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Etsey Novels #1
The Seventh Veil
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As a bisexual bastard born to a country stuck in antiquated mores and ideals, Charles Perry had learned long ago to set his sights low: all he wants is a drink, a dram, and a whore of each gender to share them with. But strange visions haunt his dreams, and now the ghosts are following him into his waking hours. Charles must seek help from an alchemist or risk running mad. Charles’s House blood makes him a high prize in magical circles, so he’ll have to be careful.
But what the alchemist discovers in Charles's blood turns the whole world on its head. And in the arms of an exotic male pleasure slave, Charles will discover a destiny so huge it doesn't seem possible, but it's true. Charles Perry, noble bastard, is the lost consort of the Goddess of All Creation. And as the forces of darkness converge on him, Charles must learn to channel his power to save the world—or risk becoming the pawn that destroys it.
Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Male/male sexual practices, violence (rape of hero by villain).
As a bisexual bastard born to a country stuck in antiquated mores and ideals, Charles Perry had learned long ago to set his sights low: all he wants is a drink, a dram, and a whore of each gender to share them with. But strange visions haunt his dreams, and now the ghosts are following him into his waking hours. Charles must seek help from an alchemist or risk running mad. Charles’s House blood makes him a high prize in magical circles, so he’ll have to be careful.
But what the alchemist discovers in Charles's blood turns the whole world on its head. And in the arms of an exotic male pleasure slave, Charles will discover a destiny so huge it doesn't seem possible, but it's true. Charles Perry, noble bastard, is the lost consort of the Goddess of All Creation. And as the forces of darkness converge on him, Charles must learn to channel his power to save the world—or risk becoming the pawn that destroys it.
Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Male/male sexual practices, violence (rape of hero by villain).
422 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 19, 2011
8 people are currently reading
518 people want to read
About the author
Heidi Cullinan
45 books2,880 followersAuthor of over thirty novels, Midwest-native Heidi Cullinan writes positive-outcome romances for LGBT characters struggling against insurmountable odds because they believe there’s no such thing as too much happy ever after. Heidi’s books have been recommended by Library Journal, USA Today, RT Magazine, and Publishers Weekly. When Heidi isn’t writing, they enjoy gaming, reading manga, manhua, and danmei, playing with cats, and watching too much anime.
Heidi goes by Jun when being spoken to in person or online, and Jun’s pronouns are they/them.
Heidi goes by Jun when being spoken to in person or online, and Jun’s pronouns are they/them.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
February 2, 2014
Deep, but not wide.
A torrent of big ideas. Like trying to sip water from the jet of a firehose.
Much of it involved characters explaining things to one another at length.
Often beautiful, and poignant, but also very, very dark, and full of the pain of loneliness.
And all the other kinds of pain, too.
I found myself cheering out loud at the casual inclusion of lovely m/f sex—Jessewave would have lost her goddamned mind.
The author's talent and insight are undeniable. Every chapter features at least one scene full of stunning imagery, passion, and wry wit.
Most impressive of these was a terrific scene between Jonathan and Madeline, framed as a duel—and executed with both amusing cleverness and an abiding sorrow.
This is a grand attempt at high fantasy, undone by indifferent editorial stewardship. There's enough action and story in this one book for three fantastic novels, not one—but without the time and patience for it all to unfold at a more manageable pace, it was just too much of just-too-much at once.
A torrent of big ideas. Like trying to sip water from the jet of a firehose.
Much of it involved characters explaining things to one another at length.
Often beautiful, and poignant, but also very, very dark, and full of the pain of loneliness.
And all the other kinds of pain, too.
I found myself cheering out loud at the casual inclusion of lovely m/f sex—Jessewave would have lost her goddamned mind.
The author's talent and insight are undeniable. Every chapter features at least one scene full of stunning imagery, passion, and wry wit.
Most impressive of these was a terrific scene between Jonathan and Madeline, framed as a duel—and executed with both amusing cleverness and an abiding sorrow.
This is a grand attempt at high fantasy, undone by indifferent editorial stewardship. There's enough action and story in this one book for three fantastic novels, not one—but without the time and patience for it all to unfold at a more manageable pace, it was just too much of just-too-much at once.
September 7, 2013
Epic fantasy that is weaving three separate lines simultaneously, thus for the first third of the book the board is being laid. So, if you're the kind of reader that doesn't tolerate uncertainty or in this case the near suffocating miasma of undrawn allegiances--this book will piss you off. After that you may wish the reins were let loose faster so this could run, but it is an epic--long, winding and bent on relaying the secrets of the universe as it unfolds.
It is rough and quite cruel in places. The journey is long and just when you think you've reached the pinnacle you are cast back down into the abyss. Got to say, this whole seventh veil and the other six suck rocks, but I've been hooked.
Favorite quote:
It is rough and quite cruel in places. The journey is long and just when you think you've reached the pinnacle you are cast back down into the abyss. Got to say, this whole seventh veil and the other six suck rocks, but I've been hooked.
Favorite quote:
"Chaos and disorder are necessary for creation."
March 30, 2020
4.5 Stars
CRIMinally. Under. Rated. Here on GR.
CRIMinally. Under. Rated. Here on GR.
May 13, 2011
I wanted to like this book because I am a fan of Heidi Cullinan. However, I think the book does not deliver on it's considerable promise. This is an ambitious story and I feel it falls short, both in terms of characterization and plot to other books by this author.
The Seventh Veil is considerably different from other works by this author and it was pleasant to see a plot line more ambitious than boy meets boy. This book has demons, witches, and curses, set in an England-like country set with crumbling ruins and moors. I enjoyed the initial mood of despair when we first greet the main character. But as things progress, I could not really immerse myself in Etsey or really care much for Charles. I think my ambivalence about Charles stems from insufficient time with him, frankly.
Two other plot lines exist in the book, leading up to a meeting of all the characters in the second half of the book. The problem was that too much time is pulled away from the main character and too little time is spent developing the other characters. So, I felt disengaged with everyone. Madeline was the most compelling character in the story, the one who grew the most, and the one with the most dynamic personality.
Love at first sight is a hard device to pull off. This is especially true if the lovers spent so little time together as in this novel. Nothing in their encounters, however lovely, make the love and devotion they feel for each other merited. Being incarnations of deities felt hollow.
Foreign language words without translations are frustrating!
Ultimately, I think this book would have been better without the distraction of the three love stories, only one of which was satisfying. More time could have been spent developing the true villain. I would have enjoyed more time with the demons. More could have been done with the history of the Houses and less time spent on the Lord and Lady, frankly. I liked the magic system and the descriptions there and more magic and training would have been interesting.
The ending felt abrupt and unresolved.
