Review: Wonderful setting for a beautiful romance
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 8, 2011
The setting of this story is fantastic. Britain is a deserted land, where water is the most valuable commodity. In London an ominous machine is collecting all the clouds, leaving the rest of the land in drought. Asher is a mercenary with an artificial arm. When he awakes after being attacked, he meets Gabriel, who is like a beacon that Asher begins to follow.Their first bond is formed in battle, in the sharing of the blood of their enemies, and the fighting leads to sex. Asher's is the only point of view in the story, so we only see the irresistible effect of Gabriel's charisma on him, but Gabriel is special and when Asher and Gabriel arrive in Gabriel's hometown Windermere, we can see that Gabriel is more than what he appears, rites and superstition surrender him, the man is precious to his people. Slowly he becomes precious to Asher too.Although, as I said before, the story is told in Asher's point of view, we don't know much about him and his past. He remains the mercenary, the stranger, for the whole book. He keeps his emotions in check and he is even afraid of admitting his feeling for Gabriel to himself, so I really enjoyed when Gabriel teased him for his loss of control during their flight. What stays in my mind is this dark man with a mechanical arm, a cold, some times not well-functioning limb, that surrenders to Gabriel, to his generosity, energy and enthusiasm.The writing is very poetical, it weaves the images and the words and the story together, painting the world where the characters live through sights and sounds and feelings. It's a short story but there's a lot in it to enjoy.