February 28,
2012
The Sidhe World Part
1
by S.A. Archer &
S. Ravynheart
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Ravynheart Publishing
Release Date: October 28, 2011
Part 1
Author Summary
End of the World (Champion of the Sidhe #1)
The day Lugh, Champion of the Sidhe, has long fought for
finally manifests; all Sidhe unified under one Court. No more Light versus Dark. No more wars.
Brothers, on and all. But on the
day that should be celebrated as their greatest triumph, treachery brings his world
crashing down, literally. Now if he can’t find a way to stop it no fey will
survive.
Aftershock (Rise of the Unseelie #1)
The day the
Mounds collapsed Jhaer, leader of the Unseelie Elite, sacrificed his strength,
his magic, and his very life to save his world.
It wasn’t enough. He thought that
was the end of his story… Instead it is the beginning.
Cursed
(Touched #1)
As a
private investigator specializing in paranormal problems, London Eyer thought
she could handle working for the Sidhe. They couldn’t be any worse than
vampires or werewolves or wizards, could they? Oh, how wrong she was. One ‘Touch’ of Sidhe magic and she was cursed.
Her only chance to survive is to serve the creep that cursed her against the
vicious Changelings out for his blood.
My Thoughts
I really
enjoy stories based on myths, legends and folklore. Whether it’s Greek, Roman,
Sumerian or Celtic, lore adds such a mystical element that will put a novel far
above other fiction…in my opinion anyway.
Also
I admit that I’m a big fan of novellas and short stories. It’s incredibly
difficult to create a good backstory, develop characters and establish a
captivating plot in such a limited amount of pages. A lot of authors end
up overwhelming readers with too much detail on either front and it’s hard to
get the balance just right. I think it’s a true test of an author’s skill
to communicate all we need to know and successfully deliver a story that makes
us want more.
S.A Archer and S. Ravynheart are among those skilled
authors.
The Story World…
This story introduces us to a world deeply rooted in Irish
lore. The fey are the people of the Tuatha
de Danaan or the goddess Danu. The Seelie and Unseelie Sidhe and lesser fey (elves,
pixies, fairies, changelings, goblins, etc.) all reside in the Mounds (the
power base of all the fey) with the All-Mother Danu. Part of the story takes place in the human
realm where vampires, werewolves, wizards, some lesser or earthborn fey live.
The authors use a unique way to deliver this series. They’ve created 3 different mini-series that
capture some of the same events but from different perspectives. There are
crossovers and connections between the 3 and ultimately they will lead to a
ginormous confrontation later in the series.
The first mini-series is Champion of the Sidhe and
this story is told from Lugh’s point of view.
He is the Champion of the Fey and King of the Seelie Court. The second is Rise of the Unseelie and
this story is told from Jhaer’s point of view.
He is the Leader of the Elite Unseelie warriors. The third is Touched, where we hear London’s
story on the human realm.
It took me a while to figure out how things fit
together. But once I did, I found the
technique the authors are using quite effective. The entire Part 1 would equal the length of a
novella. There is a reading order that
should be followed in order to avoid spoilers. For Part 1, you should read in this order:
#1) End of the World; #2) Aftershock; #3) Cursed.
The Series Part 1…
In Part 1 of the series, a catastrophic event occurs in
the fey world. Just when the wars between Seelie and Unseelie have finally ended
and it was decided to unite under one Court, The Mounds is destroyed. Death and loss to both sides is enormous and
only a few fey survived the devastation.
There are no answers or explanation and too much to deal with to even
start inquiring.
The story from Lugh’s perspective is told in End of the
World. At first Lugh thinks the Unseelie
Elite leader, Jhaer, is responsible for the catastrophe. Its known that the Unseelie Elite isn’t in
favor of the union and the attack is coming from the earth; which is Jhaer’s
element to control. However, Lugh soon
realizes that what is happening is much worse than what Jhaer is capable of or what
even he would do. Fearing Danu is in
danger and the fact that she alone controls the magic of all the fey, Lugh
rushes to see to her while Jhaer tries to hold off the attack. I can’t really say any more on Lugh’s story,
as it would be a huge spoiler.
