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“Rain Tairen Soul was no stranger to loss. War between the Fey and the Mages of Eld had cost him the love of his heart, Sariel, and many others he’d held dear. In his grief the powerful Fey king had then scorched the world, leaving death and destruction in his wake.
One thousand years later fertility issues have marked the tairen, the winged magical cats of the Fading Lands, for extinction. Rain has faced this truth having plied his great powers for centuries in the attempt to save the tairen as well as his own people, who depended on him for strength and leadership, to no avail. The two species were soul-kin whose fates were intertwined. When the tairen died, the Fey would die as well. Rain had sensed a growing darkness emanating from Eld, the land of his dark enemy. The Feyreisen (king) could not help but believe that the two circumstances were somehow connected.
Desperate times called for desperate measures. Standing in the Hall of the Tairen, Rain makes a decision to force the Eye of Truth, the magical globe made of Tairen’s Eye crystal, to provide a solution. The Fey were permitted to question the Eye with their minds only, but an answer to their dilemma had proved illusive. It had resisted even the most skilled seers among the Fey. Rain decides to take matters into his own hands, literally. Placing his hands on the Eye he summons his vast power and is met by power like he’d never known and pain.
Rain is the last Tairen Soul, rare Fey who can transform into tairen form. As the pain forces the change upon him, he experiences the Wilding Rage once more and knows true terror for the first time. Only when the Eye had forced him into abject humility did the pain cease. Only then could he see where his quest would lead him. Through the mists in the Eye’s center he saw the vague image of a woman’s face and a city he recognized and despised, Celieria, in the mortal lands. He now knew what he must do.
Once allies, the mortal world now feared and distrusted all things Fey, the legacy of the Feyreisen’s wrath had been passed down through poetry and fairytales, reminding succeeding generations of his violent nature. Only one found these tales romantic, Ellysetta Baristani, adopted daughter of a humble Celierian woodcarver. All her life she’d dreamed of the tortured Fey King and prayed that he’d find the peace that had been denied him. But her excitement about the Feyreisen’s return to Celieria has been dampened by a betrothal forced on her by Den Brodson, a loathsome widower, who has sensed the magic in her, a power she fears and has spent her life forcing down. Her distress calls to Rain.
She is his shei’tani, his truemate, the woman of his vision. What Rain had felt for Sariel paled compared to the feelings awakened by Ellie, the mate of his soul. No Tairen Soul in history had ever had a truemate. Her death would mean his own and whoa be to anyone who offered her insult or caused her harm. But Rain’s high-handed breaking of her legal and binding betrothal to Den, making her his own, only brings further mortal distrust of the Fey. To top it off, raids on the Celierian Border which Rain attributes to the rise of his enemy are being blamed on dahl’reisen, rogue Fey who walked the Shadowed Path. Rain’s bid to convince the Celierian council that the Elden Mages had regained power may very well rest upon the shoulders of this humble young girl of mysterious origin. But the Dark Forces are seeking Ellysetta as well. She has sensed their call her entire life. Who is Ellie? Will she find the courage to use the magic within her to help Rain save her people and the inhabitants of the Fading Lands or will the Fey and tairen fade into obscurity? Will she fall prey to dark call of the Mages instead?
To find out readers will have to read the rest of the saga which continues with LADY OF LIGHT AND SHADOW in 2007, and concludes with KING OF SWORD AND SKY and QUEEN OF SONG AND SOULS in 2008.
Worthy of a six star designation, LORD OF THE FADING LANDS launches the career of C. L. Wilson who will no doubt soon be joining the ranks of the bestselling romance authors. The reader will find Ms. Wilson’s a refreshing new voice and her debut novel deep and engrossing, the likes of which this reviewer hasn’t found in nearly a decade. While it is virtually impossible to put this book down, the reading of it cannot be rushed. LORD OF THE FADING LANDS is literally packed with plot and suspense and one would be well advised not to skip a single word. Very highly recommended.
Reviewed for PNR Reviews”