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Spellster and the Hound #1
In Pain and Blood
2nd Edition
He's unleashed. Unprepared. And thoroughly screwed.
Dylan’s life in the spellster tower has everything he should want: magical knowledge, safety from the King’s Hounds and frequent clandestine affairs with women. All at the cost of his freedom. So when the chance to leave the tower—even as a leashed weapon for the King’s Army—arises, he seizes it.
When his first scouting mission goes awry, Dylan is left alone in a hostile world with the tower a distant beacon of safety. Only the flirtatious Tracker, an elven man whose very presence awakens Dylan’s long-repressed desire, can help him return to his old life before the crown discovers his unleashed status.
But the risk of being branded a deserter may be the least of his concerns as whispers of an armed presence in the North threatens his home. Dylan must rely on Tracker to protect him even as everything he thought he knew begins to unravel around them.
*This second edition shares the main storyline with In Love and Death and has additional content from Tracker’s pov.*
He's unleashed. Unprepared. And thoroughly screwed.
Dylan’s life in the spellster tower has everything he should want: magical knowledge, safety from the King’s Hounds and frequent clandestine affairs with women. All at the cost of his freedom. So when the chance to leave the tower—even as a leashed weapon for the King’s Army—arises, he seizes it.
When his first scouting mission goes awry, Dylan is left alone in a hostile world with the tower a distant beacon of safety. Only the flirtatious Tracker, an elven man whose very presence awakens Dylan’s long-repressed desire, can help him return to his old life before the crown discovers his unleashed status.
But the risk of being branded a deserter may be the least of his concerns as whispers of an armed presence in the North threatens his home. Dylan must rely on Tracker to protect him even as everything he thought he knew begins to unravel around them.
*This second edition shares the main storyline with In Love and Death and has additional content from Tracker’s pov.*
738 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 15, 2017
179 people are currently reading
991 people want to read
About the author
Aldrea Alien
17 books188 followersMother. Animal lover. Vampire. Fangirl.
Aldrea Alien is a multi-award-winning, USA Today Bestselling, bisexual and genderfluid author from New Zealand. She writes fantasy romance of varying heat levels and sexualities.
She grew up on a small farm out the back blocks of a place known as Wainuiomata alongside a menagerie of animals, who are all convinced they're just as human as the next person (especially the cats). She spent a great deal of her childhood riding horses, whilst the rest of her time was consumed with reading every fantasy book she could get her hands on and concocting ideas about a little planet known as Thardrandia. This would prove to be the start of The Rogue King Saga as, come her twelfth year, she discovered there was a book inside her.
Aldrea now lives in Upper Hutt, on yet another small farm with a less hectic, but still egotistical, group of animals (cats will be cats). She still hasn't yet found an off switch to give her an ounce of peace from the characters plaguing her mind, a list that grows bigger every year with all of them clamouring for her to tell their story first. It's a lot of people for one head.
Website | Twitter | Facebook
Aldrea Alien is a multi-award-winning, USA Today Bestselling, bisexual and genderfluid author from New Zealand. She writes fantasy romance of varying heat levels and sexualities.
She grew up on a small farm out the back blocks of a place known as Wainuiomata alongside a menagerie of animals, who are all convinced they're just as human as the next person (especially the cats). She spent a great deal of her childhood riding horses, whilst the rest of her time was consumed with reading every fantasy book she could get her hands on and concocting ideas about a little planet known as Thardrandia. This would prove to be the start of The Rogue King Saga as, come her twelfth year, she discovered there was a book inside her.
Aldrea now lives in Upper Hutt, on yet another small farm with a less hectic, but still egotistical, group of animals (cats will be cats). She still hasn't yet found an off switch to give her an ounce of peace from the characters plaguing her mind, a list that grows bigger every year with all of them clamouring for her to tell their story first. It's a lot of people for one head.
Website | Twitter | Facebook
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 69 reviews
December 19, 2017
A Joyfully Jay review.
2.25 stars
In Pain and Blood was…challenging. On the surface it’s everything I love — a long fantasy novel with an epic quest and an intense romance to round it all out. Unfortunately, there’s something to be said for all things being in moderation. This book was WAY too long and as a result, it rambled and meandered its way to a less than thrilling conclusion.
There are five main characters in the book, but only two are defined beyond their basic constructions: Dylan and his eventual lover, Tracker. Neither are particularly noble characters, but nor are they wicked. In that way, they seem to balance out the reality of mankind — good and bad all in the same package. But it’s Dylan’s naïveté and stubborn stupidity that often left me frustrated with him. He isn’t a character that matures or grows as he should, especially given the experiences he has. Tracker is a little more enigmatic by intent and often comes off as flippant and flirtatious. This works some of the time, but often goes too far and, as a result, Tracker looks like a lecher rather than a meaningful member of the traveling party. There are women who join Dylan and Tracker and all of them are flat and lifeless. They serve no real purpose to the story and more than once I wondered what they were supposed to be adding to the wider picture.
Read Sue’s review in its entirety here.
2.25 stars
In Pain and Blood was…challenging. On the surface it’s everything I love — a long fantasy novel with an epic quest and an intense romance to round it all out. Unfortunately, there’s something to be said for all things being in moderation. This book was WAY too long and as a result, it rambled and meandered its way to a less than thrilling conclusion.
There are five main characters in the book, but only two are defined beyond their basic constructions: Dylan and his eventual lover, Tracker. Neither are particularly noble characters, but nor are they wicked. In that way, they seem to balance out the reality of mankind — good and bad all in the same package. But it’s Dylan’s naïveté and stubborn stupidity that often left me frustrated with him. He isn’t a character that matures or grows as he should, especially given the experiences he has. Tracker is a little more enigmatic by intent and often comes off as flippant and flirtatious. This works some of the time, but often goes too far and, as a result, Tracker looks like a lecher rather than a meaningful member of the traveling party. There are women who join Dylan and Tracker and all of them are flat and lifeless. They serve no real purpose to the story and more than once I wondered what they were supposed to be adding to the wider picture.
Read Sue’s review in its entirety here.
October 8, 2021
This book is ten percent bad story and ninty percent boring fluff.
