various vicissitudes, Runa and her husband are reunited and settle in Silvercat.

Fairly light, but fun. Yes, it and the other Edwards I’ve reviewed are romances, but unlike the modern paranormals they aren’t in the least smutty. The world building is interesting - it looks like North America far in the future after our civilisation has collapsed, but this is never explicitly stated.

Recommended. show less

I'm very glad I picked this book out of a BookCrossing book box, as it was a lot more interesting than I expected. Claudia J Edwards may not be the world's best writer, but once I got into the story I was hooked. An original setting and plot, interesting characters and lots of horses for added interest.

Her novels all seem to be out of print, but if I ever come across a second-hand copy I'll definitely be buying it.