Cynthia F. (frazerc) reviewed Crown and Blade: Sword and Crown / Whisper of the Blade on + 672 more book reviews
Crown and Blade is two separate stories written by Lauren Dane and Anya Bast. The heroines are sisters and Emmia [the heroine of Bast's Blade], has a bit part in Dane's Crown. Both were good reads, set in a parallel world with magic.
Crown changes directions on the reader rather quickly - first she's a magical scholar giving a class at a university [and I did love her stereotypes - the Ardent Doubting Thomas, the Fluffy Bunny, the Aleister Crowley wannabe...] - then there's a quick scene with her familiar, who can be either feline or human, to fill the reader in on why she's on Earth instead of Back Home, followed by an angst-ridden scene with an old lover sent to fetch her back to save their world... I felt rushed up to that point. The rest of the story had a nice flow, and a nice sense of action.
Blade was an interesting read. Emmia's a 'justice mercenary' - the person who gets hired to resolve situations which cannot be resolved by the locals - in this case the murder of a girl with the prime suspect being the lord of the castle/domain. She's also an empath without shields. Since this story starts immediately after Crown, she really needs some downtime. But Quinn refuses to take her no and convinces her with equal parts of seduction and intrigue at the thought of meeting Magnus, another empath and the prime suspect, to come and investigate. Most of the story concerns her investigation, repairing the rift between Magnus and Quinn [created when Quinn suspected Magnus of the crime], and the developing relationships between the three of them. This story contains male/male and menage sex.
Crown changes directions on the reader rather quickly - first she's a magical scholar giving a class at a university [and I did love her stereotypes - the Ardent Doubting Thomas, the Fluffy Bunny, the Aleister Crowley wannabe...] - then there's a quick scene with her familiar, who can be either feline or human, to fill the reader in on why she's on Earth instead of Back Home, followed by an angst-ridden scene with an old lover sent to fetch her back to save their world... I felt rushed up to that point. The rest of the story had a nice flow, and a nice sense of action.
Blade was an interesting read. Emmia's a 'justice mercenary' - the person who gets hired to resolve situations which cannot be resolved by the locals - in this case the murder of a girl with the prime suspect being the lord of the castle/domain. She's also an empath without shields. Since this story starts immediately after Crown, she really needs some downtime. But Quinn refuses to take her no and convinces her with equal parts of seduction and intrigue at the thought of meeting Magnus, another empath and the prime suspect, to come and investigate. Most of the story concerns her investigation, repairing the rift between Magnus and Quinn [created when Quinn suspected Magnus of the crime], and the developing relationships between the three of them. This story contains male/male and menage sex.