December 17, 2017
-Lindsey, 4 stars
This story will leave you spellbound. Dylan and Tracker will take you on a journey that will leave you wanting more and more. The writing was great, the characters, and the plot so interesting. This was a very good book that I went in a little skeptical but ended up liking and wanting book 2. This is a really good book maybe a little different but good. Life, love, and drama - a little bit of everything. I would recommend this book for someone that likes a good size read and looking for something different. Cannot wait for book 2.
This story will leave you spellbound. Dylan and Tracker will take you on a journey that will leave you wanting more and more. The writing was great, the characters, and the plot so interesting. This was a very good book that I went in a little skeptical but ended up liking and wanting book 2. This is a really good book maybe a little different but good. Life, love, and drama - a little bit of everything. I would recommend this book for someone that likes a good size read and looking for something different. Cannot wait for book 2.
December 31, 2020
A free copy of the book was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
This review is WAY overdue, but, well... as you can see from the dates read, it took me over a month to get through this story. The page length isn't listed in GR, but it turns out, according to Amazon, to be 868 pages. Let me be blunt: this is at least 700 pages longer than the book ought to have been. There is not nearly enough plot, character development, or world-building to sustain such a long book. There was some interesting stuff at the beginning and some drama at the end, but the vast majority of the story was a boring slog through the woods (quite literally).
Despite some intriguing political things going on in the background, the plot in this book is incredibly thin, and mainly consists of a group of characters traveling across the country. Sometimes they fight bandits. Sometimes they encounter a town. But it all feels like pointless action, because it really doesn't build toward anything. To make it worse, a lot of what plot there is seems to be entirely in service to the romance. Big events happen in order to set up various turning points in the romance, or events occur only as a result of complications in the romance. For this much book, especially billing itself as fantasy, I want an exciting story that isn't just romance.
It would take a truly epic romance to carry such a long story, and this is not that. The main characters are bland and, aside from Track's annoying habit of calling everyone his "darling", fairly indistinct. The relationship itself has very little real development, and towards the end there's a "twist" that takes the relationship nearly back to square one, only to have them abruptly decide to pick up where they left off. I'm sorry, but that's not how trust works. You destroy it, you actually have to do the work to rebuild it.
The other characters are even more generic. We spend almost a thousand pages following a group of five people through the woods, and I still have very little idea about who any of them are a people. They are all primarily identified by their job description, and the three women seemed to have very little existence aside from assisting Dylan and Tracker. Authril was the most interesting, and could have actually been a great character if her motives and interests had been more fleshed out.
The world-building also had the potential to be very strong, but again felt incomplete. The set-up of the magical system, with the tower and the Hounds, would have lent itself to plenty of conflict and emotional turmoil for Dylan, and there was all kinds of political drama going on both internally and externally. Yet all of these things only served as a backdrop for the romance, and therefore were left under-developed. I spent a lot of the book wishing Dylan would be more skeptical about his position within the kingdom, but that never really emerged.
My biggest gripe with the world-building, though, was the sexual politics. It seemed as though the author was trying to create a world without discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, which is admirable. However, this was done by removing the obvious prejudices while failing to fully interrogate the ways that sexism, heterosexism, and cissexism permeate our cultural norms and our social and sexual behavior. As a result, the book was filled with inconsistencies in its approach to gender and sexual interactions.
The biggest of these issues, for me, was that Dylan's resistance to his attraction to men makes no sense. The need for "coming out" is an artifact of a cultural prejudice that assumes a particular type of sexual attraction. In the absence of social stigma, this degree of individual resistance to same sex attraction is nonsensical. Frankly, as a queer person, I find it offensive to suggest that the denial of same sex attraction is in some way innate, rather than something socially enforced. (Note: I actually think it would be an interesting experiment to try to imagine a world where biphobia and monosexism existed in the absence of heterosexism and homophobia. This, so far as I can tell, is not that.)
Other questions I had on the topic of sex and gender:
-Why is violent rejection of unwanted suitors written as normal?
-Are we really supposed to think that the only reasons a woman wouldn't want to have sex with a man are because she's either gay or bigoted against humans?
-Are all sexual approaches as pushy as the ones we see Dylan and Tracker making? (If so, this might explain the violent rejections...)
-If there are no other apparent division by gender, same sex attraction is normal, and sex doesn't appear to be stigmatized, why is there this thing about only getting naked in front of people of the same gender?
-For that matter, why is almost everyone so uniformly open to sex? You would think that Dylan, for instance, might have some general hang-ups around sex after his upbringing. (This would have made more sense as a source of his resistance to his attraction to Tracker than spontaneous homophobia.)
-Binary trans people appear to be accepted, but where are the nonbinary people?
-
This review is WAY overdue, but, well... as you can see from the dates read, it took me over a month to get through this story. The page length isn't listed in GR, but it turns out, according to Amazon, to be 868 pages. Let me be blunt: this is at least 700 pages longer than the book ought to have been. There is not nearly enough plot, character development, or world-building to sustain such a long book. There was some interesting stuff at the beginning and some drama at the end, but the vast majority of the story was a boring slog through the woods (quite literally).
Despite some intriguing political things going on in the background, the plot in this book is incredibly thin, and mainly consists of a group of characters traveling across the country. Sometimes they fight bandits. Sometimes they encounter a town. But it all feels like pointless action, because it really doesn't build toward anything. To make it worse, a lot of what plot there is seems to be entirely in service to the romance. Big events happen in order to set up various turning points in the romance, or events occur only as a result of complications in the romance. For this much book, especially billing itself as fantasy, I want an exciting story that isn't just romance.
It would take a truly epic romance to carry such a long story, and this is not that. The main characters are bland and, aside from Track's annoying habit of calling everyone his "darling", fairly indistinct. The relationship itself has very little real development, and towards the end there's a "twist" that takes the relationship nearly back to square one, only to have them abruptly decide to pick up where they left off. I'm sorry, but that's not how trust works. You destroy it, you actually have to do the work to rebuild it.
The other characters are even more generic. We spend almost a thousand pages following a group of five people through the woods, and I still have very little idea about who any of them are a people. They are all primarily identified by their job description, and the three women seemed to have very little existence aside from assisting Dylan and Tracker. Authril was the most interesting, and could have actually been a great character if her motives and interests had been more fleshed out.
