REVIEW and GIVEAWAY: The Battle Sylph by L.J. McDonald

ISBN 9780843963007

Series: The Sylph Series, Book 1

Genre: Paranormal Romance

(c) March 2010, Leisure Books, Dorchester Publishing
L.J. McDonald's website

Rating: 4.5 stars




Buy Links (paper): Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble

Buy Link (ebook): Barnes and Noble Ebook

"Fantastic worldbuilding, diverse characters, magic and a magnificent fantasy adventure in a whole new world!"

With the prevalence of vampires and werewolves and demons, L.J. McDonald's unique worldbuilding blew me away. She has created a fantastic world of sylphs and the humans to whom they were bound. The sylphs were elemental spirits (air, water, fire, earth and healing sylphs) and of course, there were the battle sylphs that protected the hive. Sylphs lived in hives with a queen as the leader and she could take one or more battlers as mates. Think bee hive with the queen bee and her drones and worker bees and soldier bees.

Actually, the sylphs originally lived in another world and they were lured over to this Earthlike world (the action mostly take place in the kingdoms of Eferem and Para Dubh) and bound to one human master. The battle sylphs were attracted to the promise of the woman used as a sacrifice, and this woman was to be their queen (their love and mate), but the human man who was to gain the battler would kill the woman and bound the battler to him instead.

Read more about the sylphs.

The characterization is wonderful and unique for the characters being portrayed. Because the story is told from several points of view, we note how the narrative and the conversation differed for each character based on the character's age, background, experience and individual personality and circumstances. This makes for a holistic reading experience, wherein the reader gets to see the world from different sets of eyes.

For example, both Heyou and Solie are young, and we are made aware of this in their individual narration and in their actions. Whereas Leon Petrule as the king's head of security is an adult and seasoned soldier, and this can be seen in the way he acted and make decisions and in his thought processes. Not only that, but he is certainly not a sterotypical villain. He might well be the character that underwent the most radical change in the story.

The pivotal characters in this story are Solie, who defied the sacrificial death appointed to her, and Heyou, the battler who became bound to her.

Solie is seventeen years old, and she is young and sheltered, having never gone beyond her own and her aunt's villages. However, she is taught by her aunt to be strong and independent in the sense that she didn't need a man, if she didn't want one. This served her in good stead when she was captured to be a sacrifice to lure a battler over for the crown prince.

Heyou isn't your common hero as well. Though he is a battler, he is young and untried when he first crossed the gate to be bound to Solie. Yet for all that, he knew his duty is to defend and protect the queen and the hive with all that he has, even to the point of death. I like the part where he had established a bond with Galway, a trapper who had rescued him when Heyou was near death. Because Heyou is young and reminds him of his son, Galway acts like a mentor and father figure to him, something unheard of in the usual relationship between a battler and his master, which usually includes lots of hate.

Both Solie and Heyou did grow some over the course of the book, especially Solie as she needed to adjust to her new role. For all that she's young, Solie is smart, and she knew that she needed help and wasn't too proud to ask for it. Even in her inexperience, she rose to the occasion when needful and that is something to admire. Having such young protagonists who act their age would've taken away much of my enjoyment from the book had it not been for the balance provided by the adult characters surrounding them, like Leon, Galway and the two battlers Mace and Ril.

However, lest I give you a wrong impression, the story doesn't just focus on Solie's and Heyou's romance. No, there is so much more going on, like how they'd unwittingly made an enemy of the king and the possible consequences of that, and about how the sylphs are making a new hive in Eferem and the ways they're going to impact the world. That said, I'm interested to see how Solie and Heyou would have grown over the years, and I'm especially curious to know how Ril's and Lizzie's fate would play out in the next book, The Shattered Sylph.

Buy Links (paper): Amazon, Book Depository, Barnes and Noble
Buy Link (ebook): Barnes and Noble Ebook

And this review marks the start of our new feature called Author Week!

This week, we have L.J. McDonald here with us, who will grace us with excerpts from her books (the sequel THE SHATTERED SYLPH is out next month, in case you're interested to know) and an interview! She'll be around, so if you have any questions, ask away!

Because we here at The Raving Readers love this book so much, we're giving away one copy of The Battle Sylph to a lucky winner! What's more, Dorchester Publishing has offered five additional copies for giveaway, so there will be six (6) lucky winners instead! Yay! Thank you, Dorchester!

And there's no geographical restriction, so everyone who lives on planet Earth, even the penguins in Antarctica, is welcome to cast your name into the hat.

