***MINOR SPOILERS ***
This is the first book in the Knights of the Black Swan series. I decided to buy this book to try a new series because I was enjoying a different one by this author. I liked this book less and probably will not continue with the series. It can be read as a standalone.
When I began the book, I was a little confused and wondered if I had missed a previous book, but it does sort itself out early. I do think this could have been fleshed out a bit more.
As you begin reading the story, it is easy to assume that Elora, one of the main characters, will develop a relationship with Storm. Elora is recovering from injuries and Storm comes to visit her. They develop a friendship that could become more than that, at least on Storm’s side. About 1/5 into the book, another character, Ram, comes back from bereavement leave and he realizes that Elora is his mate (he is an elf and is able to know). When he gets back, a choice between Storm and Ram is set up. Storm is pretty terrific – very kind and decent. Ram was also decent but has a long history as a player. The author does not keep you on the edge of this choice long, but I thought the reason for the choice should have been explored more.
Elora distrusts Ram because she finds out early that he has slept around and that was understandable. At one point, Ram shows Elora a book saying that male elves tend to be promiscuous until they find their mates. After that they are monogamous. Even after she is told this, Elora continues to distrust him. I thought it was good for Ram to be partially confronted with his past behavior.
When the story begins, a teammate of Ram and Storm has died. They are in a military organization and they work in groups of 4 (Kay is the 4th). The team is given 3 months off (I do not mean to be unkind, but that seems like a lot of time to have off). Then Ram gets injured in a training session and they get another 6 weeks off. That seemed to be a lot more time to get off without working. I am surprised that Storm and Kay were not assigned to work with others while Ram was healing. I am not an expert on military team staffing, but it did seem unlikely that they never worked with others. I would think sometimes you need teams of different sizes. It also seems counterproductive for them to not know the other knights in a team setting.
At the end of the book, there is a surprise that I did not see coming. I thought there should have been more clues about it. I also did not understand how someone would not know what was revealed and, additionally, that this was not something discussed with the person involved. Finally, I did not understand how it could be mostly true but not completely true. (Sorry for the vagueness on this, but I did not want to reveal something so late in the book). The book lost a star for how this was handled.
It lost a second star for the way Elora’s character was portrayed. Elora was raised in another dimension in an environment that was restricted. When she comes to this new dimension, she seems surprisingly adaptable. She also seems more bold than I would have expected. Either the author should have explained more about her history or how traveling through the dimensional portal and the events before it changed her. It would not be easy for anyone to lose everyone they loved and she said she would never stand frozen again. I thought this should have been said more than once so you could understand her motivation or how she changed in her new dimension. Also, given how she had no one when she came through the portal, I thought loneliness and grief could have been more of a factor. (The others had a bereavement leave of three months, but she seems to take little time to come to terms with an even bigger loss.)
Lastly, Elora is grateful to Storm for saving her and as a result, she makes a decision that is not a good one. This part of the story seemed more for dramatic effect. In and of itself, I thought of taking another star for this, but I thought that would have been too much.
I liked that Elora worked with a dog and rescued him from cruelty.
If you like the author, you will like this book. For me, I am glad I read the other series first as I like it better and I will stick with that one.
OR
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This was the first time I have read anything by ms. danann, and by was it good. I enjoy paranormal books, and this one has it all. It is a marvelous story with well developed plot and characters that jump out of the pages to become your friends. I highly recommend giving this a real good look. There are many more in this series and I can't wait to read them. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
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M. Bui
Couldn't put it down
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