Loading ...Night of Fire by Vonna Harper
Maia is a virgin maiden from an ancient world full of magic and old Celtic tradition. The world as she knows it is at risk as foreign priests have taken over much of the surrounding lands of Maia’s people and have proclaimed the Bel-fire customs to be the work of the devil. To save her people and their traditions, Maia travels forward into the future to find Taurus - a man of great power fated to save her people. She finds Taurus in Taron, a powerful businessman in a modern-day world fighting to save his company from legal attacks. A dalliance with Maia may be just what he needs to loosen up, though he doesn’t expect to jump through the fires with her at a modern Beltane festival and find himself in Maia’s world as a result. He certainly doesn’t expect to find himself fighting conflicting desires for both the woman and her people’s success and the success of his business back home.
Night of Fire is an entertaining story filled with intriguing imagery of Maia and her people. Taron’s perspective as a modern man forced to survive in an ancient world is interesting, especially considering the barriers provided by language and custom. Something as simple as “mating,” as Maia refers to sex, is rife with social custom and expectations in the modern world. For Maia, however, mating is a simple act of nature that serves to nurture the soil and encourage the land’s plentiful growth. The task of getting Taron to engage in sex with Maia is a difficult one, as Taron has spent years mired in the world of business and law where paternity suits run rampant. The last thing he needs is to create a personal mess to throw into his current entrepreneurial struggles.
Maia’s character is my favorite since she’s clearly set apart from the others in everything from knowledge to her physical form. She understands how much she will change once she is no longer a maiden yet she comprehends the importance of her journey. She is conscious of her desires and the needs of her people. It’s clear that she’s fairly young though very mature in many ways. I imagine some of this maturity is a result of facing the impending death of her people and customs, as loss is certainly a powerful motivator. Taron’s character, however, is fairly one-dimensional: he has his business plans and his skill-set as a leader, yet we don’t really get into his psyche much. On the bright side, he’s mostly consistent in his resistance and capitulation in regards to his relationship with Maia.
My major complaint with this story is in Taron’s easy agreement with Maia’s wishes and activities regarding anything magical. He agrees to jump through a ring of fire with a strange woman, only to find himself in another time. Instead of hemming and hawing to get himself returned immediately to his time, he goes along with Maia to meet her people. He participates in their customary activities and even resists arguing against those customs that he finds dangerous. This seemed out of character for him as a man used to focusing his attention on risk-assessment. Despite this, however, the story was put together well and there weren’t any glaring issues regarding the overall plot (other than what was mentioned) and organization. Because of these factors, I’m giving Night of Fire three and a half tombstones.
Book Stats:
To purchase an electronic copy of Night of Fire click here.
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...