CBR3 Book 2: "Stranger" by Zoë Archer

Publisher: Zebra
Page count: 463 pages
Rating: 3 stars
Date begun: January 1st, 2011
Date finished: January 8th, 2011

Stranger is the fourth and concluding book in Zoë Archer's Blades of the Rose series, and as such, is not the best book in the series to start with. The other three books, Warrior, Scoundrel and Rebel can all be read independently of each other and in every which order, but to fully get the story in this one, one should at least have read Rebel first.

Catullus Graves is the genius inventor of gadgets (think Q in Bond) for the Blades of the Rose, a group of adventurers from all over the world dedicated to keeping the magic in the world from the knowledge of people in general, and safe from the ruthless Heirs of Albion, an organization of men determined to claim as much of the world's magic for themselves, so they can further the greatness and dominance of Britain, conquering and oppressing. Catullus has reached the age of forty-one without meeting any woman who can distract him from his calling of science and inventions, living a solitary existence, happy to provide his fellow Blades with inventions to help them on their quests and adventures around the world. Until he meets Gemma Murphy, a determined and ambitious female reporter from Chicago, who having heard Catullus and his two companions (also Blades) talk about mysterious and exciting dangers at a trading post in Canada, follow them to London, sensing a story that could ensure her journalistic career.

Catullus and his companions, Nathan and Astrid (the main couple of Rebel) can't allow Gemma to write about the struggle between the Blades and the Heirs, but as they arrive in England, and quickly have to flee for their lives from the murderous Heirs, they have no choice but to take her along with them either. The attraction between Catullus and Gemma is quickly very obvious, but Catullus is unsure of whether she's just using her ample feminine charms to get a story, or if she actually likes him. In his experience, women find his distracted nature and complete inability to say the right thing off putting. Gemma, on the other hand, finds it intriguing that Catullus never objects to her being a driven female journalist, just to her writing the truth about his friends and their quest to keep magic safe. Her former fiancee tried to get her to give up her calling, and change her to conform more to a traditional female ideal.

Nathan, Astrid, Catullus and Gemma have to try to make it to the Blades' headquarters in Southampton to warn them that the Heirs, now in control of the Primal Source, the most powerful magical artifact in the world are about to activate it, and when they do, can achieve all their dreams and wishes for world domination. When the first sign of their dreams of dominance magically manifest as a famous figure of British mythology, they have to find the means to stop him, before magic tears up the countryside, and the Heirs fully control the source and take over the world. The Blades from all over the world will have to battle the Heirs once and for all.

Several of the review sites I follow have raved about Zoë Archer and her novels that combine romance and adventure. The three previous books got a little bit samey, following pretty much the same template - a couple of different, but both strong-willed characters meet and fall madly in love while on the quest for magical artifact, while escaping the obstacles put in their path by the dastardly Heirs. Artifact recovered, big battle against the Heirs at the end. This book follows the same template, but as it's on a bigger scale, and the quest isn't really to find one magical artifact, but more the means to stop the entire world being taken over, and it's obvious that the battle at the end will be the big, decisive one, I didn't mind so much.

Quite a few reviewers complained that the book was a let down for them because Catullus, who appears as a supporting character in the other books and whose marvelous inventions frequently help save the day, doesn't actually do that much actual inventing in the book. Since I was forewarned not to expect this, I didn't mind, and he and Gemma make a good couple. Also, the battle at the end features a huge dragon rampaging in London, what's not to like about that?

CBR2 Book 92: "Scoundrel" by Zoë Archer

Publisher: Zebra
Page count: 370 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: October 11th, 2010
Date finished: October 12th, 2010

Bennett (yes, his mother is a huge fan of Jane Austen - guess what his brother is called?) Day is a cryptographer and solver of codes and riddles for the Blades of the Rose. He merrily travels the globe, working to protect the world's magic sources from abuse and exploitation from the Heirs of Albion and other similar organizations who would use magic for their own gain and to preserve the international dominance of England and the English. They want to use the magical sources around the world to subjugate non-English peoples and countries, while the Blades try to avoid exactly that. He thrives on action, adventure and danger and is indeed the scoundrel of the title, using his charm and dashing good looks to sweep women off their feet wherever he goes. In Greece, he has just escaped an enraged husband, when he meets what may well be his match in a marketplace.

Lady London Edgeworth Harcourt has been a widow for nearly 3 years. She has lived a sheltered life, pampered by her father and neglected by her husband, both Heirs of Albion, who believe that women are ornaments and possessions too delicate to trouble with the realities of the world. An unhappy daughter, then wife and widow, London has by necessity taught herself everything she has yearned for, including swimming and numerous languages, including ancient dialects hardly anyone masters. Once her father realizes that his daughter can decipher the archaic Greek dialect needed to decode a riddle on an old temple, he has no choice but to bring her with him to Greece. He wants to find Greek fire, a weapon that will make England near unstoppable, but does not in any way intend to tell London why the inscription needs decoding.

London sees her journey to Greece as a chance to finally break free and discover the world she has only read about. She is delighted by the country, and drags her maid all around Athens to see as many sights as possible before she must depart to translate the temple inscriptions. She is finally free of her widow's weeds and cannot wait to actually experience things, glad that her father values her linguistic abilities and actually needs her for something. She runs into Bennett in the market place, where he defends her from an angry street vendor who accuses her of sabotaging his business, when she dares to point out that he is selling bogus antiquities and refuses to believe she can actually read the language on the pottery shards. There is an instant attraction between the two, which is soon complicated when Bennett realizes that she is not only a linguistic expert, but the daughter of one of his worst enemies, and might help the Heirs find the source he is in Greece to protect.

