Title: Triane’s Son Fighting, 2nd edition
Series: Bitter Moon Saga: Book Three
Author: Amy Lane
Genre: Young Adult / Adventure / Fantasy
Length: Extended Novel (350 pages)
ISBN: 978-1-62798-341-9
Publisher: Harmony Ink, Dreamspinner Press, (January 29th, 2014)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥5 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb:Outraged by the destruction of innocent lives and the threat to his family’s safety, Torrant Shadow and Aylan Stealth-Moon ride to Dueance, the capital of Clough, with a desperate plan: Torrant will impersonate Yarri’s dead brother, Ellyot Moon, and infiltrate the Regent’s council to help change to the government’s policy toward the Goddess’s chosen from the inside.
But from the very first night, Torrant and Aylan are pressed into service in the shadows of the ghettoes, fighting for the lives of the brutalized people within. It’s a bitter job, made more so by close scrutiny and mockery from Consort Rath, the ruler whose policies have created the discrimination and cruelty wreaking havoc in their country.
Torrant’s only bright moments come from Aylan, whose love and loyalty never falter, and the hungry, compassionate minds of the younger regents. Believing that all they need is a worthy song to follow, Torrant sets about leading them to accomplish the salvation of their country. But not even Torrant can be everywhere at once. When faced with one disaster too many, he realizes one man alone cannot right the wrongs of an entire government—not even Triane’s Son.
1st Edition published as Bitter Moon II: Triane’s Son Reigning by iUniverse, 2009
Purchase Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4606
Review: Book three in the Bitter Moon Saga comes to rip our hearts apart with its brilliance and wonderful poetic language. The story is yet again captivating, making you forget reality for a short while and take a journey in this fantastic, albeit dark and painful world.
Time has come for Triane’s Son to fight the evil that has defined his entire life. All he wanted was to handfast his beloved and live a peaceful life, but the poisonous hatred of everything joyful that comes from Clough and the Consort Himself make that dream impossible. Just as he’s always known, it is he and he alone that must go back, where the nightmare first started, and make a change.
But Torrant is not alone in this. His brother of the heart, Aylan, will not let him go and sacrifice himself like a lamb. Faithfully he follows him into the heart of horror and pain to help him save his people. Tearing his soul in many parts, a regent during the day and a vengeful protector during night, Torrant nearly loses his heart, and if it wasn’t for Aylan’s solid love and his new brothers, the regents that follow him with admiration and worship in their eyes, everything might have been lost.
The tale is amazing. The pace has picked up (not that it was ever slow) and the action really started. It’s a battle, its war on all fronts. We get to see the many layers of Torrant and we get to have our heart ripped to pieces as he gives more and more of himself in each and every line. This character has always been incredible, but in this book, he truly shines in a sad kind of way. Not even when he nearly died through Hammer Pass in book one did I feel so torn about Torrant. The emotions that blow him to the four winds are so strong, you can’t simply read this book without feeling them all deep in your bones.
But as much as there is pain and sorrow, there is also the incredibly awesome action that Triane’s Son brings with him. His shape shifting into the snow cat is marvellous and the non-apologetic violence the cat carries with it is plain gorgeous. I would have loved it anyway it came, it’s impossible not to, but Amy Lane balances that violence with emotions and turns it into one incredible work of art. You don’t know if you want to worship this character or cry for him when he can’t. At times, I think a fiction character has been made so real it easily makes you forget that it doesn’t exist.
This book though is not only pain and sorrow and death and destruction. No, it has love as well and it comes in many forms. A specialty I think of this author; when she writes love there are no boundaries in the form that love takes. And it makes your heart soar with beauty, sweetness and joy. In addition, there is underlying humor that just makes my head spin. I love, love, LOVE the creativity when it come to the cussing choice of words. It’s mind-boggling really, how on earth could this author think of such colorful words. It made me laugh when laughing seemed impossible, giving lightness in the midst of a heavy, bloody scene.
So with this book things come together finally and all those flash-forward into the future/present from the prequels start making sense. The story this time is told under the covering of a song sung by Torrant in his old age. The losses of loved ones come slowly in the story and when it ends, it is not pretty as it leaves us with the ominous promise of worse things to come. Frankly, I can’t wait for the final part of the saga. This book left me too raw and the anticipation it generated nearly unbearable, but one thing is for sure; I absolutely loved it and it felt like yet another brick was put into that wall of worship I have for this author. Her brilliant writing always makes my day.