The Seventh Veil is considerably different from other works by this author and it was pleasant to see a plot line more ambitious than boy meets boy. This book has demons, witches, and curses, set in an England-like country set with crumbling ruins and moors. I enjoyed the initial mood of despair when we first greet the main character. But as things progress, I could not really immerse myself in Etsey or really care much for Charles. I think my ambivalence about Charles stems from insufficient time with him, frankly.
Two other plot lines exist in the book, leading up to a meeting of all the characters in the second half of the book. The problem was that too much time is pulled away from the main character and too little time is spent developing the other characters. So, I felt disengaged with everyone. Madeline was the most compelling character in the story, the one who grew the most, and the one with the most dynamic personality.
Love at first sight is a hard device to pull off. This is especially true if the lovers spent so little time together as in this novel. Nothing in their encounters, however lovely, make the love and devotion they feel for each other merited. Being incarnations of deities felt hollow.
Foreign language words without translations are frustrating!
Ultimately, I think this book would have been better without the distraction of the three love stories, only one of which was satisfying. More time could have been spent developing the true villain. I would have enjoyed more time with the demons. More could have been done with the history of the Houses and less time spent on the Lord and Lady, frankly. I liked the magic system and the descriptions there and more magic and training would have been interesting.
The ending felt abrupt and unresolved.
August 2, 2011
It's not often you hear the word epic mentioned in the same breath as erotic, but Heidi Cullinan's The Seventh Veil is an astounding work of fantasy that manages to be both epic and erotic. This is a big story, full of big ideas, complete with an elaborate sense of geography, history, and mythology. It has everything you would expect to find in the first installment of an epic fantasy saga, along with some very progressive ideas regarding gender and sexuality.
The opening scene does a masterful job of establishing the right kind of expectations for the story. Heidi welcomes us into a cheap, tawdy, dirty sex-den for rent, and then invites us to watch a bisexual threesome engage in a frantic orgy of lust. It's undeniably erotic, but with an undercurrent of danger. No sooner have the orgasms come and gone, however, and the ghosts suddenly follow. Charles Perry, we discover, is a man haunted by ghosts . . . and the sexual excesses that once kept them at bay are no longer enough to preserve his fragile grasp on reality.
From there, we follow Charles to the back-alley sexual alchemist, who offers up the traditional be-careful-what-you-wish-for kind of deal. The goings on there are as dark as they are fascinating, offering up the ultimate revelation that Charles is the lost consort of the Goddess of All Creation, a man destined to be the focus of a cosmic power struggle that extends far beyond his pesky ghost problem. To make matters worse, his brother, Jonathan, has just returned from the war with a festering demon trapped inside him . . . with his only hope for redemption to be found in a woman the demon wishes to devour.
The character who brings the brothers (and, ultimately, the story) together is Jonathan's foreign equerry, Timothy. For someone who initially comes across as nothing more than the standard loyal friend/servant of any generic fantasy saga Timothy ultimately proves to be the centre of the entire saga. Without giving away too many spoilers, he is a complex individual with deep ties to the same mythology that has put such demands upon Charles, and their ultimate relationship is one of the emotional cornerstones of the book.
The mythological elements here are, as I've said before, truly epic. The story takes us in and out of the spiritual realm, through layer upon layer of story, building upon the present, while also drawing deeply from the past. It's a little bewildering at first, and it does tend to get a little exhausting at times, but sticking with it is a richly rewarding experience. What we have here is a single, self-contained story, but also the first volume in a much longer saga to come.
This is neither a light read, nor an easy one, but an erotic fantasy with some real substance behind it. Instead of taking a erotic story and simply slapping on some fantasy elements, Heidi has taken a serious fantasy saga and allowed it to express itself as its sexuality, spirituality, and morality demand. The sexual elements are as open as they are diverse, tinged with darkness, but also coloured by romance. Straight, gay, bisexual, Heidi covers all the bases equally, allowing love (and lust) to bloom where it must.
The writing is crisp and clean, but with a sense of style that lends itself well to the most magical elements. The characters are well-rounded, and allowed to develop significantly throughout the story. It's an ambitious tale, but one that delivers.
The opening scene does a masterful job of establishing the right kind of expectations for the story. Heidi welcomes us into a cheap, tawdy, dirty sex-den for rent, and then invites us to watch a bisexual threesome engage in a frantic orgy of lust. It's undeniably erotic, but with an undercurrent of danger. No sooner have the orgasms come and gone, however, and the ghosts suddenly follow. Charles Perry, we discover, is a man haunted by ghosts . . . and the sexual excesses that once kept them at bay are no longer enough to preserve his fragile grasp on reality.
From there, we follow Charles to the back-alley sexual alchemist, who offers up the traditional be-careful-what-you-wish-for kind of deal. The goings on there are as dark as they are fascinating, offering up the ultimate revelation that Charles is the lost consort of the Goddess of All Creation, a man destined to be the focus of a cosmic power struggle that extends far beyond his pesky ghost problem. To make matters worse, his brother, Jonathan, has just returned from the war with a festering demon trapped inside him . . . with his only hope for redemption to be found in a woman the demon wishes to devour.
The character who brings the brothers (and, ultimately, the story) together is Jonathan's foreign equerry, Timothy. For someone who initially comes across as nothing more than the standard loyal friend/servant of any generic fantasy saga Timothy ultimately proves to be the centre of the entire saga. Without giving away too many spoilers, he is a complex individual with deep ties to the same mythology that has put such demands upon Charles, and their ultimate relationship is one of the emotional cornerstones of the book.
The mythological elements here are, as I've said before, truly epic. The story takes us in and out of the spiritual realm, through layer upon layer of story, building upon the present, while also drawing deeply from the past. It's a little bewildering at first, and it does tend to get a little exhausting at times, but sticking with it is a richly rewarding experience. What we have here is a single, self-contained story, but also the first volume in a much longer saga to come.
This is neither a light read, nor an easy one, but an erotic fantasy with some real substance behind it. Instead of taking a erotic story and simply slapping on some fantasy elements, Heidi has taken a serious fantasy saga and allowed it to express itself as its sexuality, spirituality, and morality demand. The sexual elements are as open as they are diverse, tinged with darkness, but also coloured by romance. Straight, gay, bisexual, Heidi covers all the bases equally, allowing love (and lust) to bloom where it must.
The writing is crisp and clean, but with a sense of style that lends itself well to the most magical elements. The characters are well-rounded, and allowed to develop significantly throughout the story. It's an ambitious tale, but one that delivers.
July 26, 2011
Crys Harris's review well summarizes my feelings about this book. I wanted to love it; I'm a big fan of epic fantasies, even relatively dark ones, and of this author. But I simply couldn't. I found it heavy and ponderous, and most damning, I simply couldn't bring myself to care about the characters or their plight.
