Expected Release Date: April 26, 2011
Publisher: Harlequin
Imprint: HQN
Author’s Website: http://susangrant.com/
My Source for This Book: Netgalley
Part of a Series: Yes, Book 1, Lost Colony series
Steam Level: Steamy
Official Blurb:
As a decorated soldier, the young General Tao knows only one kind of honor—to his people. But when his own king betrays him, he discovers that his sacrifices, his successes, may not have been for the good of the country at all.
Fate—and his enemies—throw him together with Elsabeth, a red-haired beauty who has served as the royal tutor. Her loyalties, though, remain with her father’s people, the rebellious Kurel, who worship the old ways, even harboring the forbidden arks that brought the Kurel to this planet ages ago. When a threat greater than their peoples’ war looms, intent on destroying the world they both know, the fierce warrior and the sensitive scholar must unite. Together, they must fight for their planet, for their world and for their love.
The Tassagon are a warrior people — superstitious and rowdy, they fear the Kurel’s sorcery, and in turn, fear the Kurel people themselves. The Kurel are a peaceful people, who live quite differently from the Tassagon people, and having been forced to live in a ghetto where few Tassagon people will enter, they and their “sorcery” are frequently used as scapegoats for everything from plagues to bouts of bad luck.
Tao, a Tassagon, returns home a war hero after a long campaign fighting the Gorr — a ruthless (and furry) alien species thought to be completely feral, with only the few alphas able to think and communicate on a human level. Celebrated by the people, he’s regarded with suspicion and jealousy by Xim, his king, who has long since felt both insecure and jealous of Tao’s ability and renown. A careless slip of the tongue provides all the excuse that Xim needs to accuse Tao of treason, and he’s immediately thrown into the dungeon to await both torture and public execution.
Elsabeth is half Tassagon, half Kurel, and having had her parents murdered by Xim’s men several years prior, has joined the rebel movement whose goal is to depose Xim and place Tao on the throne in order to unite the Tassagon and Kurel people.
Forced to work together towards a common goal — that of removing Xim from power and of ultimately uniting the human tribes against the Gorr — Elsabeth and Tao learn to put their prejudices aside until not only are they able to embrace the best of both societies, but also to find a passion and love that neither of them ever expected.
What worked for me:
- Oh wow. The premise behind the worldbuilding of this story is absolutely fantastic.
SPOILER ALERT SelectShow Spoiler - The “enemies to lovers” ploy. Having Beth as a part of the resistance (and a pacifist to boot), and Tao as a loyal war general and then throwing them together was brilliant. Both have a very strong set of preconceived notions as to how the other side lives, and yet are soon able to put aside their prejudices and begin to learn from each other.
- I adored how in the beginning, Tao saw marriage as similar to war strategy — something to be entered into using logic and a strict selection process, rather than something to be entered into using distracting and illogical emotions. I almost laughed when he first said that, because I knew that he was going to be eating those words in the end, and I wasn’t disappointed.
- The romance between Tao and Beth was paced perfectly. They didn’t jump into bed with each other, but neither did they fight their attraction to the point of being annoying.
- I actually felt bad for Xim, which surprised me. True, his actions were evil, and he was a truly terrible leader, but as a man, I couldn’t help but sympathize with him. I really enjoyed that fact, because too often the villain in these types of stories are one-dimensional or incredibly evil; Xim, on the other hand was petulant, insecure, and weak-willed, but was not, I feel, a truly evil person.
What didn’t work for me:
- To be honest, nothing really jumps out at me. I enjoyed the writing style, the pacing, the characters, and the premise itself. If I absolutely had to pick something, it would be the implausibility of Xim’s people not knowing that Tao was in the ghetto after the attack by the Gorr, especially after the guards saw him. Tao was a war hero and I find it unlikely that the remaining guard wouldn’t have been able to positively identify him even if they’d never personally been introduced, especially since Tao is considered Public Enemy #1.
Overall, I was highly impressed. This is my first Susan Grant novel, and I have to say that it most certainly will not be my last. I am absolutely dying to read more in this series. I want so badly to read about the Riders, as well as the Sea Scourge (I love pirates!), and cannot wait for the next installment. I highly recommend this for readers who love Romantic Fantasy, and am happily adding this series to my own auto-buy shelf.
A solid 5/5 Stars
