About the Book
A new queen falls. A death lord rises. An ancient foe looms in the shadows. Sylvie Imanthiya is desperate to lead Faerie well and deepen the bond with her husband, former king Taylan Ashkalabek. But all hope of that vanishes when the winter solstice ceremony ends in disaster, stranding her and Taylan in the Deathrealm, and stripping the kingdom from her. With Faerie in chaos, Zad and Diza are separated once again: Zad to reconcile with an old mentor to stabilize the kingdom, and Diza to confront the nefarious Casimir in the mortal realm. But Casimir claims that a greater evil seeks to destroy both realms, an evil that Diza’s unique death magic can hold at bay—if she could only remember how. In the Deathrealm, Taylan is succumbing to the lure of specters from his past, and pushing away Sylvie’s love. Overwhelmed by decay and darkness, Sylvie must summon unexpected magic from the soul of Kyure to fight for her convictions and her husband’s heart. Shadows divide them. Their friends are in peril. If Sylvie fails, her marriage and her world will fall.
About the Author
Sarah Delena White was raised by wolves in an alternate dimension. She writes eclectic speculative fiction that reworks mythology with a fine balance of poetry and snark. She’s an experienced world traveler who loves to weave world folklore and ancient concepts into vibrant, original story worlds. She is the administrative manager for Uncommon Universes Press. When she’s not writing, she can be found making elegant designer bead jewelry, traveling to festivals as a professional ballad singer, drinking tea, and seeking to create the perfect latte. She can be bribed with dark chocolate.
Review:
This is a very well written and very interesting book. It has great characters and a vast world. I really enjoyed reading about these characters again and this world again.
The world wasn't really fleshed out much more than it was in the first book, we learn a little more about the Deathrealm, but I would have liked to learn more about Faerie.
The plot of this book is very fast paced, but almost to the point where you hardly have time to come to terms with new information about characters before the next action scene takes place.
I love the relationships in this book. Zad and Diza, Sylvie and Taylan. The respect and care they have for each other is rare in a lot of books with a romance. It was a nice change, even though Taylan did that cliche thing where he shoves Sylvie away "to protect" her. But after he realizes that was selfish he apologies for it, which also doesn't happen in a lot of books.
I was a bit confused at times with how old Sylvie is supposed to be. The rest of the characters are Fae, so they've been alive for centuries. But Sylvie, I wasn't sure how old she was supposed to be. At times she acted very young, but the way she spoke made me think she was older. Which makes it difficult to say if this us a YA or an adult book. The characters are, I believe, all adults. But there aren't any "adult themes" in these books.
I'm undecided in how I feel about changing who the antagonist is, I don't remember there being any setup in book one for there being a bigger threat than Casimir, but I have a trash memory and it's been a while since I've read book one so I might have forgotten.
This book has a lot of fae lore woven through it and It's different from a lot of books with fae in the sense that there's none of that possessiveness that a lot of books in the subgenre have, and the lack of "adult themes" makes this series suitable for all readers.
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Party Time!
Join Uncommon Universes Press and Laura A. Grace of Unicorn Quester to celebrate the launch of Rothana by Sarah Delena White! Includes games, giveaways, exclusive behind-the-scenes, and more. Also features guest authors Bethany A. Jennings and Morgan L. Busse. Save the date to hang out with these fabulous authors!
Book One
Blog Tour Schedule
Monday, November 26th- Author Interview – New Authors Fellowship
- Realm Explorers Author Interview – Letters from Annie (Douglass) Lima
- Guest Post on Mythology – Fairies, Fantasy, Faith
- Book Review – Becky Gaines
- Book Excerpt – Reading on the Edge
- Character Interview with Sidikas – Becky Gaines
- Character Interview with Casimir – LivForHim
- Behind-the-Scenes Feature – M. Hackman
- Author Interview – Dreams and Dragons
- Book Review – Pages to Explore
- Author Interview – O. Bonham
- Book Review & Excerpt – Coming Up Roses
- Behind-the-Scenes Feature – Lands Uncharted
- Guest Post on Zad and Pookas – L. Burke
- Book Excerpt – Becky Gaines
- Author Interview & Review – MissBriony
- Character Interview with Taylan – Unicorn Quester
- Book Review – Jessica Rachow
- Guest Post on Faerie vs. Sabeylln – Katherine Massengill
- Book Review – Writing with Wolves
Great review, Marie! I loved the romance in Rothana and absolutely LOVE the fae lore! Thanks so much for sharing. :)
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