Title: Immortal
Series: N/A
Author: Amy Lane
Genre:Fairy Tale
Length: Novel (210 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press LLC (May 8th, 2015)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts
Blurb: When Teyth was but a child, a cruel prince took over his village, building a great granite tower to rule over the folk. Greedy and capricious, the man will be the bane of Teyth’s existence as an adult, but as a boy, Teyth is too busy escaping his stepfather to worry about his ruler.
Sold into apprenticeship to the local blacksmith, Teyth finds that what was meant as a punishment is actually his salvation. Cairsten, the smith, and Diarmuid, his adopted son, are kind, and the smithy is the prosperous heart of a thriving village. As Teyth grows in the craft of metalwork, he also grows in love for Diarmuid, the gentle, clever young man who introduces him to smithing.
Their prince wants Diarmuid too. As the tyrant inflicts loss upon loss on Teyth and Diarmuid, Teyth’s passion for his craft twists into obsession. By the time Teyth resurfaces from his quest to create immortality, he’s nearly lost the love that makes being human worth the pain. Teyth was born to sculpt his emotion into metal, and Diarmuid was born to lead. Together, can they keep their village safe and sustain the love that will make them immortal?
ISBN: 9781632169211
Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=6353
Reviewer: Zane
Review: So… Amy Lane decided to write her version of a fairy tale. Of course, this couldn’t just be *ANY* old fairy tale. It has to be not just of romance but of a darkness with angst and pain… with a brightness all its own, spun and woven with the most elaborate web of words as only she can do. It is those very words that paint the picture, which give the detail, from the landscape to each character to the minutiae of their very attire – words that enable you to visualize all that occurs.
As with any fairy tale, where there is good, there must be evil, and it does triumph at times. There is an evil stepfather, an evil prince. There is love lost, love found in many different ways. There are times when the ugliness of violence pervades all that is good. Somehow, though, the good does shine through. Love and romance shine through. The balance of such things is what makes this author the success she is, what makes this book the literary work of art it is.
I have always referred to Amy Lane as a master wordsmith. I’ve yet to read another whose very words paint such visions of color and light, of despair and darkness. Those words of beauty are a treasure I appreciate each and every time I am blessed enough to read them. Having read almost all of her books, I can honestly say “Immortal” is the most beautiful, the most haunting. Written in older English style, the tale of Teyth and Diarmuid captivated me from the very beginning.
Teyth, whose name literally means ‘silence’, is an artist of the soul, besieged by the need to create, a need which supersedes anything and everything including love of self and love of mate. Diarmuid, his mate, loves Teyth beyond reason, which is as one would like to think love should be. Though he is caused undue pain by him, he loves Teyth, not in spite of this but because of it, as it makes the man whom he loves. Through these two we learn of love real and true, and that beauty and ugliness are sometimes not so far apart. Their pain and suffering are epically proportionate to their love and devotion.
Tormented by strife both internal and external, by love and loss, by violence and evil, does their love stand the test of time? Teyth with his silence, his need to feed his artistic soul, Diarmuid with his desire to lead them to peace and happiness, away from all that threatens them… their love for each other throughout all of this… can they find what they long for?
I say ‘fairy tale’ but this is by no means a typical HEA. Rather, in a fantastic and magical series of events we are gifted with a truly appropriate and beautiful ending to this epic tale. In their very own way, Teyth and Diarmuid did become “Immortal” – both in Amy’s story and in my heart.
Leave it to Amy Lane to write a fairy tale that kicks my ass. Leave it to me to ask, no, BEG her to do it again. The tears, the wonder – the words. Teyth and Diarmuid stole my heart and broke me. I finished with wet eyes, a sort of mended heart, and much like Teyth, with no words.
Now that I seem to have found them again, I can’t possibly recommend this book or this author enough. Thank you Amy, for the gift of your words, for the gift of “Immortal”.
* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *