"A stunning romantic fantasy debut!"
Rain Tairen Soul was no stranger to loss. War between the
Fey and the Mages of Eld had cost him the love of his heart,
Sariel, and many others he'd held dear. In his grief the
powerful Fey king had then scorched the world, leaving death
and destruction in his wake. One thousand years later fertility issues have marked the
tairen, the winged magical cats of the Fading Lands, for
extinction. Rain has faced this truth having plied his great
powers for centuries in the attempt to save the tairen as
well as his own people, who depended on him for strength and
leadership, to no avail. The two species were soul-kin whose
fates were intertwined. When the tairen died, the Fey would
die as well. Rain had sensed a growing darkness emanating
from Eld, the land of his dark enemy. The Feyreisen (king)
could not help but believe that the two circumstances were
somehow connected. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Standing in
the Hall of the Tairen, Rain makes a decision to force the
Eye of Truth, the magical globe made of Tairen's Eye
crystal, to provide a solution. The Fey were permitted to
question the Eye with their minds only, but an answer to
their dilemma had proved illusive. It had resisted even the
most skilled seers among the Fey. Rain decides to take
matters into his own hands, literally. Placing his hands on
the Eye he summons his vast power and is met by power like
he'd never known and pain. Rain is the last Tairen Soul, rare Fey who can transform
into tairen form. As the pain forces the change upon him, he
experiences the Wilding Rage once more and knows true terror
for the first time. Only when the Eye had forced him into
abject humility did the pain cease. Only then could he see
where his quest would lead him. Through the mists in the
Eye's center he saw the vague image of a woman's face and a
city he recognized and despised, Celieria, in the mortal
lands. He now knew what he must do. Once allies, the mortal world now feared and distrusted all
things Fey, the legacy of the Feyreisen's wrath had been
passed down through poetry and fairytales, reminding
succeeding generations of his violent nature. Only one found
these tales romantic, Ellysetta Baristani, adopted daughter
of a humble Celierian woodcarver. All her life she'd dreamed
of the tortured Fey King and prayed that he'd find the peace
that had been denied him. But her excitement about the
Feyreisen's return to Celieria has been dampened by a
betrothal forced on her by Den Brodson, a loathsome widower,
who has sensed the magic in her, a power she fears and has
spent her life forcing down. Her distress calls to Rain. She is his shei'tani, his truemate, the woman of his vision.
What Rain had felt for Sariel paled compared to the feelings
awakened by Ellie, the mate of his soul. No Tairen Soul in
history had ever had a truemate. Her death would mean his
own and whoa be to anyone who offered her insult or caused
her harm. But Rain's high-handed breaking of her legal and
binding betrothal to Den, making her his own, only brings
further mortal distrust of the Fey. To top it off, raids on
the Celierian Border which Rain attributes to the rise of
his enemy are being blamed on dahl'reisen, rogue Fey who
walked the Shadowed Path. Rain's bid to convince the
Celierian council that the Elden Mages had regained power
may very well rest upon the shoulders of this humble young
girl of mysterious origin. But the Dark Forces are seeking
Ellysetta as well. She has sensed their call her entire
life. Who is Ellie? Will she find the courage to use the
magic within her to help Rain save her people and the
inhabitants of the Fading Lands or will the Fey and tairen
fade into obscurity? Will she fall prey to dark call of the
Mages instead? To find out readers will have to read the rest of the saga
which continues with LADY OF LIGHT AND SHADOW in 2007, and
concludes with KING OF SWORD AND SKY and QUEEN OF SONG AND
SOULS in 2008. Worthy of a six star designation, LORD OF THE FADING LANDS
launches the career of C. L. Wilson who will no doubt soon
be joining the ranks of the bestselling romance authors. The
reader will find Ms. Wilson's a refreshing new voice and her
debut novel deep and engrossing, the likes of which this
reviewer hasn't found in nearly a decade. While it is
virtually impossible to put this book down, the reading of
it cannot be rushed. LORD OF THE FADING LANDS is literally
packed with plot and suspense and one would be well advised
not to skip a single word. Very highly recommended.
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted January 10, 2008
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A Novel of the Fading Lands
Long ago, in the magical holocaust known as the Mage Wars, the immortal Fey and their allies fought to defeat the grasping evil of the Elden Mages and their dark-gifted supporters. During those wars, in a fit of grief-induced madness caused by the death of his mate, Fey shapeshifter Rain Tairen Soul nearly destroyed the world in a blaze of tairen fire. Now, a thousand years later, the fierce Fey king must fight to save his race from the brink of extinction and once again stop the evil rising in the homeland of his enemies, the Eld. The key to his success lies in the mortal city of Celieria, where the Mage Wars began, and with a young woman whose soul sings to him in ways no woman�s ever has, whose presence reawakens the primal fury of the tairen within his soul, and whose vast, untapped power can either save or destroy him and his people.
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