Review: Gharantia's Guardian by L M Douglas
Blurb:
The devastating gods’ war that ravaged the other side of the world for centuries is coming to Gharantia. Its rulers, Princess Melane and Criterious, the Guardian, stand as sentinels, safeguarding their cherished realm.
As the Queen’s protective mist—the Bleak—rolls away after another winter, prophetic dreams haunt Melane and mysterious strangers converge on their city.
Criterious must unravel the truth behind the war before it destroys them all. Who will stand with Gharantia against the coming tide?
In this epic fantasy adventure alliances will be forged, loyalties will waver, and destinies collide.
Review:
If you just read the blurb for Gharantia’s Guardian by L.M. Douglas, you’d expect a fairly traditional epic fantasy full of political scheming, magic, and gods. And Gharantia’s Guardian has all of those things, of course, but at its core, this is a character driven story–and what amazing characters they are!
Criterious: the valiant guardian who struggles to make decisions throughout.
Melane: his wife, a princess of Gharantia, who is a powerful magic user.
Pilt: a young musician and singer who’s not quite as ordinary as he seems.
Douglas writes well and gives us a lot of emotional depth in her characters, something I look for in a book. The characters grow and change and they’re absolutely three-dimensional.
But let’s talk about the plot first. Gharantia is a queendom–more on that later–under the always watchful eye of Queen Velardis, who I hereby nominate for the Most Likely to Receive a Punch in the Nose by Dave award. She’s also a powerful magic user and a less than loving cousin to Melane. She has found a new man, Kywren, and basically forced him to bond with her, and Criterious can’t stand this new man who’s threatening his guardianship status. When the story begins, Criterious is also upset with Melane because she has been avoiding him and not letting him share her bed, as she’s having odd dreams and the dreams disappear if she renews her bonds with Criterious.
So it’s a bad day for Criterious. The Queen is bringing in new guys to threaten his position in the Gharantia, and his wife is being less than affectionate. Then, a serpent woman shows up–spoiler alert, she kinda likes Criterious–and Pilt arrives as well, bringing intrigue along with him. All Criterious wants to do in get his wife to bed to, ahem, renew their bonds, and instead he’s having to deal with all sorts of annoyances.
Criterious is the main POV and he’s awesome. A strong man who’s not afraid to feel emotions, a man who loves his wife but also can’t fight off the magic of the serpent woman, Pallemina, who has decided Criterious will bond with her. He’s a loyal husband, but magic is powerful. Melane is also a strong character and I enjoyed her interactions with Criterious. Pilt’s sections weren’t as interesting to me at first, but he grew on me as the novel progressed. However, the unsung hero of this novel is Pallemina. Half woman, half serpent. Lost, alone, searching for someone to bond with. She’s chosen Criterious and doesn’t care that he’s a married man. There’s a lot of tension between the two as she uses her magic to attempt to seduce Criterious several times, and it adds a nice layer of conflict between Criterious and Melane as well.
If you’re reading this and thinking this is a spicy read, you’re wrong. Douglas fades to black and nothing is explicit, though sex is an important part of the magic system, as the magic users–all women in Gharantia–use their magic to bond with their chosen partners, strengthening their partner through the sexual act. At the beginning of the novel, Criterious feels his connection with Melane weakening because she’d been avoiding him, and it’s hurting his performance as Guardian. This is a world where women reign, and I loved that. There’s an awesome magic system and so much world building, and I was hooked from the beginning. Amazing characters, emotional depth, an awesome magic system, intrigue and political scheming, and a world run by strong women. I absolutely loved this book.
We do end on a bit of a cliffhanger, but hey, book 2 is out and you can jump right into it!
I highly recommend this novel. One of my favorites of the year!
