What do you think?
Sacred Guardian #2
Eater of Dreams
Kaori Sansa has uncovered the truth about Shinja, the Sacred Guardian of Kazure, but the country he is sworn to protect is far from secure. War presses hard from the east, and unrest from within Kazure's borders threatens to undermine what little control he has managed to gain over his subjects. Furthermore, there are those who question his choice in pursuing a relationship with Hunter--quite possibly even those who are closest to him, and whom he has most come to depend upon. Will he find a way to sort through the miasma of lies, violence, and political entanglements that surround him in order to save the country he loves, yet somehow remain true to his own heart?
344 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 23, 2017
About the author
J.A. Jaken
33 books105 followersJ.A. Jaken has been writing homoerotic fiction for more than ten years. She got her start in the profession writing slash fanfiction, where she has published numerous stories under the pen-name Rushlight. Over the years she has written erotic short stories and novels in genres ranging from science fiction/fantasy to gothic horror to modern detective mysteries.
She realized at a young age that she was attracted to the darker side of life in the fictional stories she felt compelled to write. She feels there is something enormously satisfying about putting a character through intense physical and emotional hardship, and then carrying him or her through out the other side. She believes that is the main reason why she tends to write stories with a darker edge to them. Characters are the most interesting when they've had all of the baggage, all of their many masks, stripped away from them and they're left with nothing but the purest core of who and what they are.
Outside of writing, her interests include studying foreign languages, riding horses, practicing martial arts, and collecting medieval weaponry. She speaks a little bit of French, a little bit of American Sign Language, a little bit of Japanese, but she's not really fluent in any of them (although she's trying!). She's endlessly fascinated by just about everything she sees around her and is constantly looking for new ways to learn and improve her knowledge of the world.
She realized at a young age that she was attracted to the darker side of life in the fictional stories she felt compelled to write. She feels there is something enormously satisfying about putting a character through intense physical and emotional hardship, and then carrying him or her through out the other side. She believes that is the main reason why she tends to write stories with a darker edge to them. Characters are the most interesting when they've had all of the baggage, all of their many masks, stripped away from them and they're left with nothing but the purest core of who and what they are.
Outside of writing, her interests include studying foreign languages, riding horses, practicing martial arts, and collecting medieval weaponry. She speaks a little bit of French, a little bit of American Sign Language, a little bit of Japanese, but she's not really fluent in any of them (although she's trying!). She's endlessly fascinated by just about everything she sees around her and is constantly looking for new ways to learn and improve her knowledge of the world.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 29, 2017
Kaori might be High King now, but that doesn’t mean that all is well in the kingdom of Kazure. With so many lords still unsure about their new, and mostly untried, king, Kaori sets out to tour the holdings of his border lords, hoping a show of support will help strengthen their trust in him. But with a war with a neighboring country kicking off, and mistrust all around him, Kaori and his lover–and protector–Hunter are going to face even greater threats than before. Also: dragons. There might be dragons. Very angry dragons.
I was tremendously glad to see that Through the Last Door had gotten a sequel. I remember being pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the first book in this Sacred Guardian series, and was looking forward to seeing what more the author could do with these characters.
And for the most part, I enjoyed myself while reading Eater of Dreams. There was some interesting new characters in this story, and seeing Hunter and Kaori deepen their relationship was a huge check in the plus column. Also I must say that I absolutely adored the dragons that appear in this book. They are not really your normal fantasy-dragon fair, but I loved that they had feathers and in my mind came across as some type of missing link between the dinosaurs and birds. It was a really cool take on a creature that could have easily just been another normal, everyday, dragon and probably been just fine…but by changing things up, it really held my attention and made me want to know more about them. So kudos for that.
Plot-wise, it was kinda a retread of the conflict in book one: Kaori struggles to figure out how to be a good king while a secret power tries to take that power for themselves. Which, yeah, I was kind expecting. Especially since this book happens right on the heals of book one. Kaori hasn’t had a lot of time to win people over or shore up his support base, so it was inevitable that people were going to try and take jabs at him. I did like that there was the outside conflict of war with another country causing trouble as well, though. Having those outside players added a hint of The Unknown, and probably set up a good bit of what will probably be the conflict in book three. There were however a few good plot twists that I totally didn’t see coming and those did a lot to really hold my attention as the climax started to build. So even though I could predict a lot of what was being set up for the climax, not everything was certain, and that was good.
However there were two major stumbling blocks to this book, that kept the rating teetering on the 3.5/4 star ledge.
