"A 'Beauty and the Beast' love story that will keep you reading until the last page"
It has been four years since the Spirit gave Jenna a
vision of her marriage and now the Leor warship has
arrived. Although she wants to run, her belief in her
destiny gives her courage to step forward and offer
herself in marriage as payment for the Leor's help to save
two Shielder settlements in the far quadrant (Controllers
have placed a bounty on Shielder race). The Leor race is the result of long-ago crossbreeding of
humans with a reptilian race and their physical makeup was
more human than reptile. The council overseeing all Leor
clans decreed that the leaders of each clan must take a
non-Leor mate to insure strong and healthy future
leaders. As ruling Comdar of Saura, Arion knew that
Leor's mated for life but he would do his duty. Upon
seeing Jenna, he was intrigued by her hair and courage,
but even more so by her unique ability as a Seer. She
would have to be mentally strong, as well as physically
sturdy, to survive the hard life among Leors. Jenna's ability to adjust to the militaristic life-style
of the Leors as well as cultural and physical difference
is made more difficult as she meets the prejudices of
members of the settlement. Added to prejudice she must
cope with the danger of suspected Controller plotting to
eliminate those they cannot subjugate. Spies
have begun to sabotage and destroy Leor settlements. There has only been one other marriage between Leor and
human, Komissar Gunnar and his mate Lani. After Lani in
all her blue-feather splendor visits to give him advice,
Arion swears his woman will be more respectful and
controlled. Jenna should not be a distraction to his
duties, and why does he have this needs to make his new
mate happy? Eventually he is forced to acknowledge this
business of marriage may be more difficult than he
expected. Arion is a male who is often clueless of how to handle
their relationship. He is forced to recognize that he has
emotions as well as responsibility for his mate and how
his duty now affects her. Jenna who has always been
independent, must learn to work as a team and become part
of an alien community as bride of the ruler. I was
impressed with Jenna's ability to choose duty as an
expression of her caring and showing that love is a
choice. Her trust in her destiny shown by the Spirit
brings an element of faith and a fate determined by
Jenna's strength of will. This story of politics and relationships will keep you
reading until the last page. With an engaging mix of
science and mysticism, Catherine Spangler has created
a 'Beauty and the Beast' love story that lifts SHADOW FIRE
into a 'must read' for Fantasy fans. Although a stand-
alone novel, you will want to read the other tales of the
SHIELDER people. (Earlier titles of the Shielder Series is
scheduled for re-release with this title: SHIELDER,
SHADOWER, SHAMARA, SHADOW CROSSING and now SHADOW FIRE)
Courtesy:
eBOOKISLE
Reviewed by Cy Korte
Posted January 1, 2004
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