It's taken me years to be ready to read this one.

Now that I have... Waiting was the right choice, but man, once Taern shows up it's so good that I wish I could've made it through Dorjan's bad time sooner. But I couldn't. I'm glad I waited.

(And I'm glad this was available via my library, since Dreamspinner Press has been so terrible to most of its authors. Amy Lane and Rhys Ford are exceptions; no longer defending DSP, but apparently still not being stolen from, either, which is...weird.)

The worldbuilding, while imaginative and consistent, in several ways makes no sense to me, but I just treated those aspects as the steampunk fantasy they are and moved on - while thinking this would make a very cool animated movie, in the right hands. ( )

I was pleasantly surprised by this title. I expect som country boy meets soldier and they have a fling type thing. But it was so astoundingly more than that. There are so many little parts that were pulled together. I have no idea how these aspects were pulled together in a way that worked but they were and it’s brilliant. It’s like old west meets mining colony, meets different planet, meets war and espionage, meets vigilante, meets brothel contracts, meets beauty and the beast, meets futuristic armour and weird mechanical transportation, meets political scandal.... and that’s before you even come close to any of the kink or whatever. I also LOVED that holy crap there’s a straight relationship. So many m/m stories have the token straight people or don’t have any at all or are only straight till oops they aren’t. This story had gay, trans, straight, etc. all mixed together and with real roles in the story. I respected that a lot. This was definitely worth the read! ( )

And now for something completely different... but only on the surface: truth, steampunk novels maybe be a novelty for the readers of Amy Lane, but even if the setting is fantasy, and the time is a tale, the troubled heroes are always there, the struggling to achieve an inner happiness when everything outside is crushing is there, the subtle humor that makes you smile even amidst the drama is again always there.

The author recreates a world that is a mix of pre-industrial era, when machines didn't rule the world, and yet, machines are already part of her fantasy world, but they aren't "moving" the world; if anything else, they are making it worse, used in the wrong way but powerful men... the irony of today critique moved in a fantasy world. Technology should help people, not destroy them.

The pain of the post-war heroes like Dorjan and Areau is that of a today soldier having to deal with the reality he killed civilians instead of enemies. How many today boys, just out teenagedhood, join the army with big ideas of doing the right thing and come back with nightmares that will never leave them, it they come back at all. A common theme in Amy Lane's works, so much that I did wonder how much near home she is hitting. Anyway, nothing was fantasy in Dorjan and Areau's pain, and Taern is the only medicine Dorjan's broken soul needs. It's not only about sex, even if that will be part of it, like one of the prescriptions, it was more about closeness, and filling the emptiness.

It wasn't a "comfort" read, and so it's not the ending, if you will arrive to care for all the characters, even the apparently "bad" ones, you will hurt a little in the end; in a romance all the good ones are happily living after, but well, that will not be in this story. Nevertheless, you will know they did the right thing, and that is what make them heroes.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/162380244X/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Thoroughly enjoyable - Amy Lane's trademark nexus of love despite difficulties and chosen family growing true set amongst a steampunk fantasy cityscape that provides a broader narrative than simply a romance. ( )