First…there is only a minimal amount of character growth going on with Kaori. He is a great character and I loved him in book one…but come book two I needed a bit more to happen with him. He kinda ended up in the same place at the end of this book that he was in at the beginning: recklessly putting his life in danger to protect his friends. While I’m sure that makes him a good friend/human being, it is not the most admirable trait for a king to have. And I know the author knows that because it was brought to Kaori’s attention not once, but multiple times in story. But he keeps doing it. Over and over…and I kept saying, “just wait a bit, he’ll get it, just wait…” But he really doesn’t and it made all the frustration I went through while reading the story come back tenfold. I kinda needed him to have the realization that as High King his life is more important than his friends. It may suck if those around him get hurt or killed, but it will not be the inciting action of a civil war. He never really got to that place, and I needed him to.
Secondly, there is a thing that happens near the end of the book. It is actually one of the really great twists so I’m not gonna spoil it. But, let’s just say that someone does something, and while I love that it totally caught me off-guard, the resolution to that particular sub-plot was near-maddening. And I think it ties back into this whole Kaori is a great guy, but a kinda sucky King thing. Kaori, I can see forgiving and forgetting, but the High King…man, I just couldn’t get behind what happened. I needed there to be some kind of consequence to the actions taken, and instead it kinda came off as after-school special. Look, I was never wanting Game of Thrones-like fantasy out of these books (no the least because I can’t stand those shows/books), but the whole “let’s wrap this up with everyone forgiving everyone and we’ll all be super great friends now” ending didn’t work for me at all.
I just…I don’t know. I guess I expected a lot more character-arc movement than I got out of this book. And the lack there of, made what was an otherwise really entertaining story a bit frustrating. I still like it, and I still really do recommend this series…but instead of ending this book salivating for the next chapter in Kaori’s life, I was kinda glad to get away from him for a bit. It doesn’t mean I won’t pick up any further book in this series, it just means I might have to readjust my expectations a bit before I do.
This book was provided free in exchange for a fair and honest review for Love Bytes. Go there to check out other reviews, author interviews, and all those awesome giveaways. Click below.
I was tremendously glad to see that Through the Last Door had gotten a sequel. I remember being pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the first book in this Sacred Guardian series, and was looking forward to seeing what more the author could do with these characters.
And for the most part, I enjoyed myself while reading Eater of Dreams. There was some interesting new characters in this story, and seeing Hunter and Kaori deepen their relationship was a huge check in the plus column. Also I must say that I absolutely adored the dragons that appear in this book. They are not really your normal fantasy-dragon fair, but I loved that they had feathers and in my mind came across as some type of missing link between the dinosaurs and birds. It was a really cool take on a creature that could have easily just been another normal, everyday, dragon and probably been just fine…but by changing things up, it really held my attention and made me want to know more about them. So kudos for that.
Plot-wise, it was kinda a retread of the conflict in book one: Kaori struggles to figure out how to be a good king while a secret power tries to take that power for themselves. Which, yeah, I was kind expecting. Especially since this book happens right on the heals of book one. Kaori hasn’t had a lot of time to win people over or shore up his support base, so it was inevitable that people were going to try and take jabs at him. I did like that there was the outside conflict of war with another country causing trouble as well, though. Having those outside players added a hint of The Unknown, and probably set up a good bit of what will probably be the conflict in book three. There were however a few good plot twists that I totally didn’t see coming and those did a lot to really hold my attention as the climax started to build. So even though I could predict a lot of what was being set up for the climax, not everything was certain, and that was good.
However there were two major stumbling blocks to this book, that kept the rating teetering on the 3.5/4 star ledge.
First…there is only a minimal amount of character growth going on with Kaori. He is a great character and I loved him in book one…but come book two I needed a bit more to happen with him. He kinda ended up in the same place at the end of this book that he was in at the beginning: recklessly putting his life in danger to protect his friends. While I’m sure that makes him a good friend/human being, it is not the most admirable trait for a king to have. And I know the author knows that because it was brought to Kaori’s attention not once, but multiple times in story. But he keeps doing it. Over and over…and I kept saying, “just wait a bit, he’ll get it, just wait…” But he really doesn’t and it made all the frustration I went through while reading the story come back tenfold. I kinda needed him to have the realization that as High King his life is more important than his friends. It may suck if those around him get hurt or killed, but it will not be the inciting action of a civil war. He never really got to that place, and I needed him to.
Secondly, there is a thing that happens near the end of the book. It is actually one of the really great twists so I’m not gonna spoil it. But, let’s just say that someone does something, and while I love that it totally caught me off-guard, the resolution to that particular sub-plot was near-maddening. And I think it ties back into this whole Kaori is a great guy, but a kinda sucky King thing. Kaori, I can see forgiving and forgetting, but the High King…man, I just couldn’t get behind what happened. I needed there to be some kind of consequence to the actions taken, and instead it kinda came off as after-school special. Look, I was never wanting Game of Thrones-like fantasy out of these books (no the least because I can’t stand those shows/books), but the whole “let’s wrap this up with everyone forgiving everyone and we’ll all be super great friends now” ending didn’t work for me at all.