How to enter?

Today's question: What is the best paranormal story/series you've read? Why do you love it?

Extra chances to win:
+ 3 if you're a follower of this blog
+ 2 if you follow us on Facebook or Twitter
+ 2 if you take our poster (located on the right sidebar) about this contest and post it
           on your blog/website with a link back to us
+ 1 for every time you spread the word about this contest via Facebook, MySpace, Twitter,
           your blog, website or other form of social media. For example, you tweeted about
           this contest twice and also announced it on your Facebook. You also wrote a blog
           post. That's 4 additional chances! However, for these to qualify, be sure to come
           back here and post the links. Like, if you tweeted twice, give me both links.

If you do all of the above, at a minimum, that's 9 chances to win!

Contest ends on March 12 (Friday), 1159pm EST.

Winner will be picked via Randomizer.org and announced on March 13 (Saturday).

Good luck!

REVIEW: King of Sword and Sky by C. L. Wilson

Series: Tairen Soul series

Author's Website

Summary:

This book continues from Lady of Light and Shadows. Rain and Ellie have wed, and they now travel to the Fading Lands to keep Ellie safe behind the mists, as someone wanted to do her harm. Ellie learns that the tairen kits are dying, and she has to save them, else, the fey will die with the tairen.

Comments:

I wish I could just say "great book!" and the review would be done. It is in fact a great continuation from Book 2, and I kept turning the page, wishing the story would never end. Happy that there's a 4th book to look forward to, but sad that I'd have to wait a few more months!

Here, Ellie learns more of the fey and their land, and she's met fey who like her and who don't like her. The tairen, however, like her, and even name her, when they wouldn't name Rain's former mate. She also binds a few more men to her, when she wipes away the weight on their souls, the way she did for Bel and Gaelen. She reasons out that this may save them in the coming war, and she continues to save more despite the toll on her and on Rain.

Tairen are possessive creatures, and though Rain knows with his mind the rationale behind Ellie's actions, he can't stand the jealousy as he watches men touch his beloved. Oh yes, Rain finally knows that he loves Ellie (not just because of the true mate bond) and he confesses as much in the previous book. In the course of this book, we see Ellie change from acting on her own to acting as part of a couple later in the book when she decides to consult Rain on an important matter and to abide by his decision.

We also see that the fey learn more about Ellie's history, that she really is fey (not just half fey, or half Eld) but the identity of her parents elude them. I want to see a reunion between Ellie and her parents, and I want to see Rain's (and the other fey's) reactions when they learn just who Ellie's parents are. And I will curse the author and I will feel cheated if her parents died in Eld without Ellie and the fey knowing who her parents are.

The High Mage has also gotten "badder", with more powerful weapons at his disposal. I do wonder how the fey will beat them in the next book. I'll say it again, I'm waiting with impatience for Queen of Song and Souls. I anticipate a great read, based on the last three books.

Book Rating: 5.0

REVIEW: Lady of Light and Shadows by C. L. Wilson

Series: Tairen Soul series

Author's Website

Summary:

The story continues from where Lord of the Fading Lands ended. Ellysetta Baristani continues with her devotions, a necessary Celierian ritual which is the prelude to the actual wedding. Meanwhile, Rain courts the Celierian king and powerful lords to his cause --to maintain the closure of the Eld borders with Celieria, as his gut feel tells him the Eld mean nothing but evil intentions toward the Celierians in the supposed trade agreement they sent the king for negotiations.

Comments:

This book is a powerful continuation to the story started in Lord of the Fading Lands, fleshing out the situation in Celieria and culminating in a strong conclusion at the end. If the two books had been combined into one, I wouldn't have experienced the I-was-cheated feeling when I finished reading Book 1.

Here, the mystery of Ellie's identity and background deepened as she was able to do great feats that even the greatest living trained shei'dalin wasn't able to do. What I like most was that Ellie finally came into her own toward the end, and it was a pleasure to see her transformation into the woman that she had the potential to be.

The author introduced another character--Gaelen vel Serannis, and I like his wicked, playful manner, especially when he teased the young fey who thought he had nothing to offer them, not even battle tactics, all because he had fallen to the dark side. When fey men killed, the souls of the victims will weigh on their own souls and continue to accumulate until such time when darkness consumed them. Then, they have the choice of an honorable death (suicide) or going to the dark side and being exiled from the Fading Lands forever.

Rain was devastated when he learned something repulsive about Ellie (repulsive to him because he's fey), and his reaction was believable, though it brought great sorrow and distress to Ellie. He did make up for it at the end, but I felt he should've groveled more.

