Naamah's Blessing

April 11, 2011
When half-barbarian witch Moirin returns to Terre D'Ange with her foreign husband, Bao, after their adventures in the East (detailed in Naamah's Curse), she finds that her friend Queen Jehanne is dead, the king is depressed, Prince Thierry has vanished, and little Princess Desirée is being neglected. Moirin promptly sets sail for a mysterious new land to find the missing prince. While it is encouraging to see fantasy novels acknowledge non-European people and cultures, the "Terra Nova" sequences miss the mark. Real-world mythological gods like Xipe Totec and real places such as Tenochtitlán appear alongside masochist angels and nonexistent countries as if they were all equally fictional. Still, despite a slow start, Carey's fans will enjoy the straightforward heroics and plotting after the
previous volume's heavy angst.

June 1, 2011

The final installment in Carey's series (Naamah's Kiss; Naamah's Curse) brings her protagonist to the fantastical landscape and cultures (Mayan, Aztec, and Incan) of the New World. The book opens in Terre D'Ange, where Moirin meets Desiree, the young daughter of her late lover and friend Jehanne. Desiree's half brother, the Prince, is missing in Terra Nova, and a sinister royal adviser is plotting an arranged marriage between the four-year-old girl and his own son. Having taken a sacred oath to protect Desiree, Moirin and her Ch'in husband set out to find Desiree's guardian. After a tempestuous sea journey, they reach the New World. Moirin must once again employ her ancestor's sacred sexual practices to expedite their journey. After securing free passage from the natives, they find the Prince, who is being held by Moirin's messianic ex, Raphael de Mereliot. The resulting battle of good and evil escalates into an end-of-the-world showdown with a human sacrifice at its center. VERDICT The appeal here is for series fans alone. Without the backstory of the previous books, Moirin's current adventure lacks purpose. [See Prepub Alert, 12/6/10.]--Karen Kleckner, Hinsdale P.L., IL

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