It feels to me like this is a result of lack of focus. Having an "ensemble" cast isn't necessarily a problem, but it helps to have "focus" characters (for some reason David Edding's Belgariad comes to mind - each character on that quest had his/her own issues and relationships, but (Bel)Garion was still the focus of the series). In this case, Charles seems to be that character, and if I read correctly, then Charles and Timothy's quest to be together is forming the basis of the entire six book series.
And yet we see so little of Charles after the wonderful opening scenes, which introduced him, that I feel like I barely know him. For me the promise of those scenes was basically squandered. I have no image of him in my mind. I'm given little reason to care about him, except for the fact that the other characters tell me I should, beyond the feelings that were established in those opening scenes. The relationship with Timothy is barely given any time or development, compared to the other relationships in the book. The author force feeds me pages and pages of religious/mythical doctrine about Lords and Ladies, but so little about the characters themselves that I'm hard pressed to know why I should bother caring about whether they end up together or what happens to them. The other characters get far more time and attention, especially Madeline - and yet they are not the lynchpins of this series. It's not that I don't care about them - but I need to understand what the focus is; it can't be on everything at once. And it's not on Charles, not enough to make me want to read more books about him.
In addition, I found the religion and mythology of this world dense and impenetrable. I disliked the pages and pages of metaphysical musing and would vastly have preferred to have much of it fed to me with a lighter hand, or for it to have been integrated more smoothly into a story/relationship narrative.
Overall, I feel like a book that is first in a six(!)-book series should have left me eager for more: more of the world, the characters, the story. In this case, I finished thinking - wow, do I really have to read five more of these to find out what happens? Disappointing, because I generally am a huge fan of this author, and of fantasy.
On the plus side, the writing is strong, and it's always nice to read something outside the box. For these reasons, and because of the promise of the first portion of this book, when the focus was on Charles, I likely will give the next book in the series a try. Given how series tend to work, if the later books turn out to be stronger and to draw me in, that could end up changing how I feel about this one, or at least making it matter far less.
It feels to me like this is a result of lack of focus. Having an "ensemble" cast isn't necessarily a problem, but it helps to have "focus" characters (for some reason David Edding's Belgariad comes to mind - each character on that quest had his/her own issues and relationships, but (Bel)Garion was still the focus of the series). In this case, Charles seems to be that character, and if I read correctly, then Charles and Timothy's quest to be together is forming the basis of the entire six book series.
And yet we see so little of Charles after the wonderful opening scenes, which introduced him, that I feel like I barely know him. For me the promise of those scenes was basically squandered. I have no image of him in my mind. I'm given little reason to care about him, except for the fact that the other characters tell me I should, beyond the feelings that were established in those opening scenes. The relationship with Timothy is barely given any time or development, compared to the other relationships in the book. The author force feeds me pages and pages of religious/mythical doctrine about Lords and Ladies, but so little about the characters themselves that I'm hard pressed to know why I should bother caring about whether they end up together or what happens to them. The other characters get far more time and attention, especially Madeline - and yet they are not the lynchpins of this series. It's not that I don't care about them - but I need to understand what the focus is; it can't be on everything at once. And it's not on Charles, not enough to make me want to read more books about him.
In addition, I found the religion and mythology of this world dense and impenetrable. I disliked the pages and pages of metaphysical musing and would vastly have preferred to have much of it fed to me with a lighter hand, or for it to have been integrated more smoothly into a story/relationship narrative.
Overall, I feel like a book that is first in a six(!)-book series should have left me eager for more: more of the world, the characters, the story. In this case, I finished thinking - wow, do I really have to read five more of these to find out what happens? Disappointing, because I generally am a huge fan of this author, and of fantasy.
On the plus side, the writing is strong, and it's always nice to read something outside the box. For these reasons, and because of the promise of the first portion of this book, when the focus was on Charles, I likely will give the next book in the series a try. Given how series tend to work, if the later books turn out to be stronger and to draw me in, that could end up changing how I feel about this one, or at least making it matter far less.
April 20, 2011
This was completely different from what I expected, and I would argue, a much different story from what the blurb reveals. The Seventh Veil is truly a fully-fledged fantasy novel rather than romance or erotica. Obviously there are romantic storylines, but more than anything this probably should be considered high fantasy. And I loved every page of it. The world-building is done very well, and while I feel like there are many more regions to explore in this world, the portion that the reader experiences in this first installment is very fleshed out. This was really a rich and wonderful read for me, and I look forward to the next installment!
April 27, 2011
Wow! Incredible job of world building and character development. The ending made me cry. I really, really hope it doesn't take 5 more books to get thru the rest of the veils so that Charles and Timothy/The Lady can be together again. That would really be alot of angst! :) I loved all the characters including the m/f couples. So well done. Just fantastic!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 13, 2011
So, I just finished The Seventh Veil and the first impression is just "Wow." That's a helluva lot of punch packed into one book, and it's only the tip of the iceberg (one big enough to sink the Titanic).
The descriptions are very beautiful. I also felt that occasionally they are a bit long-winded. Not that I really think that there's much that could have or should have changed - there's just a LOT, and it's mostly necessary to get across the point or move forward.
The emotion is gripping, and it doesn't let you go the whole way through, no matter which characters you're following at that moment. You feel bad for them and good for them, and also confused for them quite often. I shed a few tears, but I managed not to bawl like a baby. (She's saving that for later books in the series, I have no doubt.)
One of the best things about this book is that it feels like a complete chapter of the story. This portion has ended and the next is soon to begin. ('Soon' being a relative term, given Heidi's "to be written" list.) One of the things that I dislike about many 'epic saga' series is that they break the individual books at a seemingly random point in the story, that it's not the end of a 'chapter' of the story. Not a problem here. You know there's more to the story, and you have an idea of what's on the horizon, but at the same time, there aren't lots of left-over pieces of the first part of the journey that are going to spill over - it's going to be new and exciting in the next chapter. (Not to say there are none.)
There is a lot of room to speculate about what will happen down the road. Heidi leaves us with the teaser that each new 'chapter' will be harder than the last, and dear Goddess, if this one is the least hard of them, I do not want to be in his shoes. That man is in for a helluva ride (I'm being vague on which 'him' on purpose), and so are the rest of us. There are going to be tears of sorrow before there are eventual tears of happiness.
The descriptions are very beautiful. I also felt that occasionally they are a bit long-winded. Not that I really think that there's much that could have or should have changed - there's just a LOT, and it's mostly necessary to get across the point or move forward.
The emotion is gripping, and it doesn't let you go the whole way through, no matter which characters you're following at that moment. You feel bad for them and good for them, and also confused for them quite often. I shed a few tears, but I managed not to bawl like a baby. (She's saving that for later books in the series, I have no doubt.)