Unsure of whether London is an evil temptress working with her father, or entirely innocent and unaware of the dealings of the Heirs, Bennett abducts her from her father's steamship and he and his friends quickly realize that she knows nothing of the Heirs of Albion or their plans. Bennett reveals the truth about magic, sources, the Blades and the Heirs, but London is reluctant to believe that her father, late husband and brother could be so evil and ruthless, and not sure she can trust the charming stranger she only just met. When she is recaptured by her father and confronts him, he not only confirms what Bennett told her, but reveals that Mr Day is the man who killed her husband. She also realizes that far from admiring and respecting her linguistic abilities, her father only wants her so he can locate another magic source, then he plans to marry her off to one of his toadying Heir lackeys and she will be forced back into her stifling and restrictive existence as trophy wife once more.

Very conflicted and confused, London has to choose if she is to help her father, who wants to use magic to subjugate and oppress people for the glory of England, or trust Bennett, the man who killed her husband, who gave her a false name when they first met, and who abducted her without any difficulty. Soon she finds herself on the run from her father's steamship, on the trail of a magical weapon with a breathtakingly attractive and clearly dangerous man. There is adventure, danger and several linguistic challenges in her future, and her life will never be the same again.

In some ways, I liked Scoundrel more than Warrior, in others, I did not. London is a a lovely woman, thirsting for adventure and very open to new experiences. Possibly too open, and sometimes even a bit rash. She is very quick to trust Bennett, even though he kidnaps her, has lied to her and she knows he hates her father, and made her a widow. She feels extremely attracted to him, and he clearly returns the feelings, and pretty much every lustful thought the couple feel when observing each other is described by the author. It is clear that London is very intelligent, she taught herself a buttload of languages, both modern and ancient, but she still seems almost stupidly trusting when she goes off with Bennett and his allies. I would have liked more exploration of London's (and Bennett's, for that matter) non-lustful thoughts.

Bennett is quite happy being a scoundrel, sleeping his way around the world while having adventures and fighting bad guys. He is impressed by London's linguistic abilities, and deeply impressed with her lust for adventure. Of course, it doesn't hurt that she is wicked beautiful. He doesn't want to settle down, and has never met a woman he was willing to give up his independence and bachelorhood for. At first, he is convinced that his passion for London will fade in time, just as with any other woman he's ever encountered. Unsurprisingly, the more time he spends with her, the more smitten he is.

There is a lot of action and adventure in this book, just as in Warrior. More of Catullus Graves' marvellous inventions are unveiled, we find out a bit more about the inner workings of the Blades, and while there may have been a bit more sex and lustfulness than I like on occasion, the book is still loads of fun, with some great supporting characters, and I'm very much looking forward to the next one, out in November.

CBR2 Book 91: "Warrior" by Zoë Archer

Publisher: Zebra
Page count: 370 pages
Rating: 4 stars
Date begun: October 9th, 2010
Date finished: October 11th, 2010

Captain Gabriel Huntley has spent almost half his life in the army. Just returned to England to possibly settle down with an office job in Leeds, he witnesses a man being attacked in an alley, and steps in to help. The man is brutally stabbed, and charges Gabriel to pass his dying message onto his friend....who is currently in Outer Mongolia. Gabriel, who was having doubts about a staid life in an office anyway, accepts the mission and travels to Mongolia to give the rather incomprehensible message to Franklin Burgess.

Mr. Burgess has a badly broken leg, but is a member of a secret organization, the Blades of the Rose, tasked with keeping magic safe and hidden from the population in general, and away from the unscrupulous hands of those who would use it only for their own gain. The message is a worrying one, meaning that the evil Heirs of Albion (a bunch of English noblemen bent on taking as much magic in the world for themselves and the good of the British Empire) are on their way to capturing a very powerful magic source in Mongolia. He has no choice but to send his daughter, Thalia, on the mission in his stead. Thalia is an unorthodox young lady, raised among Mongolian nomads, and has wanted nothing more than to prove her worth to the Blades since she was old enough to hear about the secret society.

While she is determined to manage the mission alone, accompanied only by a servant, it quickly becomes obvious that she will need help, and Gabriel is just the man for the job. He saves her from an ambush by two of the Heirs, and convinces her that it would be stupid for her to travel alone. At first, she refuses to tell him the details surrounding her mission, but it does not take long before she has to tell him the truth about magic, the Blades, the Heirs and her important task. Now the couple have to fight their attraction while they escape the clutches of the villains bent on killing them, and stealing the Mongolian magic source.

Warrior is the first of four Blades of the Rose novels, and to my joy the books will be coming out in quick succession between now and December. I already have the second book, Scoundrel, loaded onto my E-reader. The first book is a blend of historical romance, fantasy and adventure, reminiscent in tone of the Indiana Jones movies, with possibly a bit more focus on the romance. But the focus of the book is not just getting the couple together, but just as much the quest they are on, preventing the bad guys from gaining a weapon that could threaten untold thousands.

The characters are strong and well developed, and in an interview I read with the author, she talked about how important it was for her that the heroines be just as strong and capable as the heroes, maybe not physically, but holding their own, and by no means being swooning damsels that need rescuing and can't survive without a big strong man in their life. Gabriel is very clever, has years of battle training, can shoot and wrestle and excels at military tactics. But Thalia has been raised to think for herself, and can ride and shoot as well as, if not better, than a man. She is very intelligent, having been raised by her anthropologist father, and Gabriel is not intimidated by her brains, but rather finds this a very attractive feature in her. The couple have a good balance, and make an excellent team. I hope the rest of the series is as fun and exciting as the first book.