Customer Reviews

Daughter of the Desert

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After reading Brennan's The Sword of the Land, I was really looking forward to this book, but I finished Daughter of the Desert frustrated and disappointed. The heroine, Forental, learns that she is not who she believed that she was and must journey to the distant city of Dreffir to save her people. Her inner struggle to come to terms with her heritage and her new powers was, if not a new idea, interesting enough.

Along the way she meets up with Prince Erba who is running from his brother's assasins. I wanted to like Erba, but I couldn't. He was complicated enough, trying to do the right thing while plagued with self doubt, fear, and prejudice. But his unlikeable qualities outweighed his likeable ones and I really couldn't sympathize with him at all.

Forental and Erba spend the entire book traveling to Dreffir, encountering many many many obstacles along the way. Too many. There were so many obstacles that I became frustrated because I just wanted them to reach Dreffir so that the real story could begin. Except that the story didn't begin at Dreffir, it ended there, presumably so that Brennan can write a sequel. It really just felt like I read half a book that ended just where it started to pick up. This book draws us into this pivotal city where Forental would come into her powers and take them back to her homeland and bridge her people together to bring peace to the land. Except, none of that happens. It just ends when they reach Dreffir with Forental's sudden change of heart about her heritage and her new powers, and Erba's too late, anticlimatic realization about his own heritage and his feelings toward Forental.

This was an awesome book. Engaging and fascinating. Somehting different. However, the publisher has pulled the sequel, I found out from the author today :(. If we want a chance at a sequel, we need to write/email the publisher to let it be heard we want one! Can you help?

The last two reviewers stated it perfectly. This book is good, but I wish it had more character development and moral trials, stuff like that. "Sword of the Land" and "Blood of the Land" were amazing books,with Sword of the Land being one of my favorite novels, so I had high hopes for "Daughter of the Desert." Though not as spectacular as I expected, it's still a page-turner, and I will most definitely read the sequel as soon as it comes out.

When the Virsat conquer the land of Tireera, they enslaved the Tidars who were there before them. Most are slaves and considered less than human but some are free though treated like third class citizens. Forentel, the daughter of the High General and the High Judge, is shocked when she sees her twin near the royal palace. She learns that she is the daughter of A Tirdar woman, who had sex with her father and unable to comply with her father's wishes to marry a lecherous, wealthy old man she runs away.

Also on the run is Prince Erba whose brother killed their father the king and assumed the throne. Now Erba is in hiding because his sibling wants him dead so he won't threaten his power base or try to gain the throne. Both Forentel and Erba are making their way to Dreffir, the city where it is said the Tidor came from. Erba wants to see what everyone thinks is a magical place and Forentel wants the people to teach her to use her magic that is growing stronger and to learn about her heritage. In pursuit of their goal the two runaways must face several dangers including cannibals, man eating plants, slavers, and a soldier determined to bring Erba back to his brother.

DAUGHTER OF THE DESSERT excels at strong characterizations and in most cases the women are independent thinkers capable of ruling or doing whatever they set their minds to accomplish. The power structure in Tireera is uneven and the slave population and the residents of Dreffir look upon Forentel as the Delass (the bridge) and once she figures out what that means she will do all in her power to see that that life in Tireera is changed. Readers will eagerly await the next book in this stunning new series.

Harriet Klausner

I really want a sequel to this one and hope it will eventually be available. This author has a great imagination, strong characters with good back-stories. Noel-Anne Brennan's "Sword of the Land" and "Blood of the Land" are equally good reads. (Suitable for the young adults in the family!) Where has this writer been hiding? Good writers who present a really good read are still desperately needed in this world of ours. Get busy Noel-Anne - We need you!

Story:
Forentel is the daughter of the High Judge (her mother) and the commander of the kings army (her father). Her father wants to marry her off so that he can cement his alliance with other nobles in the city that think it is time for the ailing king to turn over the throne to his ambitious older son, Mirta. Erba is the younger son of the king and dreams of exploring far away lands in search of fame, riches, and adventure. He has no interest in dealing with the politics that come with the throne. Erba and Fortnell are brought toghether when both of their former lives are ripped away from them, Fortnell through the murky secrets in her parents past and Erba through the treachery of his brother. Together they must face shifting alliances , the treachous peoples of the desert, and their own predjuices to find the destiney that awaits them in the legendary city of Dreffir where the secret of Forentel ever increasing power will be revealed.
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This was a pretty good fantasy read. As far as I can tell this is a stand alone book meaning that you don't necessairly need to any other of the author's books to understand this one. It is a step above of the usual kid discovers that he/she has amazing powers and they go onto save the day. The characters in this book are mostly (understandbly) tired, confused, and scared as they seem to be being dragged along by something they cannot control. This book also does deal with prejudice as the main characters come from one nation (virsat) that has conquered another (tidar) and the conquered nation is seen as second class or worse. The characters grapple with their feelings as their preceptions change. As in real life not everything gets instantly better, it takes work. All in all I would recommend this to any one who likes a little depth to their characters and likes a fantasy that is set in a different world but deals with issues in this one. As a plus it does seem like a stand alone book.
m.a.c

Ok book with a strong heroine which is what I enjoy, but there may never be a sequel so don't invest your energy in starting something with no conclusion.

I loved Blood/Land and Sword/Land, so I was excited to read this one. It's not nearly up to their standard. It's very poorly written; she explains to you all the emotions of each character, never showing them. Far too much "Deus ex machina" magic. It's clumsy, plodding, and poorly-written. I can only imagine her editor sent it into print because the first two books sold well; this one isn't worth the effort to read, and her editor ought to have stopped it from going to press in its present condition.

"Daughter of the Desert" is a fantasy novel set in a mystical variant of the middle ages -- swords & sorcery & a strong class system. F--, a sheltered young lady, discovers magical powers that she dare not reveal. Prince E--'s life is torn assunder by trechery and assasination. Meanwhile F-- uncovers deadly secrets in her upper-class family and flees, disguised as a lower-class citizen. Meeting by chance, E-- and F-- together flee for a legendary city.

Altogether, this book is fun, light hearted and entertaining. It wasn't great, but no terrible flaws, no lengthy moral messages, no dark passages, no questionable topics. Just a pleasant read, suitable for a lazy afternoon.

Having adored her "Sword of the Land" and "Blood of the Land" books, I was excited to see this new title available. "Daughter of the Desert" was a fairly straightforward read, but it brought up more questions than answers that beg for a sequel to be written.

The one issue I had with "Daughter" was that there was less characterization than in her previous "Land" books. The focus seemed to be more on the events than on the characters' inner growth, with several characters just sort of changing their mind about their behavior (Riessa and Kelern, two supporting characters, for example) with no real struggle toward the end of the book.

There were so many things that could have been developed - such as Forentel's growing in her powers, and learning and fulfilling her destiny, or Erba learning and fulfilling his destiny as well. The author also hints that Riessa and Kelern have new roles to fulfill but doesn't go into detail, since the book ends at right about that point.

That's why I'm hoping there's a sequel. Right about the time you think, Now we'll get to see them step into their destinies, the book ends. But the author ties up the book with so few loose ends (without spoiling it, let's just say the bad guys get what's coming to them) that I have to wonder how she could reopen the story, since the main conflict is resolved by the end of the book. Of course, that would make a sequel rather interesting....

Overall, a nice, simple read, and hopefully the start of another series.