Hello everyone!
I accidentally stumbled across Ms Andrews's work when I was looking for something new and exciting to read, and since then, I've probably gone through most of her written works, if you ask me, though I don't think I have them all reviewed.
But every once in a while, usually before or around Christmas time, I do get back to it at least.
Tonight's book isn't exactly holiday-related - that one's coming in December! - but it IS amusing nonetheless.
You know how you always read stories about barbarians (usually Scottish) who come to sit on a council or whatever or they have to be appeased somehow, and the only solution everyone can think of is marrying one of them to one of their delicate ladies?
Well, this is about the same story, only it's a turnaround into gay romance.
Wed to the Barbarian, here we go!
I'll be linking other Keira Andrews historical books down below at the bottom of the page, as always, since she does cover the topic from time to time, enthusiastically so! I have others, contemporary ones, but since this one's historical I didn't want to mix the two.
Wed to the Barbarian is only the latest in a chain of books, and it's part of a duet.
That's right, there's another book to conclude the story, and I'll be adding that one to my repertoire next week, before we start right down the lane of Christmas tales for December.
So now, let's get into it.
The land of Onan used to be comprised of four kingdoms, until the gods apparently took offense at something one of them did (let's just call it the North, it's easiest), and separated the landmass, making it an island, never to be seen again.
East, West and South have since flourished, but at the annual Summer gathering, it turns out there's something more stirring beneath than anyone would have imagined.
See, one of the Southern princes, Jem, is promised to marry one of the Northern ones, Cador.
Oh yes, the North has now found its way back into the fold, but it's not all as simple as it looks.
We learn that the Northerners are desperate, and want to use Jem to start a war with the Western kingdom, which apparently holds dominion over a resource they need. As we learn through the book, the West is arrogant and doesn't like to play nice with the others either, so Jem's mother will PROBABLY go along with the whole war idea - once she hears her favourite son's been kidnapped, and gets his severed hand delivered in a box.
Nice, right?
Insert shudder here.
Anyway, that's the background story, because Jem has more immediate problems, aka his husband who is a big, muscular brute, and actually comes to the wedding roaring drunk, not to mention later on purposely gets rid of the books Jem treasures above all else, because he's convinced the Southern prince needs toughening up.
Yeah, fantastic start I'd say.
But anyway, across the sea we go with them, to the rocky landscape they live on, and Cador (the Northern husband, by the way) takes Jem to his cottage so they can live together, and immediately on the way, Jem finds a nest of little hatchlings in need of care. This eventually turns into one hatchling that survives, and both he and Cador care for her in the long run, but I digress.
Once there on the island, Jem has to get used to pretty much a whole new way of life, as the Northerners know and use nothing of the finery he was used to, but he decides to try and make the most of it, attempting to learn how to ride and eventually telling stories to the children (and some adults) who gather to listen.
Meanwhile, he also discovers some disturbing statues of the four gods that Onan worships, but they creep him out here, and a lot of the children seem to be sick or something, not that anyone will tell him how or why.
Okay, well, Cador promises he will. See, Cador slowly has a change of heart as time goes by and he and Jem get to know one another. Eventually, he realizes Jem is much more than he seems, and much braver, and this slowly leads the two on a collision course that brings Cador to take Jem's virginity, and to try and come up with an alternate plan to ensure that Jem won't be harmed.
Of course it's too late by that time, because if you imagine any other of these stories, Jem accidentally overhears Cador and his sister arguing about it, but we also finally learn what's wrong there on the island:
there's a fruit, called sevel, which apparently has some sort of ingredient that helps children who grow up eating it escape a disease that literally eats them inside out from the feet up. And since the sevel trees have all died out on the island, the Northerners need the fruit from the West, which holds the biggest crop yields, so the war effort would be to bring that into the fold.
However, things take a dramatic turn when Cador's older brother snatches Jem to sacrifice him to the gods, sending not the hand, but the HEAD to Jem's mother while he's at it.
Believing himself betrayed by everyone, even the stable hand who taught him the rudiments of riding, Jem manages to save himself by jumping off the cliff's edge where this is taking place, down into a nest of one of the predator birds that live on the northern island. Meanwhile, the two brothers clash above, but Cador can't bring himself to kill the other, and Jem actually asks him not to (once he climbs back up, that is).
This MIGHT have been the end, but of course the older brother is a bona fide idiot - who not only wants to start a war but wants to take over ALL of Onan, to the disgust of his own followers who don't really have a need for the rest of the kingdom, only for sevels, and then his own wife leaves him - and goes for the pair with a dagger.
This results in their sister spearing him through, killing him.
But of course, as this is a duology the story doesn't end here, because as much as Cador protests and swears his love and whatnot, Jem decides he's going home to his own kingdom now, where he's safe and sound and where his mother will take care of everything.
This is where we leave the two not-so-happy lovers, and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this take on a rather familiar story, because it always turns out slightly differently when it's two men, instead of a man and a woman. I enjoyed Jem's own self-discovery and how he rose to the occasion, how he stood right against Cador and told him where to shove it when needed, but also how Cador actually turns out to be gentler and much more straightforward than one would expect.
Of course he's also an idiot for not just talking to Jem, but that's beside the point.
The story is around 200 pages long and an easy afternoon read,, and I think the kingdoms and their differences are very well fleshed out, but you can also tell there's more to everything than meets the eye, so I can promise you there's going to be revelations in the second book, which we'll be reviewing together next week.
I mean, I can't just leave you guys hanging like this!
So come back then, and we'll see whether Cador manages to win Jem back, or whether they stay separated forever.
PS: that book cover is slightly ridiculous - but then, all these kinds of stories have the same, LOL!
xx
*image not mine
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