House of the Swallows by L.E. Bryce

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Irdun is a whore in a up-class brothel. It would be not a bad life if not for the fact that the island where they live probably will soon destroyed by a vulcan, but the man who owns Irdun's doesn't want to leave the island and with him he forces all his whores to stay. Thissol is Irdun's favorite customer, a jewel smith: he has not much money but he is gentle and really in love with Irdun. He will be glad to pay for Irdun's contract, but doing so he will loose all his money and Irdun doesn't want that this happens.

The book is really short, 27 pages, and it consists mainly of two scenes, but there is also a little mystery: centuries later an archaeologist is visiting the ruin of Sombar, the island destroyed by a vulcan, and while he is approaching to the site where the brothel was, we read in the past of how Irdun is trying to leave that place... Will the young whore be able to save his life and running away with Thissol? or will he be one of the body that the modern archaeologist will find in the ruin of the brothel? The parallelism between past and present is really nice and follows the reader till the end, mounting an anticipation that will be free only at the very end.

Very nice short story, and as in other books I read by this author, when she is dealing with stories setting in this fantasy world with an arabian flavor, there is also more eroticism than in the other universe (the water lovers). I noticed that in this short story she simplified the plot, not using all the fantasy words I was used to: maybe, in this way, it's easier for who didn't read the previous books, understand a short story like this one.

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Amazon Kindle: House Of The Swallows

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