The world-building also had the potential to be very strong, but again felt incomplete. The set-up of the magical system, with the tower and the Hounds, would have lent itself to plenty of conflict and emotional turmoil for Dylan, and there was all kinds of political drama going on both internally and externally. Yet all of these things only served as a backdrop for the romance, and therefore were left under-developed. I spent a lot of the book wishing Dylan would be more skeptical about his position within the kingdom, but that never really emerged.
My biggest gripe with the world-building, though, was the sexual politics. It seemed as though the author was trying to create a world without discrimination on the basis of gender or sexual orientation, which is admirable. However, this was done by removing the obvious prejudices while failing to fully interrogate the ways that sexism, heterosexism, and cissexism permeate our cultural norms and our social and sexual behavior. As a result, the book was filled with inconsistencies in its approach to gender and sexual interactions.
The biggest of these issues, for me, was that Dylan's resistance to his attraction to men makes no sense. The need for "coming out" is an artifact of a cultural prejudice that assumes a particular type of sexual attraction. In the absence of social stigma, this degree of individual resistance to same sex attraction is nonsensical. Frankly, as a queer person, I find it offensive to suggest that the denial of same sex attraction is in some way innate, rather than something socially enforced. (Note: I actually think it would be an interesting experiment to try to imagine a world where biphobia and monosexism existed in the absence of heterosexism and homophobia. This, so far as I can tell, is not that.)
Other questions I had on the topic of sex and gender:
-Why is violent rejection of unwanted suitors written as normal?
-Are we really supposed to think that the only reasons a woman wouldn't want to have sex with a man are because she's either gay or bigoted against humans?
-Are all sexual approaches as pushy as the ones we see Dylan and Tracker making? (If so, this might explain the violent rejections...)
-If there are no other apparent division by gender, same sex attraction is normal, and sex doesn't appear to be stigmatized, why is there this thing about only getting naked in front of people of the same gender?
-For that matter, why is almost everyone so uniformly open to sex? You would think that Dylan, for instance, might have some general hang-ups around sex after his upbringing. (This would have made more sense as a source of his resistance to his attraction to Tracker than spontaneous homophobia.)
-Binary trans people appear to be accepted, but where are the nonbinary people?
-
June 3, 2018
Three and a half stars, rounded up.
Well. This was certainly a hard book to rate. I'll start with the things I didn't quite like, then I'll head to the things that I really enjoyed.
There were times when I felt like it was five-star material, but other times where I had a rough time reading through the chapters. I do feel like this book suffers from how long it is, especially that ridiculously slow start. It takes over a hundred pages before Tracker gets introduced, and most of those hundred pages were tough for me to get through. It picks up quite well as soon as Tracker arrives, but after that point there were still instances where I felt like some things being told were just not necessary to the story.
I felt like the book needed a bit more polishing as well, maybe one more run of proofreading. There weren't any big errors, just a few issues of punctuation and grammatical errors here and there. Off the top of my head, there was one instance where the word "populous" was used instead of "populace" in a sentence. These kinds of errors should've been easily spotted after proofreading. Small errors are fine, and I don't usually mind them at all, but they kind of pile up and bring you out of the story if there's enough of them.
What I did like, though, was the amount of work poured into this fantasy setting. Learning about spellsters and hounds and other people was exhilarating for me. Especially the hounds! Finding out more about what hounds truly are, and Tracker, his past, why his name is what it is... Those kinds of things kept me fascinated and eager to learn more. You could honestly tell that a lot of thought was put into worldbuilding - and while it gets tedious for some readers maybe, a good and thorough worldbuilding is what pushes me to read more and more fantasy books.
I did like the characters as well! A few of the reviews noted that they found Dylan to be a bit too foolish for a good chunk of the book, and his decisions weren't exactly the wisest. I admit he frustrated me - but he's also an incredibly sheltered character who has no clue about the world outside the tower he grew up in, so I understood why his actions were like that. Tracker too. He was sly, and maybe just a tad bit suspicious. But he also has a surprisingly softer side that was nice to see. I'm hesitant to say that they're good people, because they do a ton of questionable things, but the world isn't a false dichotomy of black and white. Dylan and Tracker are perhaps truly good deep down inside, but even good people do questionable actions.
Their eventual romance is slow. Kind of made me want to pull at my hair a few times, in all honesty. Seriously, a little bit of communication here and there can go a long way. But understandably, Dylan and Tracker are sort of in a situation where intimacy is not easy to want and accept, and the book pretty much explains why the romance was hard to establish, for the both of them. But once the both of them got over their issues, everything turned super sweet. The penultimate chapter was super sweet.
As for the three ladies (who aren't in the blurb at all but are pretty integral to the story, since they travel with Dylan and Tracker), I loved two of them, and heavily disliked one. I bet most (if not all!) of those who've read the book just know whom I liked and whom I didn't. The fate of the one I disliked was well-deserved too, in my opinion.
Ultimately, this book was kind of a whirlwind read for me. I enjoyed it when things were exciting, and when questions I had were being answered, but I also felt like there was a ton of mundane stuff that could've been left out. But the fantasy part was good, and the romance part was neat when it took off (and when someone else was out of the picture). At the end of the day, even though it was a tougher read for me than most, I'm glad I picked up this book while browsing Amazon.
Well. This was certainly a hard book to rate. I'll start with the things I didn't quite like, then I'll head to the things that I really enjoyed.
There were times when I felt like it was five-star material, but other times where I had a rough time reading through the chapters. I do feel like this book suffers from how long it is, especially that ridiculously slow start. It takes over a hundred pages before Tracker gets introduced, and most of those hundred pages were tough for me to get through. It picks up quite well as soon as Tracker arrives, but after that point there were still instances where I felt like some things being told were just not necessary to the story.
I felt like the book needed a bit more polishing as well, maybe one more run of proofreading. There weren't any big errors, just a few issues of punctuation and grammatical errors here and there. Off the top of my head, there was one instance where the word "populous" was used instead of "populace" in a sentence. These kinds of errors should've been easily spotted after proofreading. Small errors are fine, and I don't usually mind them at all, but they kind of pile up and bring you out of the story if there's enough of them.
