The Barbed Rose [Paperback]

Gail Dayton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2006

Demons are coming.
One woman has been chosen to face them . . .

Demon hordes still threaten the Kingdom while open rebellion has broken out within its cities, separating Kallista from her new family.

Assassination attempts, magical attacks -- she's surrounded by devastation unlike anything she's ever known, and her unique magic power no longer works as it should. Yet her own pain must yield to the needs of her country, for this military mage is charged with searching the four directions of the world for the other "Godmarked" -- the only ones who can help her keep demon invaders from shattering her world.

But can she find them in time?

The One Rose
Fourfold Magic
Barely Understood-
Or Contained . . .

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . will absolutely blow away fans of romance-powered fantasy. In a word: wow!" -- Explorations on The Compass Rose

Product Details

• Paperback: 441 pages
• Publisher: Luna; 1st edition (March 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373802250
• ISBN-13: 978-0373802258
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,114,112 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gail Dayton began telling stories when she was five, when Bambi came home with her from the movies, but she didn't write any of them down until she was in fourth grade--a story about a cat. She discovered fairy tales not long after that, and her horizons expanded.

A RITA finalist for Best First Book in 2002 with Hide-and-Sheikh, a contemporary series romance from Silhouette Desire, Gail won the Aspen Gold award for Her Convenient Millionaire (another Desire), and was a Prism Award finalist for The Compass Rose. She won the Best Fantasy Prism Award the next two years, for The Barbed Rose and The Eternal Rose.

Gail lives with her husband, youngest son, and granddog Dolly the Princess Pitbull, on the Texas Gulf Coast, two blocks from the beach. The problem with living at the beach is that you have to LIVE at the beach. You still have laundry and housework and such, only with sand. However, the beach makes up for it.

She's a voracious reader, devouring more than 200 books a year, in most genres, especially of romance. She's a big wimp, so she doesn't read suspense/thrillers/really scary books, or horror--although if it's fantasy or science fiction, it doesn't bother her so much, because obviously, it's not real. And she finds a lot of literary fiction boring.

Whatever she reads, she writes, which means she's written contemporary romance, historical romance, "straight" historical, epic fantasy, fantasy romance and a number of other genres, because she loves it all. Admittedly, science fiction and fantasy are old favorites--she started reading those back when she still thought kissing was icky...

Visit her at http://www.gaildayton.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars very intriguing, February 25, 2007

By 

Neker (Duson, Louisiana United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Barbed Rose (Paperback)

Although I did not find this as good as the first in the series, I was still drawn into the charcters and world created by Dayton. In this strange world where magic exist, there are born powerful "naitans," wielders of magic, and women are the rulers and holders of powerful positions in government and family. The families, "ilian," can include four or five women and men and can extend to up to twelve adults. These people sleep together and when a child is born they raise it as their own even if they are not the blood father or mother. I could go on and on about this fasinating world created by Dayton. Learning about this world alone is worth reading the book.

There is a plot to the story, Kallista, is the most powerful naitan of her time. She is called "godstruck," and she is the number one defense against the demons that are trying to distroy her people. In this book, seven demons have infiltrated her country and she and her ilian, are split up. Without them close by, she cannot use her magic as efficiently and strongly as she needs to distroy the demons.

I thought the plot of this one was not as strong as the first, but I still enjoyed myself. Warning to those who are a bit passive when it comes to sex scenes, there is a high concentration of them in this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An intriguing world, September 6, 2006

By 

Ryner (Chaska, Minnesota, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Barbed Rose (Paperback)

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars I liked it., September 19, 2009

By 

Likestoread (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Barbed Rose (Paperback)

I thought that this was a good continuation of the first book, The Compass Rose, and I'm glad that I bought it. The only downside in my opinion is that there are begining to be so many different perspectives, it's difficult to connect with any one character. I liked it better when there was more one-on-one relationship forming action =) .