In February 2006, acclaimed fantasy author Anne Bishop created the world of Ephemera and embarked on a journey about love, magic, corruption, and something evil called The Eater of the World. Synopsis: "Let your heart travel lightly. Because what you bring with you becomes part of the landscape." Long ago, to stop the onslaught of the Eater of the World, Ephemera was split into a dizzying number of strange and magical lands connected only by bridges that may take you where you truly belong, rather than where you intended to go. Now, with the Eater contained and virtually forgotten, the shifting worlds of Ephemera have been kept stable by the magic of the Landscapers. In one such land, where night reigns and demons dwell, the half-incubus Sebastian revels in dark delights. But in dreams she calls to him: a woman who wants only to be safe and loved--a woman he hungers for while knowing he may destroy her. But a more devastating destiny awaits Sebastian, for in the quiet gardens of the Landscapers' School, evil is stirring. The prison of the Eater of the World has weakened--and Sebastian's realm may be the first to fall....
The novel opens with the half-incubus Teaser telling Sebastian that "we found another one." Three weeks earlier, a Landscaper apprentice named Nigelle, in anger for not being promoted to Level One Landscaper, breaks into a deadly garden that contains a lone wall. She throws a brick against it and a crack forms, letting the Eater free. It (and the Eater is always referred to as It when we're in It's POV) kills one of the Landscaper teachers, Lukene when she attempts to mentally figure out why Glorianna Belladona, a former student who has been declared a rogue and rules her own lands for she can rearrange Ephemera by appealing to the world, is as powerful as she is and why the Landscapers and Wizards couldn't contain her in a small world to let her die. In another part of Ephemera, Lynnea is being treated horribly by her adoptive family and wishes she were with someone who loved her and cared for her. In the Den in Iniquity, Sebastian, Teaser, and a couple others try and figure out what could kill a woman and leave only bones and rags; Teaser fears it is Glorianna who is doing this but Sebastian knows that this kind of perverse evil isn't in his cousin. Sebastian leaves for the Wizard City and demands to talk to his Wizard father--who loves to berate him, among other things--and tells him that he fears that the Eater of the World is free, but his father dismisses the claim and fears, especially when Sebastian easily passes through a Wizard trap, that the Wizard side of his half-incubus son is waking up and that he'll be a threat.
It tries taking over the world, but Glorianna cleanses the Den of it's kind of evil and Lynnea runs away from her adoptive family because Sebastian told her in her dreams--where incubi and succubi provide pleasure for women or men--to come to him. She does and Sebastian feels that she doesn't fit into the Den, but nevertheless orders all the demons in the Den to leave her alone. The following day, he takes her to the Landscapers' School and finds the place full of dead bodies. It sent its pets to kill the Landscapers so It could be free to do what It wants. Sebastian and Lynnea use one of Glorianna's rocks that she left behind to teleport out and they run into Nadia, Sebastian's grandmother. When he returns to the Den, and after telling his cousin Lee--a Bridge--about the school, Glorianna and him talk, especially about Lynnea. Sebastian helps her settle in and eventually, she starts working in the tavern owned by Philo while Sebastian comes to terms with his growing Wizard powers, which fully manifest themselves when two pure incubi and succubi try and force the Den and Sebastian to bow to their will. Sebastian declares himself the Den's Justice Maker and kills them.
Fearing rumors of Sebastian and Glorianna, It demands its old followers, the Dark Ones, find a way to kill Glorianna and Sebastian. The Dark Ones use Koltak, Sebastians father, to do this. Koltak lures his son out of the Den and the Dark Ones leave a note for Glorianna to come and perform Heart's Justice on Sebastian, but it's a ruse to lure her out so they can kill her. Glorianna takes Lynnea and Lee with her and performs Heart's Justice, hoping that Lynnea will follow her heart and rescue the beaten Sebastian--who believes he is of no worth to himself or the citizens of the Den of Iniquity--because if Heart's Justice takes him to the Dark Place where Glorianna's sending the Dark One, he'll never come back. Lynnea holds onto Sebastian and the two of them end up outside a cottage near Nadia while a few of the Dark Ones are banished to It's lands. The others are revealed to be pure incubi. They throw a remorseful Koltak in with a savage succubus as a reward for helping them see who Belladonna is and the succubus promptly uses him for sex until he dies, or rather implies that he dies; it could go either way. In the end, It retreats to a distant land filled with slight dark emotions and urges them to darker ones.