What I did like, though, was the amount of work poured into this fantasy setting. Learning about spellsters and hounds and other people was exhilarating for me. Especially the hounds! Finding out more about what hounds truly are, and Tracker, his past, why his name is what it is... Those kinds of things kept me fascinated and eager to learn more. You could honestly tell that a lot of thought was put into worldbuilding - and while it gets tedious for some readers maybe, a good and thorough worldbuilding is what pushes me to read more and more fantasy books.
I did like the characters as well! A few of the reviews noted that they found Dylan to be a bit too foolish for a good chunk of the book, and his decisions weren't exactly the wisest. I admit he frustrated me - but he's also an incredibly sheltered character who has no clue about the world outside the tower he grew up in, so I understood why his actions were like that. Tracker too. He was sly, and maybe just a tad bit suspicious. But he also has a surprisingly softer side that was nice to see. I'm hesitant to say that they're good people, because they do a ton of questionable things, but the world isn't a false dichotomy of black and white. Dylan and Tracker are perhaps truly good deep down inside, but even good people do questionable actions.
Their eventual romance is slow. Kind of made me want to pull at my hair a few times, in all honesty. Seriously, a little bit of communication here and there can go a long way. But understandably, Dylan and Tracker are sort of in a situation where intimacy is not easy to want and accept, and the book pretty much explains why the romance was hard to establish, for the both of them. But once the both of them got over their issues, everything turned super sweet. The penultimate chapter was super sweet.
As for the three ladies (who aren't in the blurb at all but are pretty integral to the story, since they travel with Dylan and Tracker), I loved two of them, and heavily disliked one. I bet most (if not all!) of those who've read the book just know whom I liked and whom I didn't. The fate of the one I disliked was well-deserved too, in my opinion.
Ultimately, this book was kind of a whirlwind read for me. I enjoyed it when things were exciting, and when questions I had were being answered, but I also felt like there was a ton of mundane stuff that could've been left out. But the fantasy part was good, and the romance part was neat when it took off (and when someone else was out of the picture). At the end of the day, even though it was a tougher read for me than most, I'm glad I picked up this book while browsing Amazon.
January 31, 2018
3.5*
Be warned- this book is long.
It also doesn't start out as MM. There's some MF action, a butt ton (no pun intended) of sexual Tension between Dylan and Tracker and some M/F/M/F action before you even get halfway through the book.
The world and the premise of this story is very good. Personswho possess the gift of magic are feared. So much so that they're basically locked in a tower. Those "worthy" of fighting for the army must perform and be accepted. Once they're accepted, heyre leashed and only their master can control the magicians, or Spellster's, magic.
Things don't go so well on Dylan's first day in the army. His company gets attacked and it seems he and a certain hedgewitch are the only ones alive. They decide to venture off and find help and pick up two more unlikely travelers along the way. While in a town, Dylan is caught by a Hound. Hounds are specifically designed to counter Spellster's. Magic does not work on them, so it makes them perfect transferrers and trackers.
Watching Dylan and Tracker dance around each other is pretty great, but frustrating at times. This was part of my down all with this story. There were too many moments with Track and Dylan that really didn't need to be in the book, making it excessively long. I found myself skipping over a majority of it.
That being said, even with the excess and a LOT of drama, this was a good story. I just hope the next isn't as long!
Be warned- this book is long.
It also doesn't start out as MM. There's some MF action, a butt ton (no pun intended) of sexual Tension between Dylan and Tracker and some M/F/M/F action before you even get halfway through the book.
The world and the premise of this story is very good. Personswho possess the gift of magic are feared. So much so that they're basically locked in a tower. Those "worthy" of fighting for the army must perform and be accepted. Once they're accepted, heyre leashed and only their master can control the magicians, or Spellster's, magic.
Things don't go so well on Dylan's first day in the army. His company gets attacked and it seems he and a certain hedgewitch are the only ones alive. They decide to venture off and find help and pick up two more unlikely travelers along the way. While in a town, Dylan is caught by a Hound. Hounds are specifically designed to counter Spellster's. Magic does not work on them, so it makes them perfect transferrers and trackers.
Watching Dylan and Tracker dance around each other is pretty great, but frustrating at times. This was part of my down all with this story. There were too many moments with Track and Dylan that really didn't need to be in the book, making it excessively long. I found myself skipping over a majority of it.
That being said, even with the excess and a LOT of drama, this was a good story. I just hope the next isn't as long!
December 15, 2017
Although I initially was a little wary of the book’s set up since the spellsters (those who can wield magic) locked away in their tower reminding me heavily of BioWare’s Dragon Age. In the end, though, I didn’t mind the passing similarity and overall, it wasn’t enough of a resemblance that I felt I was reading a work of unabashed fanfiction.
The writing had me hooked by the second chapter. I found the main character’s narration to be interesting and well-woven. He had a unique voice that made me want to keep reading. The plot was put together and interesting and even though it had some predictable elements, it had just as many that took me by surprise, giving the novel a sense of comfortable familiarity without lending itself to being boring.
That being said, there were a few elements that simply didn’t work for me personally. The dialogue, especially the hammy flirting, fell flat and I don’t know if that’s my lack of sentimentality or the writing itself. I suspect it might be me, as it’s a style of dialogue that a lot of books use and one that a lot of other people seem to enjoy. Also, the way Tracker spoke grated at me after just a few chapters, especially his habit of addressing everyone as ‘my dear spellster/warrior/woman/etc.’ It had me replacing the phrase mentally with ‘old sport’ to keep myself from getting annoyed. I also didn’t anticipate the length or detail of the book’s numerous sex scenes. They weren’t poorly written by any mean, although the plot did sometimes stumble into them without warning and a few times the implausibility of the acts themselves took me out of the story a little. My final complaint really comes from Dylan’s denial of his attraction to men, as same-gender relationships come without any kind of religious or social stigma and Dylan himself has no issue with them. He eventually names a few reasons, including a fear of rejection, but all them left me a little unmoved.
