The Vanguard by T.A. Chase

[reviews_and_ramblings]

In a fantasy kingdom the second son of the king is also the Imperator of an army of two hundreds lovers. Rathian, the Imperator, is a young and handsome man, taught to be strong in battle but caring with his men. Only that for him it has to be only a special man, a Custos, that will be both his lover and his second in command. Rathian has yet to find this man.

When his army captures an enemy, Stakel, Rathian is stunned to find that he is badly attracted by this man. Stakel is a Consort, an elite of men sworn to serve and fight only their Queen. And the Queen uses them also as breeding animal. No matter to say that most of the Consorts are not keen to the Queen, and Stakel more than the other since he was kidnapped from his village when he was only a child and forced to become a Consort.

Stakel is a natural healer, he has the power to heal through the energy in his body. He is not a man who loves strategy and war. Probably if left to his village, he would be an healer. Now he finds out that his love for Rathian forces him to be also a warrior. Rathian instead is a natural leader, a man of strategy and has no problem to face the role fate has decided for him. He can be a good warrior, but also him needs the warm embrace of a lover.

Even if The Vanguard should be a book on war, I found it more a book on love. Rathian and Stakel as lovers steal the scene to Rathian and Stakel as Imperator and Second in Command. Plus there are also some funny moments (take in mind the God), even if they are balanced with lightly reference to tortures and similar (luckily not described in details). So in the end The Vanguard is a book about men in war which can appeal also to women who want to read about love.

The setting is a medieval one, and if not for the army of lovers and some paranormal events, this book could be a "pure" historical (apart the plenty use of water that unfortunately in medieval time is not so common... :-) )

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Cover Art by Anne Cain