All in all, a great opening novel to a so-far great story. Can't wait to see where it all goes in Belladonna, the second novel in the Ephemera series. Great characters, wonderful prose, and a fantastic story that'll have you on the edge of your seat for the entire ride. If you don't mind some bouts of erotic romance, that is.
The novel opens with the half-incubus Teaser telling Sebastian that "we found another one." Three weeks earlier, a Landscaper apprentice named Nigelle, in anger for not being promoted to Level One Landscaper, breaks into a deadly garden that contains a lone wall. She throws a brick against it and a crack forms, letting the Eater free. It (and the Eater is always referred to as It when we're in It's POV) kills one of the Landscaper teachers, Lukene when she attempts to mentally figure out why Glorianna Belladona, a former student who has been declared a rogue and rules her own lands for she can rearrange Ephemera by appealing to the world, is as powerful as she is and why the Landscapers and Wizards couldn't contain her in a small world to let her die. In another part of Ephemera, Lynnea is being treated horribly by her adoptive family and wishes she were with someone who loved her and cared for her. In the Den in Iniquity, Sebastian, Teaser, and a couple others try and figure out what could kill a woman and leave only bones and rags; Teaser fears it is Glorianna who is doing this but Sebastian knows that this kind of perverse evil isn't in his cousin. Sebastian leaves for the Wizard City and demands to talk to his Wizard father--who loves to berate him, among other things--and tells him that he fears that the Eater of the World is free, but his father dismisses the claim and fears, especially when Sebastian easily passes through a Wizard trap, that the Wizard side of his half-incubus son is waking up and that he'll be a threat.
It tries taking over the world, but Glorianna cleanses the Den of it's kind of evil and Lynnea runs away from her adoptive family because Sebastian told her in her dreams--where incubi and succubi provide pleasure for women or men--to come to him. She does and Sebastian feels that she doesn't fit into the Den, but nevertheless orders all the demons in the Den to leave her alone. The following day, he takes her to the Landscapers' School and finds the place full of dead bodies. It sent its pets to kill the Landscapers so It could be free to do what It wants. Sebastian and Lynnea use one of Glorianna's rocks that she left behind to teleport out and they run into Nadia, Sebastian's grandmother. When he returns to the Den, and after telling his cousin Lee--a Bridge--about the school, Glorianna and him talk, especially about Lynnea. Sebastian helps her settle in and eventually, she starts working in the tavern owned by Philo while Sebastian comes to terms with his growing Wizard powers, which fully manifest themselves when two pure incubi and succubi try and force the Den and Sebastian to bow to their will. Sebastian declares himself the Den's Justice Maker and kills them.
Fearing rumors of Sebastian and Glorianna, It demands its old followers, the Dark Ones, find a way to kill Glorianna and Sebastian. The Dark Ones use Koltak, Sebastians father, to do this. Koltak lures his son out of the Den and the Dark Ones leave a note for Glorianna to come and perform Heart's Justice on Sebastian, but it's a ruse to lure her out so they can kill her. Glorianna takes Lynnea and Lee with her and performs Heart's Justice, hoping that Lynnea will follow her heart and rescue the beaten Sebastian--who believes he is of no worth to himself or the citizens of the Den of Iniquity--because if Heart's Justice takes him to the Dark Place where Glorianna's sending the Dark One, he'll never come back. Lynnea holds onto Sebastian and the two of them end up outside a cottage near Nadia while a few of the Dark Ones are banished to It's lands. The others are revealed to be pure incubi. They throw a remorseful Koltak in with a savage succubus as a reward for helping them see who Belladonna is and the succubus promptly uses him for sex until he dies, or rather implies that he dies; it could go either way. In the end, It retreats to a distant land filled with slight dark emotions and urges them to darker ones.
All in all, a great opening novel to a so-far great story. Can't wait to see where it all goes in Belladonna, the second novel in the Ephemera series. Great characters, wonderful prose, and a fantastic story that'll have you on the edge of your seat for the entire ride. If you don't mind some bouts of erotic romance, that is.
