Tag: m/m fantasy trilogy

A MelanieM Review: Kian’s Hunter (The Fire Trilogy #1) by R.J. Scott

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Kian's Hunter coverKian has crossed over from his world to ours to seek revenge. His plan is to kill the monster who murdered his Uncle. The same monster who used magic to escape to our world and is hiding here and growing in strength.

Regan Campbell is a hunter of Demons. The first son, of a first son, he is the one who protects this world from the monsters that no one else knows are here.

When Kian reaches this world, he knows Regan is the perfect man to fight alongside him, but Regan trusts no one.

It isn’t until they are facing death and a terrible evil that will be let loose, that Regan finally realises he can trust another…his fated partner, Kian.

Kian’s Hunter by RJ Scott is a wonderfully imaginative tale that sets the stage for the remaining stories in this trilogy.  Through our introduction to the main characters, Scott sketches out her trilogy plot and worlds where her stories begin. Kian ap Rhys, a green fire mage come to Earth from a magical parallel world looking to revenge his uncle’s death.  Kian’s uncle had his fire stolen from him by the Danio, an exiled race of magical beings now causing chaos and pain on Earth and Kian has traveled through a portal to find those beings responsible and kill them.  On the flip side of the coin, or parallel world as RJ Scott has it, resides Regan Campbell, human being and hunter.  Regan is the latest in a long line of hunters tracking down and killing said “demons and unnatural beings”.  Regan’s own knowledge of those he’s hunting is sketchy and patchwork.  He mostly concentrates his energies on the hunt and the kill.

When RJ Scott brings these two men together, not only do we get a wonderfully engaging couple on the daunting path to love and a fated bond but the back story for both men and the overall trilogy plot starts to pull together.  Here we find out about the devoted trio of childhood friends torn apart by traumatic event and the basis of the fire magic.  We also get the elementary knowledge as to what the 3 different fire colors mean as far as the type of magic it allows each person to wield.  I love the idea of magic born of fire.  The pictures that create in a reader’s mind is marvelous and as magical as the fire itself.  For Kian…his fire is green and his magic flows from nature.  What that means is explored here in a fundamental way that will be enlarged on down the road in the following stories.

But back to the men.  I found their characters engaging, snarky, and fun.  I loved their banter and the action that brings them together finally as a pair.   I wanted more and more of them both by the end of the story.

What did I find missing?  That would be more of the back history that is coming in Darach’s Cariad and Eoin’s Destiny.  For those that get frustrated with stories that feel as though they are missing elements as this sometimes does, I recommend reading all three stories, one right after the other.  Taken together you have the whole and its wonderful.  Kian’s Hunter is but the first puzzle piece, waiting for the rest to complete it.   As such, it does the job its supposed to and pulls the reader into the mysteries and romance of a trio of mages and the great evil that awaits them all.

I highly recommend this story and its companion tales.  For those of you who love romance and fantasy, here is a trilogy for you!

Cover artist Meredith Russell. I’m not a fan of this cover.  It looks as though its for a contemporary romance instead of a fantasy.   Poor job in every element for this cover.

Sales Links:  Love Lane Books  All Romance (ARe)   Amazon   Buy It Here

Book Details:

Note: this book was originally a short story written in 2010. This version is inspired by that short story and is a complete re-write.

ebook, 2nd Edition, 102 pages
Published March 19th 2014 by Love Lane Books (first published December 1st 2010)
ISBN139781311226518
edition languageEnglish
url http://rjscottauthor.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/kian.html
seriesThe Fire Trilogy #1

Books in the Fire Trilogy:

Kian’s Hunter (The Fire Trilogy #1)
Darach’s Cariad (The Fire Trilogy #2)
Eoin’s Destiny (The Fire Trilogy #3)

Review of Life as a Fairy Thrall by Katey Hawthorne

Rating:       4.25 stars

Tammas and Aeron have just gotten over one shock to their relationship when two more happen right in a row.  Emry is successful in his work on their bond and Kamala appears on their doorstep with a problem and her nephew, Firez, in tow.  Firez is an old schoolmate of Tammas’ and his sister has been kidnapped by a fae.  He has come to ask for their help in rescuing her, knowing it will take all the magic and the assistance of one of the fae to get her back.  Firez is not totally welcome in their home.  He is a part of those who hurt and bullied Tammas in school. Aeron demands payment for their help and Firez must enter into a Fairy  compact if he wants their help.

Kidnapping humans to keep as thralls is illegal. Only those humans who go willingly may become thrall but kidnapping the unwary is occuring in the Fairy Court.  But Tammas and Aeron know that if they can get her back, the chances of the fairies coming after her again are nil.  So with the help of Aeron’s sister, Awela, Kamala, Tammas, Aeron, Awela, and Firez head out to the portal into the Fairy Realm.  The plan is for Kamala to watch the portal until they are safely back while Aeron and Awela travel to the  Court with Tammas and Firez disguised as their human thralls.

Once at Court, their plans become even more complicated, as the Lady holding the girl wants more humans to take her place.  With danger all around them and the eyes of the Fae upon them, Tammas and Firez must act the part of human thralls right down to the collars they wear.  The girl is there but unaware of who they are.  All must tread delicately or the ones to pay the price will be Tammas and Firez with the cost of their freedom.

Life as a Fairy Thrall is the second story in the Fairy Compact trilogy by Katey Hawthorne.  The first story, The Dangers of a Fairy Compact relates the first meeting of Tam and Aeron,  although they have been connected by a fairy compact all Tam’s life.  Without giving too much away of the plot of that story, it  goes without saying that Fairy compacts always come with a price to be paid, ones that will resonate through the years and even alternate worlds. The trilogy is the story of Tammas and Aeron’s entwined lives and the relationship that comes out of a compact neither made of their own volition.  These are not your Disneyfied fairies but the fae of old Gaelic myths and lore.  Capable of great cruelty as as great good, their moods interchangeable and indeterminable.  They cannot be held to human standards something humans often forget.  Katey Hawthorne gives us the Fae made real, from their diaphanous wings and unworldly beauty to the power and magic that swirls around them like an aromatic.

It is through the author’s vivid descriptions and wonderful characterizations that Tammas’ world comes across as realistic as the neighborhood  I  live in.  I can see the small cottage with its gardens and trees surrounding it, but more importantly I can feel it as the story is as tactile as moss on a stone.  The magic here engages all the senses, it is smelled, and stroked.  It is the burbling of a stream and the mist of the woods and that gives these stories a wonderful depth and realism, both needed when the reader needs to believe in the world and characters before her. This tactile nature of these stories carries just as vividly into the sex scenes.  Who knew that winged sex could be so hot?  Indeed it is so be prepared when  entering Hawthorne’s fairy world or her human world either. At the end of the story we are left with Tam and Aeron’s relationship facing yet another hurdle, with another major decision to be made.  It will be a hard one, full of angst as well as love.  I can’t wait to see how the trilogy finishes up.

I love stories of the Fae and have since I was a child.  Tinker-belle never interested me but the Fair Folk of Irish lore fascinated me as much as they had the ability to terrify me.  Katey Hawthorne is giving us a wonderful trilogy in this same tradition.  Start with the first one.  It can be downloaded for free from either Katey Hawthorne’s website, visit http://www.kateyhawthorne.com/p/fairy-compacts.html.  Or visit All Romance Publishers and download it free  from there.  I think you will love the stories as much as I do plus the illustrations by Ruxandra Lache are not to be missed.

The Dangers of a Fairy Compact (Fairy Compact #1)

Life as a Fairy Thrall (Fairy Compact #2)