Already from the title you can understand that is an ambitious project and this is barely book 1 out of 5 (following there will be Book Two: Orchid of Awakening, Book Three: The Return of Othis, Book Four: Ivory and Gold and Book Five: The White Mammoth). So probably some of the open points we have here are due to the fact that this is only the “meeting”, a rendezvous, of two young men, and when they met, more or less at the end of the book, their travel has not reach an end, but it’s only at the beginning. Both Dare than Othis are still men-to-be, and in a way, this is almost a coming of age novel, with Dare and Othis at the brink of their adulthood.

This implies a second details that I think it’s worth to highlight, both in the subtitle, A tale of Sexual and Spiritual discovery, than in the blurb, a frankly erotic tale, there is an accentuation on the sex and eroticism, but sincerely, even if we have some sexual intercourses, and even a ménages a trois, this is not at all an erotic romance, or at least not the erotica I’m used to. There is no putting the sex, and the sex scene, on the center stage, but they are more or less part of the growing process of Dare and Othis. They are almost an experiment for these young men to decide if they really like men more than women, if they are homosexual or not, if they want to share their life with another man. Again another reason why I had the feeling this was a coming of age story.

The universe Bruce P. Grether created is unique and fascinating, a truly fantasy world of the best tradition; like in those novels of the ’70 and ’80, there is a “map” of this universe to introduce the reader and help visualize the path the heroes will follow, and scattered here and there, some illustrations, that, as the cover and the map, are by the same author. I think this novel will appeal a lot the fantasy lovers, even the old fashioned details of having a pet as travel companion, a pet that is sometime wiser and more faithful than any other human being, is respected: a chameleon cat for Dare, a mammoth for Othis. On this regard, I have to rise my only complaint to the author: it’s not good manners to be evil towards these pets, and while good friends or lovers can be sacrificed for the sake of the story (best friends more than lovers), a pet should always arrive to the end of the story and walk towards the horizon with his owner… at least in one case, I’m not still sure the author didn’t give a second chance to the cherished pet, and for the other one, well, we can say that the pet accomplished the mission to be protector and support to the owner.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1590213610/?tag=elimyrevandra-20