1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Heart & Soul series - book 10, March 10, 2007
This review is from: Soul of the Forgotten (Paperback)
Finding a futuristic romance at a store is very difficult; finding a good one is even harder! Thanks to e-publishing it's becoming easier to find good futuristics. Ms. Verdenius is one of the greats (imho!) I thought it was the most emotionally moving story. When she realizes all of her years in prison were not for the reasons she thought, the writing makes one almost feel what the character feels. I am the proud owner of the entire series so far and am looking forward to books 12 and 13 coming out this year.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
It is impossible not to be moved by Liane's plight, June 27, 2008
This review is from: Soul of the Forgotten (Paperback)
Courtesy of CK2S Kwips and Kritiques
A CK2S Recommended Read!
Soul of the Forgotten is easily Angela Verdenius' best work to date. The emotions are powerful and the action unrelenting as we barrel through the galaxy on Liane's adventure and subsequent rebirth.
Left alone and abandoned in a distant prison sits Liane, the forgotten warrior...
Captured and sold as a slave at a tender age, Liane has not known happiness in longer than she can remember. Her kind, the Reeka, were long ago freed from their condemned past but Liane was all alone. When she is found years later, her sister warriors eagerly have her freedom granted, and her care given to the Daamen traders until she returns home. But Liane has not known anything but her prison for too many years.
From the moment her freedom is granted, one of the Daamens, Borga, has been unable to get her out of his mind. He is the only one she trusts but even that is very shakily given. Yet he is unwilling to give up on her and will do everything in his power to teach her to live again.
As Liane comes out of her isolation and adjusts to her freedom, she slowly changes from haunted soul to contented woman, until her past catches up with her. Someone wants her dead and will go to any lengths to reach the necessary conclusion. How will Liane ever be truly free and safe? And what of the tender feelings for Borga she is reluctantly discovering? And what is the meaning of that complex tattoo she wears emblazoned across her back?
What a story! Angela Verdenius has outdone herself once again. Adventure unfolds as we travel with the Daamens to the distant planet where Liane is imprisoned, spend weeks in the spaceship traveling home, and back to the planet where Liane's young life was spent in relative peace until the events unfolded her leading to her years of imprisonment. The story is complex, with Angela's usual flashes between the main storyline and the supporting ones. I love that you never really know what is happening in those scenes revealing the sub-plots until all is brought together in an explosive climactic scene. When secrets are uncovered and discoveries made, excitement is sure to build.
Readers will love the big brawny Daamens, especially Borga and his commander, Simon. (By the way, I know of at least one reader who is clamoring for Simon to get his own story!) Borga is so hard and gruff most of the time that when we see his tender side exposed to Liane, we can't help but love this more compassionate Borga. When Borga feels Liane is threatened, he is like a growling bear protecting his family.
It is impossible not to be moved by Liane's plight in Soul of the Forgotten. When she is suffering in her cell, I cried out in terror along with her. When Liane sees her first flower after many years, which is nothing more than a weed really, I felt her wonder at the beauty of it. I felt real anger with her when Liane thought she had been forgotten for so many years. I cried real tears as she experienced the rain showering her and when she finally understands she really IS free at last. Her reunion with her sister Reeka warriors, when she learns the whole story of what happened is very touching. Watching Liane blossom from terrified and beaten down girl to passionate lover and warrior is very powerful and readers would have to have a heart of stone in order to not be moved by the transformation.
© Kelley A. Hartsell, September 2006. All rights reserved.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Soul of the Forgotten-A Joyfully Recommended Title!, January 7, 2008
This review is from: Soul of the Forgotten (Paperback)
Laine is a Reeka warrior who was captured at age seven and then imprisoned at age nine. For some unknown reason, when her people were all given a trial for their deeds done after being declared outlaws and then pardoned, no one brought her to the attention of the officials. Now it's eleven years later, and Laine is taken away from the prison by Daamen traders to be brought home - finally.
Borga feels something for Laine the first time he sees her in the prison yard. The more time he spends with Laine, the more protective and possessive he becomes. When Borga must explain to Laine that she has spent eleven years in prison after her race was pardoned, because it appears she was forgotten, it breaks his heart. Borga is determined that no one will ever forget Laine or hurt her again.
Laine is rediscovering all the small things that are taken for granted with the wonder of a small child. Borga is behind or beside her along the way, and he experiences each of her discoveries with Laine. When it is revealed that someone has remembered about Laine but is determined to kill her, Borga learns just want protective and possessive really mean. Laine is a warrior and has been since birth - she does not take this threat to her life lightly, especially since she is just rediscovering it. Borga and Laine have to figure out a way to follow the clues in Laine's past to discover who is trying to kill her and why, with a little help from her warrior sisters and the Daamen traders.
Discovery and those that are forgotten in the vastness of war are the themes of Soul of the Forgotten, and it is done in a simple but wondrous way. Laine has spent her entire life fighting to survive and the last eleven years have been hell while in a prison with guards who make misery a life's achievement. Borga is a laid back trader on a ship with a crew he enjoys. However, he does not realize the drastic changes his life will take when the ship is asked to pick up a forgotten prisoner from prison planet Cardrak. Watching Laine discover an entire lifetime of things both large and small with wonder, and watching Borga trying to give her space while protecting her, took me on a wonderful roller coaster ride. I simply loved watching both Borga and Laine learn together and then realize their love was the best discovery of all. The suspense and danger added to the plot and storyline in a way that only a very good storyteller can do. I ended my roller coaster ride with a well-earned sigh after experiencing laughs, disgust, eye rolling and yes, even some tears in a couple of very special passages. I have enjoyed several of Ms. Verdenius' books before, but Soul of the Forgotten had it all. I can't recommend this highly enough and know it will be reread several times over. For all of these reasons, I have made Soul of the Forgotten one of my Joyfully Reviewed Recommended Reads.
Jo
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
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