One of the best things about this book is that it feels like a complete chapter of the story. This portion has ended and the next is soon to begin. ('Soon' being a relative term, given Heidi's "to be written" list.) One of the things that I dislike about many 'epic saga' series is that they break the individual books at a seemingly random point in the story, that it's not the end of a 'chapter' of the story. Not a problem here. You know there's more to the story, and you have an idea of what's on the horizon, but at the same time, there aren't lots of left-over pieces of the first part of the journey that are going to spill over - it's going to be new and exciting in the next chapter. (Not to say there are none.)
There is a lot of room to speculate about what will happen down the road. Heidi leaves us with the teaser that each new 'chapter' will be harder than the last, and dear Goddess, if this one is the least hard of them, I do not want to be in his shoes. That man is in for a helluva ride (I'm being vague on which 'him' on purpose), and so are the rest of us. There are going to be tears of sorrow before there are eventual tears of happiness.
July 12, 2012
4.5 stars
This book was everything I've been hoping for with every other m/m fantasy I've tried. It had a fascinating and detailed world (one that I LOVED getting to visit, and can't wait to return to!), an intricate and fabulously well-developed mythology, and characters that I not only cared about, but actually liked.
I especially loved the pacing of this book. It's longer than most m/m, but it didn't feel like it. I thought the various revelations of history and back story on things like witches and alchemists and the Lady and the Lord and the androghenie and the Houses and their daemons and demons were fabulously well-timed and gave me just what I needed to know without going on too long.
But I think my favorite thing about this is that even though it could certainly be considered "dark fantasy," there was enough light throughout that the darkness never felt overpowering. and the story never felt oppressive or hopeless.
One of the very few things that I didn't love about this story was that the Emily/Stephen story line felt rushed and underdeveloped. I understand how difficult it must be to fit three complete relationships into any book--even one with over 160,000 words--but I didn't really believe the two of them. It almost felt as though they were thrown in as an afterthought to get some of the other characters out of tight spots.
Overall, though, I adored this book. It was absolutely fun to read and I honestly loved getting to spend time in this world and getting to know these characters. Timothy was certainly working his way onto my favorite-fictional-characters-of-all-time list, and his decision near the end both broke my heart and gave me hope that he and Charles can finally find the happiness together that they've not been able to yet. I can't wait to see where Ms. Cullinan will take me in the next books!
This book was everything I've been hoping for with every other m/m fantasy I've tried. It had a fascinating and detailed world (one that I LOVED getting to visit, and can't wait to return to!), an intricate and fabulously well-developed mythology, and characters that I not only cared about, but actually liked.
I especially loved the pacing of this book. It's longer than most m/m, but it didn't feel like it. I thought the various revelations of history and back story on things like witches and alchemists and the Lady and the Lord and the androghenie and the Houses and their daemons and demons were fabulously well-timed and gave me just what I needed to know without going on too long.
But I think my favorite thing about this is that even though it could certainly be considered "dark fantasy," there was enough light throughout that the darkness never felt overpowering. and the story never felt oppressive or hopeless.
One of the very few things that I didn't love about this story was that the Emily/Stephen story line felt rushed and underdeveloped. I understand how difficult it must be to fit three complete relationships into any book--even one with over 160,000 words--but I didn't really believe the two of them. It almost felt as though they were thrown in as an afterthought to get some of the other characters out of tight spots.
Overall, though, I adored this book. It was absolutely fun to read and I honestly loved getting to spend time in this world and getting to know these characters. Timothy was certainly working his way onto my favorite-fictional-characters-of-all-time list, and his decision near the end both broke my heart and gave me hope that he and Charles can finally find the happiness together that they've not been able to yet. I can't wait to see where Ms. Cullinan will take me in the next books!
August 17, 2012
When a book's first scene takes place in a brothel, you know this is going to be interesting.
I really, really enjoyed this book. The prose was well-written, the characters were well-drawn and the world building was extensive. We have magic, alchemists, witches, gods and goddesses, demons and daemons, family secrets and betrayals. The love scenes were erotic without resorting to cheesy porno dialogue, which some books I've read have done.
So why only four stars?
Take a look at the cover, this book is obviously being marketed as M/M, isn't it? And yes, we do have an M/M couple, Charles, the bastard son of the noble Perry and Whitby families and the pleasure slave, Timothy. But here's the rub, the book is not focused on them and in fact the first love scene in the book (not counting Charles' time at the brothel) is between Jonathan, Charles' half-brother, and Madeline, an apprentice witch.
There are so many characters that I found it hard to keep track of who was who and once when the author mentioned Emily, I thought, is that a typo? Did the author mean Madeline? No, it was me who'd forgotten all about Emily, Madeline's sister. And now we have another couple's thread to keep track of, Emily and another one of Charles' half-brothers, Stephen (and I had to skim back through the book to remember his name, see what I mean about too many characters?)
From the blurb, this book sounded like it was going to be about Charles and Timothy and that's what I wanted. I was disappointed we got to see so little of them.
It's not that I don't like M/F romances, I do, I read and enjoy them too, but I was expecting this book to be an M/M romance and I was disappointed that it's not. To me, it reads more like traditional fantasy with romantic elements and we just happen to have some gay characters in it. Not what I was expecting.
I really, really enjoyed this book. The prose was well-written, the characters were well-drawn and the world building was extensive. We have magic, alchemists, witches, gods and goddesses, demons and daemons, family secrets and betrayals. The love scenes were erotic without resorting to cheesy porno dialogue, which some books I've read have done.
So why only four stars?
Take a look at the cover, this book is obviously being marketed as M/M, isn't it? And yes, we do have an M/M couple, Charles, the bastard son of the noble Perry and Whitby families and the pleasure slave, Timothy. But here's the rub, the book is not focused on them and in fact the first love scene in the book (not counting Charles' time at the brothel) is between Jonathan, Charles' half-brother, and Madeline, an apprentice witch.
There are so many characters that I found it hard to keep track of who was who and once when the author mentioned Emily, I thought, is that a typo? Did the author mean Madeline? No, it was me who'd forgotten all about Emily, Madeline's sister. And now we have another couple's thread to keep track of, Emily and another one of Charles' half-brothers, Stephen (and I had to skim back through the book to remember his name, see what I mean about too many characters?)
From the blurb, this book sounded like it was going to be about Charles and Timothy and that's what I wanted. I was disappointed we got to see so little of them.
It's not that I don't like M/F romances, I do, I read and enjoy them too, but I was expecting this book to be an M/M romance and I was disappointed that it's not. To me, it reads more like traditional fantasy with romantic elements and we just happen to have some gay characters in it. Not what I was expecting.
July 23, 2011
The Seventh Veil is a journey through Time; it’s a story of gods and goddesses, daemons and demons, and men and women; it’s a story of witches and alchemists. The Seventh Veil is also the love story of bisexual bastard and genetic construct, Charles Perry and Timothy Fielding, a Catalian palace concubine, but that’s just at the surface.
