Title: Like Fire Through Bone
Series: Into Flame
Author: E.E. Ottoman
Genre: Paranormal / Historical Fiction
ISBN: 978-1-62798-025-8
Length: Novel (246 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (September 13th, 2013)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥3 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: Vasilios Eleni has learned to make the best of life as a eunuch and valued slave in the household of a wealthy silk merchant. When he begins having dreams of a demon who steals away children and eats them alive, Vasilios’s well-ordered life begins to unravel. General Markos Özdemir has been ordered by the Emperor to investigate the kidnapping and murder of children from the capital, but he’s become frustrated with lack of progress. When he learns of Vasilios’s dreams he begins to suspect they are the key to tracking down the demon.
Vasilios and Markos work together, and soon the attraction between them flares, leading to deeper attachment. Vasilios admits to his feelings for Markos but knows they must first find a way to exorcise the child-eating demon. Their quest takes them into to desert to seek out mystics and a half-man, half-serpent monk, as well as heretics, ex-concubines, and angels. The mission remains unsolved when Vasilios is trapped in the household of a cruel man. Things go from bad to worse for Vasilios, and getting back to freedom and the new love he has with Markos could cost him his life.
A Timeless Dreams title: While reaction to same-sex relationships throughout time and across cultures has not always been positive, these stories celebrate M/M love in a manner that may address, minimize, or ignore historical stigma.
Product Link: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4180
Review: Okay so, I start reading this book and I had to force myself to put it down last night and get some sleep (yeah, I do that) only to pick it up first thing in the morning. That said, when it ended I was left with the incredulous look and a though spinning in my head drilling over and over “was that it?” and turning the next page just in case I missed something. The happily for now ending and the not so satisfactory closure spoiled the entire read for me.
Starting from the beginning though, I was entranced with this book. It had a Greek air on almost everything in the story and naturally, I was drawn to it. The names, the place where it’s set (The Empire), the society that oddly enough resembles so much ancient Greece, everything were intriguing and had a special allure. I did not like the religious stuff at all, but they hardly made it into my consciousness. The demon hunting, the bishops and Church politics, the monasteries and believers, they were all very well woven into the plot and place, and I believe looking at the story now that it’s finished that it would have not been as good without it anyway.
Now the main character of the story is Vasilios Eleni and he is a eunuch. This is the first time I have come across a story about eunuchs and to tell you the truth I was drawn to it in a perverse way, wanting to see where it would end and how, even as the very notion of men being castrated for fun made me cringe almost the entire read. Because yeah, owning a jewel (a eunuch made so before he hit puberty in order to maintain the androgynous features, and solely for sex) was a show of wealth and taste for the rich and powerful in this story. Can you see me cringing? But back to the story, Vasilios starts having some weird, vivid dreams about a demon devouring children right about the time children are going missing from all kinds of families regardless of the social stand. Lucky him. General Markos is in town and having business with Vasilios’ master, thus Vasilios turns to him for help, because these dreams are leaving him in quite a state of horror.
The hunting part of the story is not so much a hunt as it is a go-seek quest with Vasilios and Markos trying to find the people they need to banish the demon when the Bishop fails. Meanwhile Vasilios life changes for the worse when his master dies and he has been passed down to his master’s youngest and cruelest son. There is a show of unnecessary cruelty there and some events I truly didn’t get, because they made no sense, but they did help the story move forward.
Now romance-wise I find myself unable to produce words. The flirting between Markus and Vasilios was non-existed. We knew feelings were there, but there was not much show of anything, thus the pair not making a real connection with me. As for the inevitable intimate scenes, oh my they were more than weird because not only one of the men was missing something vital there, but also they ended up discarding BJs and penetration altogether, making the intimate scenes in the end a bit crippling. I suppose the author might have wanted to put more attention to the touchy-feely part and how love doesn’t need much for it to bloom, but in the end there was no love there either, just the possibility of one in the future, leaving me with the thought: “Was that it?” Oh wait, I already said that, but really, it was a huge WTF moment for me the end of the book.
So overall, I liked it, but it could have been better. It was highly interesting though, and the main point is that I read it so easily, so effortlessly and had a nice time doing so. Recommended for fans of the genre.