Review: All heartbreak - no joy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 26, 2012
I gave this book 4 stars because, frankly, it's another beautifully written book about a world that I love. The author is absolutely a genius at writing about angst and heartache.I wish there had been a way to do 3.5 stars.The story is that of the cousins we've seen in previous books by this author: Eiren (the healer) and Ashrion (the jokester/playboy).Eiren is committed to his gift of healing - to the exclusion of pretty much everything else in his life. Ashrion is a second son who covers up his low self-esteem and lack of purpose with his joker and playboy image.This plot would work if we liked Eiren a little more -- he says he loves Ashrion, but his actions say otherwise. As a result, Ashrion acts out - sleeping with Eiren's old enemy. Naturally, Eiren finds out and rather than talking or dealing with Ashrion - he runs away for a year, responding to Ashrion's desperate communications with "you know what you have to do" -- which Ashrion interprets to mean "leave me alone."Events unfold which leave Ashrion and Eiren increasingly broken - both as people and in their relationship. Frankly, the only relief from this tragedy are the sections with other characters from the previous books -- and those passages are pulled verbatim from the previous books, for the most part. With no comic relief, the story is a complete downer.There is little appealing about either Eiren or Ashrion until Ashrion falls apart. He hits rock bottom and tries, vainly, to regain what he's lost with Eiren. Even at the end of the book, he's a broken man, constantly fearful that he'll lose Eiren again.Meanwhile, through it all, Eiren says he loves Ashrion, but there's no real evidence of that, imho. I never could warm up to Eiren or understand him.So, while I love the world and the previous books - I can't say that this story lives up to them.