reviews_and_ramblings | Pendant of Fortune by Kyell Gold

Pendant of Fortune is the sequel of Volle, the first book about the adventures of a fox spy in a medieval anthropomorphic fantasy world. The previous book ended with Volle, a spy from Ferrenis who managed to insinuate inside the royal palace of Tephos, feigning to be the lost son of one of their aristocrats. During his previous adventures, Volle fell in love with a young cougar who was killed; apart this brief romance, Volle is more a love them and leave them type of fox, he doesn't discriminate on the breed, only on the genre: he prefers his bedmate to be males. For duty, but not for pleasure, he procreated a cub, but the mating itself is an experience he prefers to forget.

Between Volle and Pendant of Fortune there is a novella, The Prisoner's Release, in which finally Volle meets his romance: his long-term enemy Dereath keeps in captivity Volle for five months, and then sends inside the dungeon a new type of torture, a beautiful white young male wolf, someone Volle can't resist... and he doesn't resist, but so does Streak, the young wolf, who falls in love with Volle, and helps him to escape. They spend some idyllic months in a country retreat till duty calls Volle again in Tephos.

Volle is quite comfort and happy living in a farm with Streak, but, truth be told, it's a bit boring. No excitement, no news... no possible new lovers! It's not that Volle doesn't like Streak, but he is not sure that he is ready to settle down with only one male. And so when presented with the chance to be again in action, Volle is more than willing to jump... but Streak is not ready to let him go! Volle decides to take Streak with him at Tephos, even if he knows that he will be more weak against his enemy. Because deep in his soul, Volle is a good boy, he cares for friends and family, he has not the hard core needed to be a real lethal spy.

The story is very well plotted, the duel between Volle and Dereath is enjoyable and with enough twists to take your attention high; plus there are also some funny supporting characters, like Nero and Archie, an anthropomorphic version of Sherlock Holmes and Watson. There is less sex than in the previous book, but what sex you have is more romantic: Volle is growing, and with that he has more wisdom... sex is no more a recreational activity. A little warning to the more skittish readers: there is also a rape scene, but fortunately it's brief and not very detailed... it's not gratuitous, it serves the plot.

A nice side note: Kyell Gold winks at the female readers of gay romance, when describes a funny event; while searching Volle's private rooms, the royal guards find some gay romance novels that become favorite reading of the female members of the court... Volle wonders what these females find of interesting in those gay romance... well, as a female gay romance reader, I can say that, while I found the previous book, Volle, interesting but with very few romance, Pendant of Fortune totally satisfies my romantic side.

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Amazon: Pendant of Fortune

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