Those aside, I don’t have many complaints with the book and the issues I did have weren’t enough to dull my entertainment or the warm fuzzies I got while reading the interactions between Tracker and Dylan. I enjoyed watching Dylan learn about the world outside the tower, the casual representation of other LGBTQIA identities, and Tracker’s tragic past, guarded exterior belying a desperately soft interior, and his single-minded determination to keep Dylan safe. I definitely enjoyed the side quests into dwarven runes and the show-don’t-tell approach to worldbuilding. Any moments of exposition tended to work into the plot, considering that one character came from another country and another had lived his life segregated from the world’s general populace. At times, some of the characters tended into unadulterated archetypes, but the writing style and plot were enough that I didn’t mind and, given that these tropes usually only have cishet representation, I feel that the queer community is entitled to their share of non-tragic predictability. In the end, I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good epic fantasy and I’m definitely interested in the sequel.
The writing had me hooked by the second chapter. I found the main character’s narration to be interesting and well-woven. He had a unique voice that made me want to keep reading. The plot was put together and interesting and even though it had some predictable elements, it had just as many that took me by surprise, giving the novel a sense of comfortable familiarity without lending itself to being boring.
That being said, there were a few elements that simply didn’t work for me personally. The dialogue, especially the hammy flirting, fell flat and I don’t know if that’s my lack of sentimentality or the writing itself. I suspect it might be me, as it’s a style of dialogue that a lot of books use and one that a lot of other people seem to enjoy. Also, the way Tracker spoke grated at me after just a few chapters, especially his habit of addressing everyone as ‘my dear spellster/warrior/woman/etc.’ It had me replacing the phrase mentally with ‘old sport’ to keep myself from getting annoyed. I also didn’t anticipate the length or detail of the book’s numerous sex scenes. They weren’t poorly written by any mean, although the plot did sometimes stumble into them without warning and a few times the implausibility of the acts themselves took me out of the story a little. My final complaint really comes from Dylan’s denial of his attraction to men, as same-gender relationships come without any kind of religious or social stigma and Dylan himself has no issue with them. He eventually names a few reasons, including a fear of rejection, but all them left me a little unmoved.
Those aside, I don’t have many complaints with the book and the issues I did have weren’t enough to dull my entertainment or the warm fuzzies I got while reading the interactions between Tracker and Dylan. I enjoyed watching Dylan learn about the world outside the tower, the casual representation of other LGBTQIA identities, and Tracker’s tragic past, guarded exterior belying a desperately soft interior, and his single-minded determination to keep Dylan safe. I definitely enjoyed the side quests into dwarven runes and the show-don’t-tell approach to worldbuilding. Any moments of exposition tended to work into the plot, considering that one character came from another country and another had lived his life segregated from the world’s general populace. At times, some of the characters tended into unadulterated archetypes, but the writing style and plot were enough that I didn’t mind and, given that these tropes usually only have cishet representation, I feel that the queer community is entitled to their share of non-tragic predictability. In the end, I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good epic fantasy and I’m definitely interested in the sequel.
January 11, 2025
Grabbed the book as a freebie on stuff your kindle day. Definitely one of the best finds, however, as I haven't read anything by this author or anything in this spellster world before, I think it would be quite beneficial to read the connected series before as well. Just to understand some things a bit better.
September 26, 2022
He has everything he could ever want except his freedom which he gave up to get everything he thought he had wanted. He will get a chance to leave the tower but it is not going to end well. What will happen next? How will he deal with it all? What about them? How will they affect things? See just how it will go and if he gets back to the tower
April 27, 2020
#SpoilerWarrior
Honestly? Honestly? The last 10 percent of this book was almost unbearable. I’ve heard complaints that the book contained too much sex but honestly the sex was the best part of the book. The character development was awful. Dylan wavered between wanting to be leashed and wanting to be free so often that I fear it was just a way to get more words down on the page.
And while the larger plot, the spellster who leaves his castle to defend his country against war, was interesting, it veered off track so quickly that I’m not even sure what the point was supposed to be. The war was never concluded in any way.
Also I feel like the blurb was VERY misleading. I don’t care that he slept with a woman for more than half of this book, but the blurb definitely makes you believe this is more about Dylan and Tracker and less about a love triangle where one of the lovers really just hates everyone else?
And Authril was not even tolerable as a character. I’m not sure at all what the point of having her written into the story was. She was capable of being a great antagonist, a secret betrayer, and she ended up just being...useless. I’m not even entirely sure why she died.
I expected way more out of 800 pages of writing.
And his friends! The ones that he’s so heartbroken over, he just...leaves them and they’re not ever really talked about again? I don’t know. The first half of the book was really good but I feel like the author definitely lost the point of the plot after that.
Honestly? Honestly? The last 10 percent of this book was almost unbearable. I’ve heard complaints that the book contained too much sex but honestly the sex was the best part of the book. The character development was awful. Dylan wavered between wanting to be leashed and wanting to be free so often that I fear it was just a way to get more words down on the page.
And while the larger plot, the spellster who leaves his castle to defend his country against war, was interesting, it veered off track so quickly that I’m not even sure what the point was supposed to be. The war was never concluded in any way.
Also I feel like the blurb was VERY misleading. I don’t care that he slept with a woman for more than half of this book, but the blurb definitely makes you believe this is more about Dylan and Tracker and less about a love triangle where one of the lovers really just hates everyone else?
And Authril was not even tolerable as a character. I’m not sure at all what the point of having her written into the story was. She was capable of being a great antagonist, a secret betrayer, and she ended up just being...useless. I’m not even entirely sure why she died.
I expected way more out of 800 pages of writing.
And his friends! The ones that he’s so heartbroken over, he just...leaves them and they’re not ever really talked about again? I don’t know. The first half of the book was really good but I feel like the author definitely lost the point of the plot after that.
September 28, 2022
Terrific fantasy story
This book by Aldrea Alien is billed as an MM Bi-awakening Fantasy. The awakening is a small part of the story and it’s much more an interesting fantasy till near the end of this first volume. I enjoyed the characters and the story but the star of this book for me is definitely the world building. Dylan is the character who we follow through the story as he leaves the tower where most magical people live in his country. It’s a well established fantasy trope to follow a young man through an adventure with us learning about the world as he does but Ms. Alien does a terrific job of writing a fresh take on this idea.
