The Barbed Rose

While I found the relationships interesting I did have issues with the fated mate trope and I find it difficult to believe in consent in a situation where there is relucatnce with some of the parties that is overridden by "the Goddess wills it." I could also almost do with a chart to graph the different love/lust/support or primary/secondary/whatever relationships between characters. It's the second book in a series and it is setting things up for the end-game. It would possibly have been better if I had re-read the first book before reading this one.
Not a bad read but I felt a little uneasy about consent.

Magical mage and captain in the palace military, Kallista just wants to spend time with her family, but demons threaten the land and only her powers can save the queen and all her subjects. Split apart from several of her family members, Kallista must seek out the powerful demons and destroy them while gathering intelligence on rebel forces. Will she be strong enough to defeat the enemy? This second book in the author’s Rose trilogy (The Compass Rose is first) drew me in with its sympathetic heroine. Once I got past the notion of a woman having several husbands and them all sharing a bed, I became engrossed in the world Dayton has created. I’m now anxious to read book three and have already ordered it.

I really enjoyed this. I had throughly enjoyed the first book in the series, The Compass Rose and was looking forward to this one, atlhough I didn't have time to read it for a lot longer than I would have liked. This series uses the group marriage as the fundamental family basis of its society and Dayton does it beautifully, weavimg it into the story without using it as a shock tactic. Kallista and her ever-growing illian have problems, issues and lots of love which makes them a powerful force to do the job Kallista has been given by the One God. This book is the middle in a trilogy (as far as I am aware) and it does show. This is a book about consolidation - Kallista and her illian learn some important lessons (being far apart weakens show more the whole greatly while having everyone together creates something greater than the sum of its parts) and learn to weave their individual personalities together into a functioning whole. It seems that the god-marked are all together by the end of the book and they now need to make themselves ready for whatever happens in the next book. It'll be out next year and I'm already looking forward to it. This series really works for me. The group family - and yes some group sex - works beautifully. It's not over- or under-emphasised but simply is as part of the world and the tale being told. It was nice to see the the logistics of fitting eight adults (at the point of the book this scene occurred) into the same bed without people falling out or getting elbows in their ribs is not a simple thing. show less

Gail Dayton continues her story began in "The Compass Rose," of Major Kallista Varyl, now a mother of twins and head of a large family or 'ilian.' She is also a 'naitan,' or wielder of magic, in a world where rebel forces assisted by demons are threatening world order. I was less intrigued by the major plot events involving this threat than I was by the unusual social organization and concept of family introduced by the author. Not as good as the first, but worth a read.

See review of complete trilogy at http://www.librarything.com/review/52272704.