This is not a light read. The novel encompasses the beginning of all creation and the main characters have more than one aspect of themselves on the stage at any given time. Charles Perry the wastrel confronts himself as the god-like White Charles on more than one occasion. His lover, Timothy also has a duality of personality and spirituality. Other main characters have similar confrontations with aspects of themselves.
The Seventh Veil is the first novel in a six book series that takes place primarily in Etsey, a place of Cullinan’s creation. It smacks of England in the Middle Ages, but there’s magic great and small, as well as scientific capabilities such as genetic testing and manipulation.
Heidi is a great storyteller. She handles this complex novel with considerable aplomb. The characters of Charles and Timothy, Charles’ brother, Jonathan and the apprentice witch, Madeline move on and off the stage with fluidity. She evokes considerable empathy with the suffering of one of the main characters at the hands of Martin Smith, the evil alchemist. This is definitely a 5 Ravens book.
I am very much interested in seeing what Cullinan develops in book two, The Temple Boy which is due out this Fall.
Review originally published on Blackraven's Reviews
This is not a light read. The novel encompasses the beginning of all creation and the main characters have more than one aspect of themselves on the stage at any given time. Charles Perry the wastrel confronts himself as the god-like White Charles on more than one occasion. His lover, Timothy also has a duality of personality and spirituality. Other main characters have similar confrontations with aspects of themselves.
The Seventh Veil is the first novel in a six book series that takes place primarily in Etsey, a place of Cullinan’s creation. It smacks of England in the Middle Ages, but there’s magic great and small, as well as scientific capabilities such as genetic testing and manipulation.
Heidi is a great storyteller. She handles this complex novel with considerable aplomb. The characters of Charles and Timothy, Charles’ brother, Jonathan and the apprentice witch, Madeline move on and off the stage with fluidity. She evokes considerable empathy with the suffering of one of the main characters at the hands of Martin Smith, the evil alchemist. This is definitely a 5 Ravens book.
I am very much interested in seeing what Cullinan develops in book two, The Temple Boy which is due out this Fall.
Review originally published on Blackraven's Reviews
March 19, 2012
2.75 stars
This story is very ambitious. It reads like an epic story, but somehow doesn't meet it's grandiose plans.
I really liked all the characters, they were all very well written. The background and world they reside in are all very well laid out. I think where it missed the mark was in its complexity. It was all very convoluted. I kept having to go back to re-read certain sections because it just didn't make sense to me at times. The MC was tortured beyond belief... it was horrible the amount of "stuff" he went through. I also had a bit of trouble suspending disbelief at the length the demon/daemon went through to get his plan together... it was all a bit much. The length of the book was also a little off-putting. After a while, I just wanted to be done.
The characters, however, shined. I loved Charles and Timothy, they were tough and bright; special. I really want them to have their happy ending.
I doubt I'll read all the books in the series, but will definitely read other books by Ms. Cullinan.
This story is very ambitious. It reads like an epic story, but somehow doesn't meet it's grandiose plans.
I really liked all the characters, they were all very well written. The background and world they reside in are all very well laid out. I think where it missed the mark was in its complexity. It was all very convoluted. I kept having to go back to re-read certain sections because it just didn't make sense to me at times. The MC was tortured beyond belief... it was horrible the amount of "stuff" he went through. I also had a bit of trouble suspending disbelief at the length the demon/daemon went through to get his plan together... it was all a bit much. The length of the book was also a little off-putting. After a while, I just wanted to be done.
The characters, however, shined. I loved Charles and Timothy, they were tough and bright; special. I really want them to have their happy ending.
I doubt I'll read all the books in the series, but will definitely read other books by Ms. Cullinan.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 23, 2011
This is very hard to describe. On the one hand its epic, on a huge scale and overwhelming in a sense.
I love the characters, the concept and I think I need to think about it for a couple of days too. On the other I felt that the writer hadn't quite got it, I didn't feel the world and found it hard to connect to, I had to take multiple breaks to stop and figure it all out and I just didn't feel as emerged in the story as other books.
I felt like an outside observer not part of it, the book didn't take me out of this time. This is a real problem and I was left disappointed by the fact that all though this was a nice long read, it didn't take me anywhere.
Also although I will be putting the next one on a to-read list, it seems as if there are six more books, five more without a HEA which seems rather depressing.
However I did really like it and would recommend it, though do advise its confusing and dark but I think worthwhile.
I love the characters, the concept and I think I need to think about it for a couple of days too. On the other I felt that the writer hadn't quite got it, I didn't feel the world and found it hard to connect to, I had to take multiple breaks to stop and figure it all out and I just didn't feel as emerged in the story as other books.
I felt like an outside observer not part of it, the book didn't take me out of this time. This is a real problem and I was left disappointed by the fact that all though this was a nice long read, it didn't take me anywhere.
Also although I will be putting the next one on a to-read list, it seems as if there are six more books, five more without a HEA which seems rather depressing.
However I did really like it and would recommend it, though do advise its confusing and dark but I think worthwhile.
December 17, 2014
Let me start by saying I love Heidi Cullinan as an author and I really wanted to love this book. Unfortunately, that didn't work for me.
This was very close to a DNF for me. I had started it months ago and just could not get into it. The story was very fantasical and it was hard for me to keep up. So much was going on but it wasn't interesting for my brain to try to keep up. I found myself annoyed by the characters more than I was rooting for them. I put the book down about 2/3 through. I finally picked it up again today because I needed a book for a challenge. The last third was better than the first part but not by much. I understand there are other books after this so I can understand to a point why the ending was so blah and incomplete but I didn't like it.
Just not my cup 'o tea.
This was very close to a DNF for me. I had started it months ago and just could not get into it. The story was very fantasical and it was hard for me to keep up. So much was going on but it wasn't interesting for my brain to try to keep up. I found myself annoyed by the characters more than I was rooting for them. I put the book down about 2/3 through. I finally picked it up again today because I needed a book for a challenge. The last third was better than the first part but not by much. I understand there are other books after this so I can understand to a point why the ending was so blah and incomplete but I didn't like it.
Just not my cup 'o tea.
September 3, 2012
This is primarily a fantasy, although it contains both M/M and M/F romance. Heidi Cullinan creates wonderful characters and I found myself caring about all 5 of the POV characters, although for me Charles and Timothy, the M/M couple, were the most intriguing and sympathetic. The fantasy part of this story is very metaphysical, with god and demons and ghosts interacting on various planes of quasi-reality. Even the living characters are variously possessed by demons and merged with the greater players, acting as living avatars of the gods. As someone whose world-view is pretty concrete, I had a little trouble following the twists of the conflicts and how they resolved, although the descriptions were vivid and gorgeous. I did become very attached to the MC's and will read on in this trilogy, to see what befalls them next, in the hope of a HEA (or three HEAs) at the end of their trials.
