Review: Captivating, Original New World
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 20, 2013
4.5 stars. This book was a tremendously pleasant surprise, having some of the most original world building I have read in years. This is more fantasy romance, no humans in sight, with a large cast of characters that inhabit Araneae Nation. They look human but have fangs (of varying degrees), venom (of varying degrees), spinnerets in their finger tips for weaving thread, a matriarchal society that live in underground caves or "nests" and, yes, there are those among them who battle their "flesh hunger". You get the picture. But, no worries, no Shelob here. It was fun and different and the story and setting swept me away.It starts off with young Lourdes having become Maven of her wealthy Araneidae clan after the murder of her parents. They have been betrayed by their allies, her own father's clan, the Theridiidae, and Lourdes is forced into a new alliance with a brutal and impoverished clan of mercenaries, the Mimetidae. The Mimetidae Maven, Isolde, offers up her 2nd son, Rhys, as husband to Lourdes to seal their new alliance and, without any choice, Lourdes accepts. They are of course attracted to one another from the beginning, but Lourdes worries over their clan's reputed blood thirstiness. Rhys and his mother both have secrets which are a large part of the plot, along with solving the mystery of who within the Araneidae clan betrayed Lourdes' parents and why.I liked almost everything about this book. Both Lourdes and Rhys are intelligent, attractive and brave. They don't quite have insta-love but admire one another from the beginning. There is a large supporting cast and I particularly enjoyed Lourdes younger brothers (Henri and Armand) and Rhys' older brother, Vaughn, who worked very hard at being an obnoxious jerk. Yes, some of the names of the clans and characters are a mouthful but are based on actual spider species. (For example, Mimetidae are "pirate spiders" who typically feed on other spiders.) Yes, in Typical Heroine Behavior, Lourdes does something Rhys specifically asks her not to do as soon as he turns his back. I didn't care. I still enjoyed it.My only complaint is that the book is written in 1st person which I generally dislike (though not as much with this book) and, at 240 pages, it is too short. I wanted more, more, more! At least another 50 pages or so and more Lourdes, Rhys, Vaughn, Henri, Armand, Bram, etc. Yes, I am definitely hooked on Araneae Nation and am definitely reading book 2A Feast of Souls (Araneae Nation), and the novella that just came out,A Cast of Shadows (Araneae Nation).