Hello everyone!
BookBub is a free online community/portal/library where you sign up (it really is TOTALLY free) and then they send you book offers depending on your preferences, but the biggest draw is they find the least pricy ones, and a lot of free options as well.
Next to BookSirens, this is probably the one thing I use most frequently to find my next great read, and it's where tonight's book comes from, too.
See every once in a while I'll diverge from my usual paths of contemporary and historic to find something that's a little bit more fantastic, maybe.
And potentially a whole lot of fun!
It was how I ended up with this particular book, too.
Ishtar's Blade looked like it could be fun, and I'll admit part of the allure was also the beautiful cover, which I did also giggle a little over. But I digress.
I think I read one or two books in this particular mythology niche before, but I honestly can't be sure and I don't think I have them on here, so sadly there will be no links down at the bottom.
There will, however, be a review.
Ishtar's Blade tells the story of Iltani, a young woman living in the country of New Sumer, which is a continuation of the old Sumerian Empire, but this one has a bit of a stronger connection to the gods than that one had.
See, Ishtar, probably their primary goddess, made a pact with - wait for it - gryphons, and told them to leave the actual continent where they lived once humans started multiplying, leading them out to sea to about ten islands where they formed their new colony, and which she then hid from the world by a protective dome connected directly to the power the gryphon rulers wield.
Ishtar also assured that the line would be protected by individuals known as Ishtar's Blades, who can be recognized by a gold-and-blue mark travelling down their spine, but these individuals are only usually born into a generation if there are massive changes on the horizon.
This is where we clock in with Iltani, who was seventeen when she was taken from the capital and her home to finish her training under the Captain of the guard; she is also human at the moment, though once she begins her transformation to Ishtar's Blade in full, she will become an actual gryphon. She's also, conveniently, the litter mate of the current king, Ditanu, but more on that later.
Just before meeting the king again after four years of absence - absence that in her case DID make the heart grow fonder, but he went and took a mate and they have kids now - the Captain gives her a bunch of letters he intercepted between her and the king, from each of them, which he held back to protect the then boy-king.
Fine, Iltani thinks, I'll read these later to figure out what's in there that's so dangerous. She immediately noticed something weirdly off in the royal couple's dynamic, however, because gryphons mate for life and can never really stray from marriage, but it seems to her that the Consort isn't really all too concerned about anything, and Ditanu is actually super happy to see her.
Add to this that she accidentally sees the Captain and the Consort together, and Iltani is convinced something else is up.
She doesn't have a lot of time to wonder about it though, because Ishtar keeps warning her about potential danger, and so she and Ditanu begin her confirmation ceremony earlier than planned; it's the royal blood that, through the mark on her spine, enables her that transformation in the end, and it also augments and strengthens her powers, which helps once they head to the ACTUAL ceremony on a different island, where they'll also confirm the royal heir among other things.
It's there we learn of another interesting little ditty - the Sacred Marriage, which is performed by the gryphon ruler and either their mate OR someone else of Ishtar's choosing, at which point Ishtar and her own husband, a captive in the underworld to save her life, take over the host bodies and have a little earthly fun.
Iltani and Ditanu turn it down - Ditanu IS married, after all - and besides, Iltani senses an attack on the island by raiders from outside the protective dome, and it turns into a massacre which leads to the loss of two of three royal children, the Captain, and the Consort. Iltani manages to rescue the last royal cub, and Ishtar performs a miracle by transferring the four unborn ones from the Consort to her so that they may have a chance to live.
Sailing back in a boat instead of flying like the fast gryphons do, Iltani takes a bit to get back, during which time Ditanu pretty much loses his mind and needs to be caged up so he doesn't end up killing everybody out of sheer grief. It's only Iltani and his last child who manage to draw him back into some semblance of calm, and in the end Iltani accepts the Sacred Marriage rite from the gods as they promise that Ditanu will be returned to her in the morning, whole.
Together with his aunt and his new Captain, they concoct a plan of sending Iltani out among the council members and spreading a false rumour that the king is dead, since it looks as though there may be more at play here: Ishtar's sister, Queen of the Underworld, wants to rule above as well, and if she can't have the line of gryphon kings in this generation, she'll just wait for the cub to grow and take the throne.
So Iltani goes to suss out their enemies, to a point, and the king is revealed at the funeral procession of the fallen, causing no little stir among his people.
The next decision they make is to travel to all ten island city-states and re-anoint the stone lamassu through them which report and answer directly to the king, interfering when there's danger, and naturally on the one island they already suspect, the beings wake and tell the king there's a plot going on to take him out of the game - and that his Consort and the Captain are captives, being tormented.
The Queen of the Underworld reveals herself and a fight ensues which Ishtar wins by a different power than her war magic (which could harm the unborn cubs) and with a little help from the other guardians. They then take the captives back to help them recover, and the full story is revealed: aka, that the Consort and the King were never actually mates, simply married, and she was impregnated through magic. Her true mate is the Captain, who concocted the scheme to protect the boy-king and give him a consort who would help rather than undermine him.
The King is ACTUALLY already mated to Iltani: the night before she was to leave for her training, they had too much wine and all she remembers is attempting to seduce him, which really happened to a far enough point that the mating bond snapped into place. The Captain decided it was too risky since they were both so incredibly young, and she needed to complete her training, so he removed her for the sake of both of them.
And in the end, all is well as Ditanu and Iltani look ahead to the future now, with more children on the way and - given this is a book series - a whole host of new problems they're going to have to face as a couple.
The end!
Okay, I'll admit, I initially thought this was going to be just a giggle-fest based on the cover, since who fights in just a strip of clothing across her chest and some sheer skirts? But Iltani ended up growing on me, as did the culture heavily influenced by Mesopotamian religion.
She and Ditanu make a pretty amazing power-couple, though I will admit her pining for him was a little bit on the nose after a while, especially since he was married.
BUT I truly did enjoy the different mythology and the implications of it, as there aren't that many works out there that I've come across who would employ this. It wasn't the best thing I've ever read, but it was entertaining, it hooked me enough to have me keep reading, and the cubs were also adorable so what more could you ask for?
Love, mystery, mythology, and fantasy all in one. I definitely recommend!
xx
*image not mine
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