September 6, 2015
Not my usual read but it was very interesting. I thought it was a departure from the few books I've read by this author. The is little romance. If you are looking for "romantic" this is probably not for you. It was a good start to a larger series. Some of the descriptions were a little long in my opinion but it did add to the overall "texture" of the read. I do believe I will try to read the rest of the series as it comes:)
August 13, 2011
I had this book for a while. I had started and stopped a few times before finishing it tonight. I had to force myself to get past the first 1/3 or so. Fantasy is something I enjoy reading but I just couldn't get involved with the story or the characters. I usually like the author's work, just not this time.
dnf
September 13, 2011DNF. This is very much a case of "It's not you; it's me." Fantasy is a really difficult genre for me, but Heidi is one of my favorite authors, so I thought I'd give it a try. The writing is lush and lovely but I just couldn't get into the story.
June 16, 2011
I liked this manuscript when it crossed my desk and absolutely LOVED it when I read it after it sold! So excited to the see the rest of the series coming soon.
July 6, 2011
4.5 Ravens. Ms. Cullinan is a great storyteller. She handles this complex novel with considerable aplomb. To read this review in its entirety, please visit http://www.blackravensreviews.com/?p=...
January 27, 2023
Basically this was dark fantasy. Note: Ends on a cliff-hanger. I'm still processing if I liked this enough to recommend it. About the first third of this is world-building and information dump. By and large I think you'll understand what's going on even though it's presented.... awkwardly. And there's SOOO MUCH.
The world of Etsey had magic, but now that magic has faded to the small country of Estey. While in some ways the greater world has attained a mid-Industrial revolution comparable to circa 1880s technology (guns, electric lights) the smaller country has a pseudo-serfdom feel about it, mostly due to the patriarchal four Houses that dominate the country. One of those Houses is gone completely, a second has merged with another, and the last is about to die out due to the lack of male heirs.
Charles Perry is the bastard son of the House Perry. His older brother Johnathon is the heir, his younger brother Stephen surfaces about halfway in. Because of his blood and the circumstances of his birth, he is tolerated but barely. Their grandfather is a controlling tyrant who is physically and verbally abusive to everyone. Charles suffers from debilitating attacks of ghosts haunting him, so he loses himself a steady stream of sex and drugs. The book opens with Charles in the backroom of the seediest bar, engaging in a three way with two prostitutes, before he falls to another ghostly attack. When he comes to, he's firmly told to seek out a blood magician... which he reluctantly does, only to become enchanted, enslaved, and repeatedly abused (physically and sexually.) So that's basically the first chapter, and it's pretty gross.
Even as the chapters switch between Charles, Johnathan, Timothy, Madeline, and a couple of other view points. I just felt like it was a lot. Some of the lesser characters weren't developed at all. I felt the protracted sex scenes were too long and didn't add much to the story. In fact there were a lot of extended descriptions, and most of them felt like they dragged down the pacing. Sometimes I think they muddled the story up often, perhaps deliberately to confuse the readers.
I applaud the creativity but because of my issues with it, I'm rating this three stars.
The world of Etsey had magic, but now that magic has faded to the small country of Estey. While in some ways the greater world has attained a mid-Industrial revolution comparable to circa 1880s technology (guns, electric lights) the smaller country has a pseudo-serfdom feel about it, mostly due to the patriarchal four Houses that dominate the country. One of those Houses is gone completely, a second has merged with another, and the last is about to die out due to the lack of male heirs.
Charles Perry is the bastard son of the House Perry. His older brother Johnathon is the heir, his younger brother Stephen surfaces about halfway in. Because of his blood and the circumstances of his birth, he is tolerated but barely. Their grandfather is a controlling tyrant who is physically and verbally abusive to everyone. Charles suffers from debilitating attacks of ghosts haunting him, so he loses himself a steady stream of sex and drugs. The book opens with Charles in the backroom of the seediest bar, engaging in a three way with two prostitutes, before he falls to another ghostly attack. When he comes to, he's firmly told to seek out a blood magician... which he reluctantly does, only to become enchanted, enslaved, and repeatedly abused (physically and sexually.) So that's basically the first chapter, and it's pretty gross.
Even as the chapters switch between Charles, Johnathan, Timothy, Madeline, and a couple of other view points. I just felt like it was a lot. Some of the lesser characters weren't developed at all. I felt the protracted sex scenes were too long and didn't add much to the story. In fact there were a lot of extended descriptions, and most of them felt like they dragged down the pacing. Sometimes I think they muddled the story up often, perhaps deliberately to confuse the readers.
I applaud the creativity but because of my issues with it, I'm rating this three stars.
December 31, 2019
I really would have liked to enjoy this elaborately crafted fantasy tale more, but I just never really managed to connect with the story or its characters. For all the intriguing elements and ideas that went into the worldbuilding, it as well as the characters still lacked depth. There was so much stuff going on that things frequently got confusing and messy. The book needed tighter plotting and tighter pacing, maybe then I might have had the opportunity to actually become attached to any of the characters or their various romances instead of just trying to somehow keep track of all the million things happening at all times.
February 14, 2018
Likes:
Genderqueer: The Goddess is both male and female, one of the incarnations of the Goddess as female is male.
Uncanny Valley: Alchemists, witches, demons/daemons, all come with their own unique twist.
Sex Positive:
Irks:
Out of Print: had to (B)e (T)enacious in order to find a copy.
Genderqueer: The Goddess is both male and female, one of the incarnations of the Goddess as female is male.
Uncanny Valley: Alchemists, witches, demons/daemons, all come with their own unique twist.
Sex Positive:
Irks:
Out of Print: had to (B)e (T)enacious in order to find a copy.
December 9, 2012
2.5 - 3 stars
This was a difficult book for me to sort through my feelings about. I cannot tell whether my feelings were due to my more recent reading rut in which I didn't want to read anything but Lois M. Bujold's Vorkosigan books - or dark erotic(a) - and that I was not yet over this rut. I don't know whether it was because I placed an unfair expectations of this book as it pertained to my current reading tastes, and subsequently became disappointed. I don't know whether it was because I've been feeling a general dissatisfaction with my reading material these days whether due to real life stress or other factors which causes me to approach any but the books I'd listed above with a certain amount of crankiness and a predisposition to not be easily pleased. Whatever it was, I found myself partially interested but mostly discontented by this book.
