Dragonfly by L.E. Bryce

[reviews_and_ramblings]

I remember that I liked Concubinage, I have always had a penchant for Sheikhs and related story, and the fantasy world of the Courtesans of Tajhaan by L.E. Bryce resembles a bit that genre, but I also remember that Concubinage was a bit sad, not exactly a love story, but more the life of two akhari, Inandre and Hanithi, who probably, outside that situation could have been lovers and instead are best friends, and probably the only steady point in each other life.

Inandre loves Hanithi, and the proof is that, when he is in dear need of comfort and the warm of someone who really cares, Hanithi is the only one he wants near him. But for how Inandre was raised, it's impossible for him to love another akharu, so impossible that he even considers it. Hanithi could be only a friend, and he is not the one who could resolve his immediate problem. Inandre was raised to be a lover, a companion, an artist, he doesn't know how to do anything else, and if he is not able to find a patron, he will be not able to survive.

Hanithi introduced Inandre to Shapur, a wealthy merchant, not the lesser nobility Inandre was used to frequent before the scandal that ruined his career, but Shapur is now is last chance. At the beginning of the novella, with the only point of view of Inandre and Hanithi, and the clear affection between them, I saw Shapur as an intruder in the possible love story between the two akhari. Then, when Shapur starts to behave a little better with Inandre, my idea of him changed, but still I was thinking and hoping for an end with Hanithi in some role in Inandre's life. But Shapur is a character who grows stronger with the story, and more I read of him, and more I put Hanithi in a corner; the author was so good to make me completely change my mind in the quite short span time of a novella. More, she was able to make me see Shapur from two different perspective: first the one of the akharu who was searching a new patron, and in a second time with the eyes of the lost boy that was Inandre, a boy who disappeared during his training, but that the bad experience he went through has brought him back.

And I was not expecting to find passion between Inandre and Shapur, I was content enough with the sweet and tender story they had, but I'm very glad that instead the passion was there, and that even if we read only about the sparkle, the reader knows that Inandre has a bright future in front of him, a future where he will be no more alone, and where he will be finally loved, as he has always desired, even if not admitted.

http://www.king-cart.com/Phaze/product=Dragonfly/exact_match=exact

Amazon Kindle: Dragonfly

Series: The Courtesans of Tajhaan
1) The Golden Lotus: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/185660.html
2) Concubinage: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/215228.html
3) Dragonfly

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Comments

[jans-intentions.livejournal.com]

That's a beautiful book. I like the premise and I'll be looking into this series. Thanks, Elisa.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I think you will like it; in a way, it's an old fashioned romance, even if it sounds strange to define it like that. But it really reminded me the "sheikhs" romance I was used to read. Elisa