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Blood Lilies (2012)

by T.A. Miles(Favorite Author)

3.89 of 5 Votes: 1

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Raventide Books

series

Blood Wars Trilogy

review 1: Powers. Souls. Demon mage. War. What world has Korsten stepped into? Well a world he didn't know he belonged to until now. Well not like he had a perfect life, but having to deal with this new type of evil may just be the icing on the cake. So the start of the book was okay for me. I got to read about Korsten and learned that he is gay, doesn't have the greatest home life and he kinda has a lover. Well he has to hide being gay, and his lover won't notice him in front of the world. So I felt for him and you can see how things relate to the real world. There are those who have to hide in the world and not get noticed, so you feel for Korsten during the story. I enjoyed getting to know him and everything he has been through.But then we get to the middle of the book where th... moreings start to pick up for me. Evil comes at Korsten, which gets you into the story because you already feel for what hes been through, and now I could only hope that he makes it through this evil and have something good come through for him at the end. I really loved the pace of the book, and the way it was all written. It wasn't over the top with detail and it didn't leave you asking whats going on here and there. It had the perfect amount of detail, pace, characters, and everything else. I was pulled into the book and wasn't bored. The book brought new characters and life into the fantasy/paranormal books that I read. I loved the twists and can't wait to see how Korsten grows into the other books. I hope he keeps growing and maturing and get cut some slack. I give this book 4 stars!
review 2: Raventide is the first work of Ms Miles I have read and I could not finish as it was very well written but slow and unappealing.A friend suggested I tried this and I am glad I did.Reading the blurb one could suppose this to be common fantasy stuff but if the themes are, the execution is far from usual. True, there is a young man who has gone through a lot in his life that suddenly discovers an unspeakable evil. This hideous evil obviously disrupts his life entirely and forces him to abandon everything, then to a magic academy where he needs to master his newfound magical powers and finally on the road again to prove himself.On the paper there is nothing new. It is the tone that sets this work apart.The first part is utterly bleak. Korsten is gay and must hide it, he has a lover who does not openly acknowledge him and comes from an emotionally damaging family background. He has no self esteem and little hope for the future. These assumptions seemed likely to lead to a slow and depressing read but it was not the case. Ms Miles, here, strikes a perfect balance between the tone, which is sombre and devoid of hope, and pace, which is exactly right: calm but engaging. It is no mean feat.I also appreciated that the epiphany of the evil forces is only a catalyst for what sorrow already was in Korsten's life. I got the distinct impression that he was going to waste away and that the evil forces unleashed in his life actually represent more an opportunity than an obstacle.The second part is perhaps a little more ordinary. The magical academy has little new to recommend itself: the reader gets to know better the characters who will have a meaning in the story and the rather complex magic system.The third part, when Korsten is on the road again, is decidedly the best. Korsten has grown up, he is more mature and more interesting. The tone is once again very sombre but we have a character that does his best.The writing is neat throughout, very precise and to the point. Only here and there a wrong paragraphing makes it difficult to understand who is speaking which line. There are only a few typos.As already said, pace is extremely good and keeps the reader interest.Characterization is usually well done except where feelings of love are being described.I managed, with considerable effort, to understand finally which was the point the author tries to make.Unsurprisingly the long lived mage-superiors are the most out of focus.It is always difficult to deal with characters who have had an abnormally long life and make them believable. Readers, being mortals, clearly have no idea but somehow understand whether the author has. Unsurprisingly then, the mage-superiors are vague and especially so when faced with love.Korsten is not an easy character to like. He has gone through a lot, true, but he is also conceited, arrogant and whines constantly. The author manages him well though, and we get the impression he is actually growing up.What I, personally, found rather difficult was his homosexuality. Ms Miles make a loner out of him, a scholar with little people skills (and yet he manages to achieve an extremely relevant position of responsibility at 24). This, together with his unrequited love could have been enough.It was not. The author also decided to give him an incredible physical beauty. To make him also rather effemminate. Most of the times he behaves like a woman would, a rather annoying woman, thus justifying part of the hatred he gets.This is a personal problem, I know, but while I can relate very well with someone who is a loner and an outcast, I always find it difficult to relate to womanish behaviour, especially if added to an attitude for whining.It also did not help that all Korsten's lovers were basically straight men attracted to his feminine side.Author's choice of course and she develops it rather consistently.Another point that I wish to make is that this work has clearly been heavily influenced by Lackey's Last Herald-Mage series (1989). I mean it, heavily. The two leads (Korsten and Vanyel) are clearly identical twins and many situations are clearly similar. An explicit acknowledgement would have been in order, also because Ms Miles clearly has her own style. The ideas behind the story concept are identical but the execution is entirely personal. There would not have been anything wrong in simply dedicating an acknowledment to the other, more famous author.Although this is the first of an announced serial, the book can stand on its own as there is no cliffhager but rather a very mature, happy for now, conclusion. There are some sex scenes but they are not overly graphic. less

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