This book is a rewrite and I never read the original but I do think that it could have been cut down a bit more. There were times when my attention wandered which usually doesn’t happen with an adventure book. The other (small) problem I had was the title of the book. Yes there is pain and blood but this seems to me to be an unnecessarily gruesome title. I like the subtitle Spellster an the Hound much better and I think it represents the story better. I definitely hope that other books in this series will also be rewritten as I am interested in finding out what happens to these characters and in this world.
This book by Aldrea Alien is billed as an MM Bi-awakening Fantasy. The awakening is a small part of the story and it’s much more an interesting fantasy till near the end of this first volume. I enjoyed the characters and the story but the star of this book for me is definitely the world building. Dylan is the character who we follow through the story as he leaves the tower where most magical people live in his country. It’s a well established fantasy trope to follow a young man through an adventure with us learning about the world as he does but Ms. Alien does a terrific job of writing a fresh take on this idea.
This book is a rewrite and I never read the original but I do think that it could have been cut down a bit more. There were times when my attention wandered which usually doesn’t happen with an adventure book. The other (small) problem I had was the title of the book. Yes there is pain and blood but this seems to me to be an unnecessarily gruesome title. I like the subtitle Spellster an the Hound much better and I think it represents the story better. I definitely hope that other books in this series will also be rewritten as I am interested in finding out what happens to these characters and in this world.
September 13, 2022
Dylan and Trackers story takes a long time to develop and whilst I love slow burns, this felt a little stunted and repetitive in the dancing around eachother, I found Dylan quite annoying in those moments.
I love fantasy MM books normally and whilst the story is good I just felt it was longer than it needed to be and it dragged at some points for me., which as a reader then makes me lose interest.
I’m not sure how I feel about it tbh, whilst I enjoyed parts of it and the world, I felt the romantic side of their relationship and the back and forth took away from it a little. I just didn’t feel that connection when they got together. It’s a personal preference though as it was written well, just personal taste of development of the story made me have to take a couple of stars off.
I love fantasy MM books normally and whilst the story is good I just felt it was longer than it needed to be and it dragged at some points for me., which as a reader then makes me lose interest.
I’m not sure how I feel about it tbh, whilst I enjoyed parts of it and the world, I felt the romantic side of their relationship and the back and forth took away from it a little. I just didn’t feel that connection when they got together. It’s a personal preference though as it was written well, just personal taste of development of the story made me have to take a couple of stars off.
October 18, 2023
DNF @ 18%. Ive read well over 100 pages and nothing. Has. Happened. We havent even met the love interest which is unfortunate because aparently thats all this book is building up to. Which is a shame because the author has created a very interesting world! Too bad all we experience of the interesting political climate, group dynamics, held prejudices changing into understanding/acceptance, a whole ass WAR... Is the forest?? I read some other reviews to see if it gets any better and it seems like this book is just 800+ pages of a group of people walking through the forest, bilbo Baggins-ing their way through a war with much less style.
September 25, 2020
Innocent cinnamon roll meets sinnamon roll and falls in love. That's it, that's the book.
(Warning for potential spoilers ahead, depending on what you consider to be spoilers)
No, but - all joking aside, I really enjoyed this book. I found the contrasting personalities between the main characters and their interactions with one another all very refreshing. Dylan has spent his whole life living in one building with no one but other spellsters around him. Growing up that sheltered is bound to leave one with a great deal of naivety and false ideas about what goes on in the real world, and I appreciate that the author made no attempts to shy away from that, because it really added depth to his character.
Tracker, for all his skill and knowledge, also shows that he too has flaws as well, in spite of his constant claims otherwise. I really appreciated even seeing the "hardened bad-ass" character have weaknesses and flaws, as I feel like that's something a lot of other books sort of forget to include or choose not to include, and it makes those characters feel shallow as a result. No one is perfect, and it's nice to see that reflected in these characters.
The plot slowed down during the middle of the book, quite a bit, I have to confess. And as a result, during the ending, I was struggling to keep up with what was happening. I feel perhaps some of the sex scenes could have been cut in favor of speeding the plot up just a bit. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy a good sex scene just as much as anyone else, but after a while, it did get a wee bit repetitive having to read through one in pretty much each chapter.
I also would have liked more POV changes. Quite often throughout the book, our main group of characters splits up, yet the reader is stuck in Dylan's head. What are the other characters up to? What are they doing? What are they talking about? I don't know, because we never saw any of it, which was rather disappointing, especially since at the very end, the author hints at a possible relationship developing between two other characters (who I'll avoid naming for the sake of spoilers). It would have been interesting to see the development of that relationship, and/or the friendship that came before.
Overall; Pretty good and consistent characterization, an intriguing setting that I wouldn't mind seeing more of in future books, and a plot that'll have you staying up till 3 in the morning to find out what happens next. (Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything...) Definitely worth a read for any fantasy fan!
(Warning for potential spoilers ahead, depending on what you consider to be spoilers)
No, but - all joking aside, I really enjoyed this book. I found the contrasting personalities between the main characters and their interactions with one another all very refreshing. Dylan has spent his whole life living in one building with no one but other spellsters around him. Growing up that sheltered is bound to leave one with a great deal of naivety and false ideas about what goes on in the real world, and I appreciate that the author made no attempts to shy away from that, because it really added depth to his character.
Tracker, for all his skill and knowledge, also shows that he too has flaws as well, in spite of his constant claims otherwise. I really appreciated even seeing the "hardened bad-ass" character have weaknesses and flaws, as I feel like that's something a lot of other books sort of forget to include or choose not to include, and it makes those characters feel shallow as a result. No one is perfect, and it's nice to see that reflected in these characters.
The plot slowed down during the middle of the book, quite a bit, I have to confess. And as a result, during the ending, I was struggling to keep up with what was happening. I feel perhaps some of the sex scenes could have been cut in favor of speeding the plot up just a bit. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy a good sex scene just as much as anyone else, but after a while, it did get a wee bit repetitive having to read through one in pretty much each chapter.