Jhaer in Aftershock then tells the same event from his point
of view. Even though Jhaer is not in
support of the union of Seelie and Unseelie courts, he was not the cause of the
collapse. Jhaer’s magic is of the earth
element and he tries desperately to stop the devastation from occurring even to
his own peril. However, it is in vain
and to his dismay, he cannot stop the catastrophe from happening.
After the collapse, Jhaer enters the earth realm, changes
his name to Donovan to blend in with humans, and with the help of a friend,
finds an alternate source of magic – one that is even more pure than what he
had in the Mounds. He sought out other
fey that migrated from the Mounds years ago and were earthborn, found many and
started to rebuild.
In the meantime, we are introduced to London in
Cursed. London is a human private
investigator with a paranormal client base.
As a human, she is susceptible to many things supernatural; however, she
manages to stay safe through caution, watchfulness and by making herself very
useful to those who cannot move in the human world.
Most of her clients are vamps and weres - basically part
human – so she was not experienced in dealing with her new fey client. All her carefulness could not arm her from becoming
cursed with the Touch of the Sidhe. The Touch
is highly addictive, life-long and without the energy release from a Sidhe, a
human can die. It’s comparable to a
heroin addiction except there’s no cure.
London is now under the total control of the fey.
The Main Characters…
So, a little about the main characters in the series… None
of them seem to be truly good or truly bad.
We would expect Lugh to be the good one or the hero given he is The
Champion of the Sidhe, from the Seelie court and considered the Light fey. Conversely, we expect Jhaer to be his evil nemesis
from the Unseelie court considered the Dark fey. However, reading the same story from
different perspectives shows us that this is not the case at all. Both have good and evil traits. I think it’s going to be hard for us to pick
a side if we are apt to do so.
Lugh
Lugh is the King of the Seelie court; protector of all the
fey and his successes in battle earned him the title of Champion of the
Sidhe. He is larger than life and considers
himself above most, especially the Unseelie. He is deemed “The Shining One”
because his magic controls the Sun. He
is certain the best path for the fey is to unite the Seelie and Unseelie courts
and refuses to accept anything else. In
the midst of the attack, Lugh showed that he is indeed a great leader by
quickly assessing the best way to protect all fey is to protect the All-Mother.
Jhaer/now Donovan
Jhaer is the leader of the Elites who worked his way up
through the ranks proving he worthy to hold that title. He seems more driven to protect the Unseelie
fey since they are considered lower in class than the Seelie. That changes after the collapse of the Mounds
and he is very protective and caring towards all the fey he finds on earth
surface. He is already establishing
himself as their leader. But don’t be
fooled by this kindness. I have a
feeling he is going to turn out to be a bit of a bad boy as the series
progresses.
London
London is a fearless and courageous heroine. She is comfortable working around the paranormals
she deals with on a daily basis and faces things head on. She has good intuition and is able to see
what most humans can’t or don’t want to see.
She’s a good-hearted person trying to help others; however, now that
she’s cursed, I think things will have to change for her. She may find herself doing things she would
not have before. It will be interesting
to see how this will play out for her since there’s no cure. How far will she go and what will she do to
get the next fix?
Bottom Line
Given my love of myths, legends
and folklore, this series had a lot going for it before I even started
reading. Archer & Ravynheart have
created a very engaging tale. The
writing is great, the plot is interesting, the characters are multi-dimensional
and the delivery is superb. Quite a feat
given the entire 3 books adds up to the length of a novella. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I
am. I’ve already read Part 2 so the
review will be posted soon.
Happy Reading!
4 Bad Boys – Really Enjoyed It!!!!
BUY
ON AMAZON…
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