I was looking for something dark and erotic, and when I ran across the publisher's warning label, I thought that this might fit the bill. Unfortunately, the violence in this book was rather tame compared to what I was looking for. Many of the violence toward the hero by the villain were performed off-screen, diminishing the intensity of the scenes. I suppose this is expected; I was likely not the target audience this time. I was most affected in the scene where Timothy finds Charles just as he is being kicked out of the carriage by his grandfather, but I think I'm a sucker for those types of scenes. I've read two other books by this author, and both times, I found the heat level to be quite scorching. I did not feel that the heat level in this was comparable. I was surprised by how much focus there was on side m/f romances. While I do not disdain m/f sex scenes/romances in m/m romances, I felt that the time spent on the m/m romance to m/f romances were tilted a bit too much to the m/f romances here. This made it seem as if the book was not exactly a fantasy nor m/m romance nor m/f romance but an awkward combination. One might argue that it could simply be considered fantasy romance without m/m or m/f but even so, I thought that this was not as smoothly executed as I would have liked (although compared to other fantasy romances that I've read, both m/m and m/f variety, this was one of the few that I've had few issues with the fantasy-aspect of the story).
I found this book frustrating. The author had a really unique idea, and I was able to buy into this world that she created. I wasn't too keen on the ordinariness of the names, but I was able to set that minor issue aside by the second half of the book. Readers who dislike unpronounceable names should be quite pleased, though. But I thought this book might have been a bit too ambitious for the author. It seemed as if she had several issues she wanted to deal with in the form of fantasy romance novel, but I did not think that she was able to pull them all together successfully.
There were too many point of views (5 or 6 of them), and the book kept hopping among them, making it difficult for me to figure out what was going on. It didn't help matters that the formatting was such that there were no indications such as a line break or something that showed that there was a POV or scene change. I would sometimes end up having to reread the past several lines to figure out what had just occurred. This formatting issue occurred in both my Aldiko for Android app and the Nook Study app for the PC. There was some info dumping going on. I really could not buy into the fact that Stephen did not know anything about his family history although he claimed to have been raised separately and elsewhere from his brothers. While I was interested in learning more about the world and the history behind the current story, I couldn't help but be absolutely bored by these scenes where Emily is telling Stephen about their shared family history. I couldn't follow along with the storylines. At one point, I had to say, "I'm sure there's a story in here somewhere. I just cannot find it." I could not tell where the author was going with the story. It felt as if it was not really going anywhere. Things didn't start becoming a bit more interesting until the last quarter of the book when the action started picking up, and I started getting a slightly better sense of what was going on.
Overall, I did not think this was one of the author's better works. Instead of feeling hot and bothered, I felt frustrated and confused. Nonetheless, I was interested enough in the fantasy to read the other books in the series.
Edit: Regarding my complaints about the formatting issue of the missing line breaks to indicate POV/scene change, I'm beginning to think that it has to do with how the reader I use. While both the Nook Study and Aldiko for Android apps had no line breaks, Bluefire Reader and the Mantano ones did. It wasn't much of an improvement (I would like a more obvious indication than a line break, to be honest) but it was a start.
This was a difficult book for me to sort through my feelings about. I cannot tell whether my feelings were due to my more recent reading rut in which I didn't want to read anything but Lois M. Bujold's Vorkosigan books - or dark erotic(a) - and that I was not yet over this rut. I don't know whether it was because I placed an unfair expectations of this book as it pertained to my current reading tastes, and subsequently became disappointed. I don't know whether it was because I've been feeling a general dissatisfaction with my reading material these days whether due to real life stress or other factors which causes me to approach any but the books I'd listed above with a certain amount of crankiness and a predisposition to not be easily pleased. Whatever it was, I found myself partially interested but mostly discontented by this book.
I was looking for something dark and erotic, and when I ran across the publisher's warning label, I thought that this might fit the bill. Unfortunately, the violence in this book was rather tame compared to what I was looking for. Many of the violence toward the hero by the villain were performed off-screen, diminishing the intensity of the scenes. I suppose this is expected; I was likely not the target audience this time. I was most affected in the scene where Timothy finds Charles just as he is being kicked out of the carriage by his grandfather, but I think I'm a sucker for those types of scenes. I've read two other books by this author, and both times, I found the heat level to be quite scorching. I did not feel that the heat level in this was comparable. I was surprised by how much focus there was on side m/f romances. While I do not disdain m/f sex scenes/romances in m/m romances, I felt that the time spent on the m/m romance to m/f romances were tilted a bit too much to the m/f romances here. This made it seem as if the book was not exactly a fantasy nor m/m romance nor m/f romance but an awkward combination. One might argue that it could simply be considered fantasy romance without m/m or m/f but even so, I thought that this was not as smoothly executed as I would have liked (although compared to other fantasy romances that I've read, both m/m and m/f variety, this was one of the few that I've had few issues with the fantasy-aspect of the story).
I found this book frustrating. The author had a really unique idea, and I was able to buy into this world that she created. I wasn't too keen on the ordinariness of the names, but I was able to set that minor issue aside by the second half of the book. Readers who dislike unpronounceable names should be quite pleased, though. But I thought this book might have been a bit too ambitious for the author. It seemed as if she had several issues she wanted to deal with in the form of fantasy romance novel, but I did not think that she was able to pull them all together successfully.
There were too many point of views (5 or 6 of them), and the book kept hopping among them, making it difficult for me to figure out what was going on. It didn't help matters that the formatting was such that there were no indications such as a line break or something that showed that there was a POV or scene change. I would sometimes end up having to reread the past several lines to figure out what had just occurred. This formatting issue occurred in both my Aldiko for Android app and the Nook Study app for the PC. There was some info dumping going on. I really could not buy into the fact that Stephen did not know anything about his family history although he claimed to have been raised separately and elsewhere from his brothers. While I was interested in learning more about the world and the history behind the current story, I couldn't help but be absolutely bored by these scenes where Emily is telling Stephen about their shared family history. I couldn't follow along with the storylines. At one point, I had to say, "I'm sure there's a story in here somewhere. I just cannot find it." I could not tell where the author was going with the story. It felt as if it was not really going anywhere. Things didn't start becoming a bit more interesting until the last quarter of the book when the action started picking up, and I started getting a slightly better sense of what was going on.
Overall, I did not think this was one of the author's better works. Instead of feeling hot and bothered, I felt frustrated and confused. Nonetheless, I was interested enough in the fantasy to read the other books in the series.
Edit: Regarding my complaints about the formatting issue of the missing line breaks to indicate POV/scene change, I'm beginning to think that it has to do with how the reader I use. While both the Nook Study and Aldiko for Android apps had no line breaks, Bluefire Reader and the Mantano ones did. It wasn't much of an improvement (I would like a more obvious indication than a line break, to be honest) but it was a start.