Overall, I love the book, which is a magical blend of fantasy, suspense and romance.

Book Rating: 5.0

REVIEW: Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson

Series: Tairen Soul series

Author Website contains lots of information about the world, the people of the series. Check it out!

Summary:

Desperate to save his land and his people, Rainier vel'En Daris, Lord of the Fading Lands, went to Celieria, even though the place brought him nothing but grief and terrible memories of the slaying of his heart mate and where he, in his madness, almost razed the world with his tairen fire. He never expected to find salvation in the form of Ellysetta Baristani, the woman who called out to his soul, his true mate. But who is Ellysetta Baristani? How could this mortal woman call to him, when a true mate bond--the highest form of bonding--can only occur between unmated immortal feys?

Comments:

I love love love this book. Why? Let me break it down for you.

The world that the author created is fantastic, with rich details and back history on the mortals and immortals who mix and live together in the same world, complete with humans, feys and elves. The story is full of intrigue and politics and jealousy, and we have a truly evil villain that you'll love to hate. You don't see much of him yet in this book, but wait till the next two books.

The fey men are tall and handsome and powerful. Not just powerfully built (their main mode of travel is by running! and they're not even winded after going on for long distances), but excellent warriors (they spend hundreds of years in training) and powerful in terms of the magic they can summon to their hands. The fey women are beautiful and good and full of compassion, the very base of their healing art. The men are intensely protective of their women, and the sole reason they trained so hard is to be judged worthy enough to protect a shei'dalin (fey women who can heal) when she leaves the Fading Lands, like when she's requested to perform healing on people who live in other nations. Many times throughout the book, I wish I were fey. You don't see that kind of men anywhere here, certainly!

Rain...to be honest, I can't imagine a guy named Rain. I look at the cover art and he doesn't look like a Rain, but that's a personal bias. I thought it would be better if his full name--Rainier--were used all throughout instead. Anyway, Rain is a great hero--tortured, loyal, protective. I think he didn't dare accept Ellie at the start, because he didn't want to replace Sariel, his heart mate whom he loved, and I think he couldn't believe he could have a true mate. That's because he's a Tairen Soul and Tairen Souls don't have true mates. Why? If I tell, it would be a spoiler, so I'll leave it to you to discover, though I'm dying to say why.

BEGIN SPOILER

It's because to be true mates, each party must be the equal of the other in every way, and that's all I'm saying.

END SPOILER

Rain does have to exert effort to court Ellie, as per fey custom and win her over so that she would bond with him and thereby complete their true mate bonding. Ellie, however, resists the bond, because she had secrets that she didn't want Rain to know, because she was afraid he would be repulsed by her should he know. The true mate bond would enable your mate's thoughts to be your own, so that it's like talking in your head and knowing all your deepest secrets. But Rain is determined to win Ellie and save his people, and there's nothing more sexy than a guy who's determined to have you (that is, if you want him too).

Ellysetta, on the other hand, is sweet and young and timid, and in this book, quite passive. She is described as having orange hair, which is unusual, and is the object of ridicule by the people she knows (except for her family). The one thing that stands out about her is that she's very kind, and she's scared of what she perceived as something evil that is in her that she tries very hard to keep imprisoned. I find she didn't have much personality, and this is something that bothered me in this book.

The pacing of the book is slow at times, but there are enough exciting parts to make up for it. There's also a running mystery throughout the series as to Ellie's real identity. The presence and wickedness of the villains and their villainous acts make the danger real, and I just can't help but to keep on turning the page to know what happened next or to unravel another small mystery. In view that I've already read the next two books, this is a very well-plotted series, and the way the author hands out the pieces to the readers make for a very engaging and addicting read.

This book is the first in a series of four, which tells the complete story. It is better to read it in sequence: Lord of the Fading Lands, Lady of Light and Shadows, King of Sword and Sky, and Queen of Song and Souls. When I finished Lord of the Fading Lands, I felt slightly cheated, because it was very obvious to me that the story isn't finished. There are a lot of loose threads left hanging. If this were marketed as a fantasy book (and not a romance, which seems to have a maximum word or page count), the four books would be packaged as one into one big tome, like the Kushiel books by Jacqueline Carey, which reached approximately 1,000 page per book (depends on the edition you're holding). Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book enough that I quickly went to get the next two books and am looking forward to the last and fourth installment. A keeper, this book deserves a special place on shelves. I will certainly read this book over and over.

Book Rating: 5.0