I also would have liked more POV changes. Quite often throughout the book, our main group of characters splits up, yet the reader is stuck in Dylan's head. What are the other characters up to? What are they doing? What are they talking about? I don't know, because we never saw any of it, which was rather disappointing, especially since at the very end, the author hints at a possible relationship developing between two other characters (who I'll avoid naming for the sake of spoilers). It would have been interesting to see the development of that relationship, and/or the friendship that came before.
Overall; Pretty good and consistent characterization, an intriguing setting that I wouldn't mind seeing more of in future books, and a plot that'll have you staying up till 3 in the morning to find out what happens next. (Not that I'm speaking from experience or anything...) Definitely worth a read for any fantasy fan!
November 23, 2019
This book was entered in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards. This is what our readers thought:
Title: In Pain and Blood
Author: Aldrea Alien
Star Rating: 4 Stars
Number of Readers: 16
Stats
Editing: 7/10
Writing Style: 7/10
Content: 7/10
Cover: 10/10
Of the 16 readers:
13 would read another book by this author.
16 thought the cover was good or excellent.
16 felt it was easy to follow.
13 would recommend this story to another reader to try.
Of all the readers, 10 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘plotting a story’.
Of all the readers, 6 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘developing the characters’.
9 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
13 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.
Readers’ Comments
‘An exciting, magical story. I liked the characters and the way the relationship built between the two men. Fantastic cover too.’ Male reader, aged 43
‘This author is very good at world building. Plenty of pace and a number of interesting, well-developed characters, this is a gem.’ Female reader, aged 54
‘This is a big book. But I didn’t get bogged down. It’s a page turner.’ Male reader, aged 39
‘Sexy, exciting adventure. The author might want to cut down on the sexy parts slightly – there are a lot – but it’s still a very good read.’ Male reader, aged 46
‘Full of drama – perhaps too much – this is a fun, sex-filled adventure story. It needs editing, to be honest, as it’s too long. Too much filler. But there’s potential here. I enjoyed it.’ Female reader, aged 37
‘This author’s a strong writer. Personally, it would have put less emphasis on the endless sex and more on the adventure and developing the characters. But, if you skip the sexy bits – which is possibly 50% of the book – and focus on the adventure, it’s excellent.’ Male reader, aged 39
To Sum It Up:
‘A sexy, fantasy adventure filled with scintillating characters. A FINALIST and highly recommended.’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
Title: In Pain and Blood
Author: Aldrea Alien
Star Rating: 4 Stars
Number of Readers: 16
Stats
Editing: 7/10
Writing Style: 7/10
Content: 7/10
Cover: 10/10
Of the 16 readers:
13 would read another book by this author.
16 thought the cover was good or excellent.
16 felt it was easy to follow.
13 would recommend this story to another reader to try.
Of all the readers, 10 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘plotting a story’.
Of all the readers, 6 felt the author’s strongest skill was ‘developing the characters’.
9 felt the pacing was good or excellent.
13 thought the author understood the readership and what they wanted.
Readers’ Comments
‘An exciting, magical story. I liked the characters and the way the relationship built between the two men. Fantastic cover too.’ Male reader, aged 43
‘This author is very good at world building. Plenty of pace and a number of interesting, well-developed characters, this is a gem.’ Female reader, aged 54
‘This is a big book. But I didn’t get bogged down. It’s a page turner.’ Male reader, aged 39
‘Sexy, exciting adventure. The author might want to cut down on the sexy parts slightly – there are a lot – but it’s still a very good read.’ Male reader, aged 46
‘Full of drama – perhaps too much – this is a fun, sex-filled adventure story. It needs editing, to be honest, as it’s too long. Too much filler. But there’s potential here. I enjoyed it.’ Female reader, aged 37
‘This author’s a strong writer. Personally, it would have put less emphasis on the endless sex and more on the adventure and developing the characters. But, if you skip the sexy bits – which is possibly 50% of the book – and focus on the adventure, it’s excellent.’ Male reader, aged 39
To Sum It Up:
‘A sexy, fantasy adventure filled with scintillating characters. A FINALIST and highly recommended.’ The Wishing Shelf Book Awards
May 20, 2020
It takes a while to start, the blurb describes about half of the whole story, but it's heavy on the romance interspersed with little adventures. Most of the story is about traveling and sex, there is a lot of sex, but while I may enjoy that I can't say the same for the travels. Most of the characters beside the two mains are superficial and forgettable, I'm not sure I liked Dylan that much either.
Dylan clearly had some internalized biphobia, which given how sexually open their world appeared to be doesn't make much sense (I also didn't notice any mention of female clients at the brothel). I'm glad this wasn't a "gay for you" scenario though.
Short and pretty is my type so I was leaning for Tracker, and Dylan is an idiot (he even admits it). Tracker ending most sentences with "yes?" is annoyingly cute.
The most interesting part was probably at the end when we're told about their past and they finally manage to have a serious talk, even if it feels too quick.
The world isn't nearly as interesting as in To Target the Heart, we only get a few folk songs, some dancing and a dust of elven traditions. Most of it is about traveling from a generic fantasy rural village to another or camping somewhere in the woods while having sex in a tent. I liked the tower's dynamics but that was mostly in the beginning. I can't say I disliked it but I also found it lacking.
Dylan clearly had some internalized biphobia, which given how sexually open their world appeared to be doesn't make much sense (I also didn't notice any mention of female clients at the brothel). I'm glad this wasn't a "gay for you" scenario though.
Short and pretty is my type so I was leaning for Tracker, and Dylan is an idiot (he even admits it). Tracker ending most sentences with "yes?" is annoyingly cute.
The most interesting part was probably at the end when we're told about their past and they finally manage to have a serious talk, even if it feels too quick.
The world isn't nearly as interesting as in To Target the Heart, we only get a few folk songs, some dancing and a dust of elven traditions. Most of it is about traveling from a generic fantasy rural village to another or camping somewhere in the woods while having sex in a tent. I liked the tower's dynamics but that was mostly in the beginning. I can't say I disliked it but I also found it lacking.
July 16, 2020
I am so glad that I stumbled apron this book on Kindle Unlimited. It is very hard for me to find an epic mm fantasy romance. While this book was uberrrrrr long and I did find myself skimming some unimportant parts, I immensely enjoyed this book and the two characters.