February 21, 2013
2.5 stars. I love epic fantasy novels, and at first, The Seventh Veil seemed just the type of story I usually love. The world of the Seventh Veil certainly was an imaginative one, but we didn't get to see much of the world beyond the abbey and the small village in this first book. There were three main couples, and the POVs switched between them. While I came to like all of them, I didn't feel special connections to any of them, either. This book wasn't exactly a romance, even with three romantically involved couples, but there were fair bits of sex in the book. I'd have preferred to learn more about the world and the characters.
One other thing that bothered me was the way the solutions to problems/conflicts almost seemed to follow a set of steps already laid out. The characters or ghosts or the god/goddess appeared at right moments to nudge the event along, and the cryptic hints made me think from very early on that things will just work out if the characters would only follow along. The characters did go through painful situations to get to the end, especially Charles. But it rarely seemed like the characters arrived there on their own strengths.
I like epic fantasies where the characters go on quests, see the world, learn difficult lessons, grow through adversity, and usually suffer a lot in the process. So this book not working for me is definitely a person taste thing. I could see where others might love this book.
One other thing that bothered me was the way the solutions to problems/conflicts almost seemed to follow a set of steps already laid out. The characters or ghosts or the god/goddess appeared at right moments to nudge the event along, and the cryptic hints made me think from very early on that things will just work out if the characters would only follow along. The characters did go through painful situations to get to the end, especially Charles. But it rarely seemed like the characters arrived there on their own strengths.
I like epic fantasies where the characters go on quests, see the world, learn difficult lessons, grow through adversity, and usually suffer a lot in the process. So this book not working for me is definitely a person taste thing. I could see where others might love this book.
September 5, 2013
ASDJFKASD;HGOQDHSF;LA BAIT AND SWITCH
I see what they did there...
And I don't know if I like it or not. Goddamnit.
Oookay. Hmm... I skimmed through a lot of it. I mean, it's fascinating and all that, but it got to the point where there was so much going on I didn't care for it all. Much like a lot of other fantasy. Most notably, the Lord of the Isles series. And much like this that series, I came to only care about 1 character (or in this case, 1 couple). Luckily, it was the main character/couple. Unluckily, there was still tons of stuff about others I cared not of. Johnny I kind of tuned into now and then. Maddy, not so much. Emily and ____ and ____ etc, I pm ignored completely. (I really don't remember their names. One of them was Alan? Unless he didn't actually show up that much. The other was another Perry...oh! Stephen!)
I dunno. The beginning was so good. And then it dragged on and on. And then it was so dark that I just became desensitized to it all.
It's weird. It's high fantasy. I dunno if it's M/M. I feel so confused.
It really was quite confusing, but I just mostly gave up on trying to understand it and rode it out. I think I kind of get where it's going, if not where it's been. Look on the bright side, right?
I see what they did there...
And I don't know if I like it or not. Goddamnit.
Oookay. Hmm... I skimmed through a lot of it. I mean, it's fascinating and all that, but it got to the point where there was so much going on I didn't care for it all. Much like a lot of other fantasy. Most notably, the Lord of the Isles series. And much like this that series, I came to only care about 1 character (or in this case, 1 couple). Luckily, it was the main character/couple. Unluckily, there was still tons of stuff about others I cared not of. Johnny I kind of tuned into now and then. Maddy, not so much. Emily and ____ and ____ etc, I pm ignored completely. (I really don't remember their names. One of them was Alan? Unless he didn't actually show up that much. The other was another Perry...oh! Stephen!)
I dunno. The beginning was so good. And then it dragged on and on. And then it was so dark that I just became desensitized to it all.
It's weird. It's high fantasy. I dunno if it's M/M. I feel so confused.
It really was quite confusing, but I just mostly gave up on trying to understand it and rode it out. I think I kind of get where it's going, if not where it's been. Look on the bright side, right?
February 20, 2015
Wow, having read this, i feel like i've been on a roller coaster! Normally fantasy worlds are not my thing - too many concepts to cram in my brain i think. If you like fantasy world based books you'll love it. If you're like me then i suggest reading in long blocks - if i tried picking up for 30 mins or so, i spent most of the time sorting out in my mind where i was again. The website, etseynovels.com really helped me.
The story is about 4 ancient houses, representing air, fire, earth and water, how their ancestors created the world, it has demons ( and daemons), witchcraft, ghosts, angst, nasty villains and 6 'hero's' who have their faults, pain and suffering to last several life times, find and lose each other - as i said a roller coaster!
Once i got my head around the worlds, who was what and where, i enjoyed the story, crying for charles and keen to find out where they go next, roll on Temple Boy.
The story is about 4 ancient houses, representing air, fire, earth and water, how their ancestors created the world, it has demons ( and daemons), witchcraft, ghosts, angst, nasty villains and 6 'hero's' who have their faults, pain and suffering to last several life times, find and lose each other - as i said a roller coaster!
Once i got my head around the worlds, who was what and where, i enjoyed the story, crying for charles and keen to find out where they go next, roll on Temple Boy.
April 29, 2014
Whoa! That was unexpected.
Pure fantasy with added (explicit) erotica.
The plot is fascinating and very complicated, which is mostly why this book didn't get rated higher.
I can see why the author chose the slow-reveal style of storytelling, but with so many significant characters, and the complex back story, large chunks of the novel became frustratingly confusing to read.
Add to that, the primary MC, Charles Perry, is a bit of a prat. And too many of the secondary characters had, possibly, too much (teenage style)angst issues.
Even so, when I got to the end of this book, I couldn't wait to grab a copy of the sequel,"Temple Boy", which is much better written. Pity the third book in the sequel is currently unavailable.
Pure fantasy with added (explicit) erotica.
The plot is fascinating and very complicated, which is mostly why this book didn't get rated higher.
I can see why the author chose the slow-reveal style of storytelling, but with so many significant characters, and the complex back story, large chunks of the novel became frustratingly confusing to read.
Add to that, the primary MC, Charles Perry, is a bit of a prat. And too many of the secondary characters had, possibly, too much (teenage style)angst issues.
Even so, when I got to the end of this book, I couldn't wait to grab a copy of the sequel,"Temple Boy", which is much better written. Pity the third book in the sequel is currently unavailable.
December 16, 2012
This was an exhausting story. I got a bit confused along the way with the different houses and demons and such. There were a few times where I thought "is it over soon?" and then realized there was a lot of book left to go. I kept at it and finished it, though.
It's a bit depressing and I almost set it aside at first because I wasn't really in the mood for that.
I give the author an A for world building. There was a lot going on, but I did get a little tired of all of the mythology you have to trudge through to follow along. Going to read something happy before reading the next book that's for sure.
It's a bit depressing and I almost set it aside at first because I wasn't really in the mood for that.
I give the author an A for world building. There was a lot going on, but I did get a little tired of all of the mythology you have to trudge through to follow along. Going to read something happy before reading the next book that's for sure.
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