Title: Dominion of the Eth
Series: Wings 02
Author: J.C. Owens
Genre: Fantasy
Length: Novel Plus (317pgs)
Publisher: Etopia Press (7th October 2011)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: The collar would stay, for Rylis would never free Tamrin…
Childhood memories of the Eth did no justice to what Rylis Tanyan would encounter in the depths of the Teeathun forest. But what he had treasured before had betrayed him, and now he must fight to escape the confines of the forest and his feelings for Tamrin, the Eth whom he’d loved long ago…
Purchase Link: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-dominionoftheeth-610323-143.html
Warning: Some scenes of Dubious consent/rape.
Review: Commander Rylis Tanyan met an Eth long ago, and now, many years later, he is called to a village on the edges of the Melan kingdom and the Teeathun forest to sort out the problems they are having with the Eth. But, he is surprised by what he finds and ends up captured by the very Eth he once briefly met, and he will repay the betrayal with one of his own.
This is a very good novel where we meet Rylis Tanyan (Wings) again and gives us his story in all it’s mixed up glory. Rylis met an Eth when he was very young and that encounter has always stuck with him. When he is called in to a small village to find out why the Eth are now attacking it, he is shocked at his discovery. But, that is nothing to the betrayal he feels when he is captured by the very Eth, Tamrin, he met in his youth. When Rylis is released, he takes Tamrin with him, positive that he knows what is best for Tamrin. But, his love is tainted.
Well, I have never read a story where I have such mixed feelings for a character to this extent before. Rylis Tanyan seemed like such a compassionate person at first, but then later as the book progressed I saw the man I recognised from Wings and oh my god what a selfish self-centered man. The only thing that redeemed him was that he finally realized what he was doing, rectified it and then spent thirty years beating himself up about it. That isn’t to say that Tamrin was an innocent in all this, he could have easily put a stop to it, but didn’t as he was carrying his own guilt… this story is the perfect example of two wrongs not making a right.
This story is of tangled love. Just what do you do for the one you love? Take control, take what you want in the name of love and decide what is best for someone? Or do you give the person you love complete control? Take everything they do to you in the name of love and what they say as a show of their love for you? These two characters both mess up in what they think love is and it comes out in an emotion filled twisted love story where they both nearly lose what means the most to them. This story is filled with angst, abuse, dubious consent/rape and two beings that confuse what love really is.
I have to recommend this to those who love fantasy, angst, a twisted love story, dubious consent, regret, realizations and a very happy ending.