It did irk me a bit that the two men do not even meet until chapter sixteen and I found myself double checking that it was indeed a gay romance. But once they met I never looked back. We get a bisexual awakening and a gfy story between a magician and an elf warrior. We watch these stubborn, hardened men fall for each other reluctantly which makes it all the more sweeter.
If you like GFY, Bisexual Awakening, Male Virgins, Enemies to Lovers, Epic Fantasy, and lots of steam and romance then I highly recommend this book!
It did irk me a bit that the two men do not even meet until chapter sixteen and I found myself double checking that it was indeed a gay romance. But once they met I never looked back. We get a bisexual awakening and a gfy story between a magician and an elf warrior. We watch these stubborn, hardened men fall for each other reluctantly which makes it all the more sweeter.
If you like GFY, Bisexual Awakening, Male Virgins, Enemies to Lovers, Epic Fantasy, and lots of steam and romance then I highly recommend this book!
September 16, 2022
I was in the mood for a good, extra long fantasy with interesting world building, diverse characters and relationships and romance with steam when I started this book and that is exactly what I got. I loved Tracker from the first, his personality with its mix of superiority, snark and sweetness won me over and I loved how protective he was of Dylan and the heat they generated together. Dylan is a bit naive and remains that way through the story, but considering his background inside the tower and a life where no independence was expected or wanted from him it makes perfect sense. I'm really looking forward to book two.
September 28, 2022
Dylan has lived his whole life in the Trickster Tower. He is provided with everything he needs to be happy except freedom. So, when he gets a chance to leave, he takes it and joins the Army. That is when it all goes wrong. He meets Tracker when his first mission goes awry. Now he is pulled in several directions and finds his pull to Tracker could be the strongest. The world building is fantastic but does slow things down at times but you do need that background. Tracker was incredible with his protectiveness of Dylan while Dylan was a bit naïve, appropriate considering his background. Books two should be just as amazing.
January 30, 2018
Loved the concept and most definitely loved the ship between Tracker and Dylan. Sure there was some MF and MF/MF before the MM but once it started it made the story complete. In Pain and Blood is a long book but I feel like the extra scenes the Aldrea added in their journey added some depth to this world and made it positively worth reading. I sincerely hope there is a second book to the Spellster Series and that it comes out soon and that it is even longer than the first because I for one cannot get enough of Dylan and Tracker in their crazy magic-spellster-hound-elf-dwarf world
September 17, 2022
Slow burn fantasy romp
I absolutely loved this book.
It was everything I wanted.
Amazing world building, full of wonderfully complex characters.
There was magic, adventure, action, danger and drama.
The romance between Tracker and Dylan is a slow build up but absolutely worth the wait.
The chemistry between them was instantaneous and palpable.
Dylan is the type who's always looking for better things in life.
Tracker is so protective and supportive of Dylan which is exactly what he needs because he's never had that before.
I absolutely loved this book.
It was everything I wanted.
Amazing world building, full of wonderfully complex characters.
There was magic, adventure, action, danger and drama.
The romance between Tracker and Dylan is a slow build up but absolutely worth the wait.
The chemistry between them was instantaneous and palpable.
Dylan is the type who's always looking for better things in life.
Tracker is so protective and supportive of Dylan which is exactly what he needs because he's never had that before.
December 29, 2017
I enjoyed this book. It's got great world-building, wonderful magic, intriguing characters, and many steamy scenes that made me blush and say "oh my!" I didn't always see eye to eye with Dylan, but I knew his heart was in the right place. I liked the introduction to races, the world mechanics, and how different characters reacted to the many situations. Definitely a book for those who enjoy fantasy and MM romance.
June 24, 2018
I enjoyed every minute with this book. Be warned, it's long and the slow pacing isn't for everyone but to me it was the type of book I enjoy most: A tale about people steadily growing closer after they've been forced together due to circumstances out of their control.
If I had to find a little criticism I'd say that Dylan is a bit too much of a Martyr. Still, that's a character flaw that serves to humanize him.
If I had to find a little criticism I'd say that Dylan is a bit too much of a Martyr. Still, that's a character flaw that serves to humanize him.
September 15, 2022
Dylan and Tracker’s story is one that takes time to unfold– the burn is slow and catches deeply; the world building is thoughtful, intricate, and detailed. This is the kind of story that takes it’s time, and while occasionally I struggled with the pace of the narrative, for the most part it felt rewarding, for both story and characters. All in all, a really interesting read.
*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
*I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.
December 17, 2017
i loved this story, it isn't what i'm typically drawn too, but something about dylan and Tracker really did it for me. i really felt for dylan and was to happy that he had tracker to support and protect him. it was an amazing read, my first time readying Aldrea Alien. i would def recommend, can't wait for book2!!!
September 16, 2022
I enjoyed this story and the main characters, but I wished at times that the pace was faster. The world-building is detailed and intricate, which I appreciated, but it did slow the story down a bit. Just my opinion, YMMV. I am still looking forward to more.
I received an ARC and am voluntarily leaving this honest review.
I received an ARC and am voluntarily leaving this honest review.
November 21, 2017
Wow what a book by this amazing author. It’s totally different for me as to what this author usually writes. Loved every bit and definitely ready for more of the same never wanted the story to end. Received a free book but reviewing because it was awesome.
March 27, 2018
Good read!
Definitely recommend and will re-read!!! Good characters, good story and good romance. Couldn’t put it down but thankfully it’s long so it took a few days instead of hours! Much appreciated! It says book 1 so I look forward to book 2!
Definitely recommend and will re-read!!! Good characters, good story and good romance. Couldn’t put it down but thankfully it’s long so it took a few days instead of hours! Much appreciated! It says book 1 so I look forward to book 2!
January 23, 2018
Amazing
Amazing story! Loved the complexity of the characters!
The inner struggle of Dylan that was painted out kept me hooked!
Amazing story! Loved the complexity of the characters!
The inner struggle of Dylan that was painted out kept me hooked!
February 18, 2018
Great story
I really enjoyed the story. There is romance, action and drama. I am hoping that there is a sequel coming. I will be watching.
I really enjoyed the story. There is romance, action and drama. I am hoping that there is a sequel coming. I will be watching.
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