I just…I don’t know. I guess I expected a lot more character-arc movement than I got out of this book. And the lack there of, made what was an otherwise really entertaining story a bit frustrating. I still like it, and I still really do recommend this series…but instead of ending this book salivating for the next chapter in Kaori’s life, I was kinda glad to get away from him for a bit. It doesn’t mean I won’t pick up any further book in this series, it just means I might have to readjust my expectations a bit before I do.
This book was provided free in exchange for a fair and honest review for Love Bytes. Go there to check out other reviews, author interviews, and all those awesome giveaways. Click below.
August 9, 2020
The fourth and final book of this series is out now so I thought I should probably review this one which I read years ago. I don’t know why these books don’t have more hype and reviews! They are great! The author JA Jaken has created a lovely complex fantasy world, clever magic system and really engaging characters. Great for any lover of m/m fantasy.
June 17, 2017
"I get it now, Kaori. Why they all follow you. It doesn’t have anything to do with you taking over your father’s throne. There’s something about you, about the way you feel about your people. You’re good for Kazure. I don’t know how to explain it any better than that."
Another great installment in The Sacred Guardian series!
The engaging characters in this series continue to be the driving force behind the story's success and enjoyment. Kaori especially continues to endear himself to the audience by being so genuine and determined to make a difference in the world.
I absolutely love that Kaori and Hunter went ahead and adopted Malo and Rin! They make such good fathers and though the scenes were brief, I really enjoyed reading about this newly formed family.
As before, the side characters were just as interesting and engaging as the MCs. I loved Ben and his charming personality. Haku is such a great character because he provides this slight dissonance within the group. He loves Kaori, who's been his best friend since childhood, and only wants him to stay safe and protected. Unfortunately for him, Kaori is determined to risk his own life to protect his people. Haku is more than willing to argue for Kaori's safety which, at times, makes him the only one against the group's plans. It was refreshing to have a character who didn't always agree with their leader's decisions.
I really really hope there's another book in the works for this series!
5 Stars
April 25, 2024
JA Jaken's second book in the Sacred Guardian series is exciting and reminiscent of ancient Japan. The setting is similar to that of the Japanese emperor who ruled over Shogunates held by warrior lords. In this book, betrayal jeopardizes the young High Lord's mission to bring his country together. Kaouri intends to bring peace and justice to all the people in his country by supporting each of the border lords as they maintain armies to protect the country's borders from a spiritually conservative invading neighbor country. His authority is questioned due to his youth, inexperience, personality, and choice of consorts. And one of the border lords rules brutally and unjustly over his corner of the country. He has a righteous belief in his own infallible right to take away the rights of others and impose his authoritarian rule over the whole country and become the High Lord.
September 9, 2026
One of the best fantasy series I've read
Without a doubt one of the best fantasy series I’ve read. I’m ashamed that it took me years to return to Kazure, but I loved the first book in the series so much I was afraid to start the next one for fear of being disappointed. I shouldn’t have worried! It’s another excellent installment with its masterfully and meticulously crafted world-building and a diverse cast of well-written characters. It has got everything that a fantasy novel must have: magic, adventure, danger, love, and found family. But mainly it’s just such a pleasure to read every lovingly written sentence of this novel and spend time with Kaori, Hunter, Haku, Ben and some other characters.
Without a doubt one of the best fantasy series I’ve read. I’m ashamed that it took me years to return to Kazure, but I loved the first book in the series so much I was afraid to start the next one for fear of being disappointed. I shouldn’t have worried! It’s another excellent installment with its masterfully and meticulously crafted world-building and a diverse cast of well-written characters. It has got everything that a fantasy novel must have: magic, adventure, danger, love, and found family. But mainly it’s just such a pleasure to read every lovingly written sentence of this novel and spend time with Kaori, Hunter, Haku, Ben and some other characters.
July 5, 2022
Audiobook review. Narrator: Dan Calley. Second in the series. Loved getting back to these characters, plus some new ones. Sometimes Kaori seems to be a little too unrealistic in his expectation of others and their 'goodness', but at least he's trying to be a good leader. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
November 29, 2019
Excellent
This series is worthy of praise. It’s a diverse fantasy adventure with good character development and a logical magical system that isn’t overly empowered over characters ‘ skills and objects of their devotion. Worth the read so read it. ;)
This series is worthy of praise. It’s a diverse fantasy adventure with good character development and a logical magical system that isn’t overly empowered over characters ‘ skills and objects of their devotion. Worth the read so read it. ;)
August 8, 2022
Is it my imagination that the trajectory of this book's plot closely mirrors the first in the series ... and ending with the summoning of Shinja to save the day? Still, mostly a diverting read.
November 8, 2021
Audiobook
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews