The Eternal Autumn Vaelandrian Goddesses Book 2 edition by Cassandra Duffy Literature Fiction eBooks
Download As PDF : The Eternal Autumn Vaelandrian Goddesses Book 2 edition by Cassandra Duffy Literature Fiction eBooks 
Time has frozen. The leaves of autumn refuse to fall, frost clings to the ground, and the last harvest took place more than a year ago. Vaelandria is gripped by the Eternal Autumn, and some say it is the end of days. Starvation and madness spread across the countryside even as corpses climb from their graves, goblins raze villages, witches fly through the darkest nights, and ghosts rise to haunt the living.
As many have come to believe the child of three Goddesses is the source of the Eternal Autumn, Calista and Harper struggle to protect their fated daughter from unseen enemies. They flee to the Valley of the Hallowed Harvest where the Eternal Autumn is celebrated as a holy sign only to find the citizens of the valley are every bit as dangerous as those they thought to escape.
In the war torn north, the Dagger Falls Company is hired to discover the source of the Eternal Autumn and hopefully end it. Led by Sofea, the former North Wind Valkyrie, the company takes to the road in hopes of gleaning answers from the Thief Queen of Griffon’s Rock, the mystical Ogre of the orchards, and a long-dead dragon. Unlikely aid for their impossible task comes from an escaped Cyclops bear, a flirtatious Brownie bandit, and a sarcastic Witch of the Nightshade Coven.
Amid the insanity sown by the Eternal Autumn, assassins skulk through the night, mask-wearing cultists roam the forests, and divine powers tear at the very fabric of reality. While the world decays under the sinister beauty of the Eternal Autumn, Calista and Harper slowly unravel the mystery to find frozen time is a harbinger of something far worse.
A 2013 Visibility Awards finalist for best book on AfterEllen.com!
The Eternal Autumn Vaelandrian Goddesses Book 2 edition by Cassandra Duffy Literature Fiction eBooks
I finished this book in December and this review is shamefully late. That can partly be blamed on alternating bouts of laziness and being very busy, but a large part is that I was so impressed by this book that I barely knew where to start, combined with the desire to write a review that does it the proper justice it deserves. And boy does it deserve it. Cassandra Duffy is entering rarified air for me and is now right there in the company of my favorite authors.She's just good. Her imagination is fantastic and her voice is now incredibly confident. Her books are fun, lets state that from the start, but more and more there is a depth of emotion and inteligence. Concepts of womanhood, motherhood and feminism flow throughout Eternal Autumn making the story fuller in your mind and heart and that's what makes me so impressed. Because you can focus solely on the surface if you want and it's an engaging, darkly funny and sexy adventure with strong, lesbian heroines and that by itself is a must read as far as I'm concerned. But when you add in the depth and layers it becomes one of the best fantasy books I've read in several years.
The story follows two separate groups this time, Harper and Calista trying to find a safe home for their daughter on the one hand and Sofea and her new companions trying desperately to catch up to them on the other. Both groups journeys have their own tone and emotional arc. Sofea's start out with more fun before getting darker and more desperate as her and her companion's inexperience catches up to them. Harper and calista travels have a gloomy pall over them from the start that persists until they can finally work through the emotions that pull them in different directions and threaten to fracture their unique, beautiful family.
I really liked Sofea coming into her own as a warrior. Her travels brought her to several strange places and saw her in over her head a lot. But she never lost her fight. More interesting and important to me were the Harper and Calista parts. I am very glad they had issues to deal with. At the end of Divine Touched it felt like Harper was hiding from some painful truths about who Calista was as a person and she needed to face them for their relationship to have any chance of success. At the same time, it's not all on Harper. Calista was not presented as infalible. And really, you just generally have to root for Harper more seeing as how she's not a murdering assassin. Calista though, had a powerful internal journey of trying to find out if she can accept her new life as a wife and mother. It's a place she never planned to be and the answer to whether she can make it work or not is very much up in the air.
Things build and tension grows steadily, making this an incredibly tense story for most of it's running. When the tide turns though, a powerful elation came over me. All the credit to Duffy for her excellent pacing. This is a longer than average book, but it never once dragged for me. I only wanted it to continue on. And that's as high a praise as a book can get, isn't it?
The ending leaves things in an unexpected place. A place that made me ache to know what happens next. It is a middle book and so naturally things will end without the resolution we want. Still it was very a very interesting place to leave things with a mixture of equal parts hope and longing.
I have a lot of dissatisfaction with how authors are categorised these days. And it's especially galling when a writer is as talented as Duffy is. Publishers and mainstream critics think she's niche. A "lesbian" author if you will. And that somehow makes her books less legitimate and sorted away from other high fantasy and science fiction. But then is George R.R. Martin a "hetero" author? Give me a break. Duffy is a great, imaginative writer period. Her life experiences pull her a certain direction and her heroines happen to be lesbians, but that doesn't make her books any less profound or well written. I want to see her shelved beside writers like Martin and Lois McMaster Bujold someday. She deserves all the success in the world.
So to sum up, if you're a fan of inteligent, exciting, feminist and downright sexy fantasy you need to check this out. The battles are intense. The humor made me laugh all the way through. And the relationships were moving and believable. I loved my time in Duffy's world and can't wait to go back. I'm not sure if the next book will be the last with these characters, but I really, really hope it won't be the last in this wonderful fantasy setting. I think it's ripe for more stories with as many strong, interesting women as Duffy can create.
Product details
|
Tags : The Eternal Autumn (Vaelandrian Goddesses Book 2) - Kindle edition by Cassandra Duffy. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Eternal Autumn (Vaelandrian Goddesses Book 2).,ebook,Cassandra Duffy,The Eternal Autumn (Vaelandrian Goddesses Book 2),Day Moon Press,FICTION Lesbian,FICTION Fantasy Epic
People also read other books :
- Naturally Occurring Organohalogen Compounds A Comprehensive Update Gordon W Gribble 9783211993248 Books
- The Little Clock House on the Green A Heartwarming Cosy Romance Perfect for Summer Whispers Wood Eve Devon 9780008212179 Books
- ELVIS PRESLEY THE KING'S FIRST BIG SCORE AT SUN STUDIO eBook James Bankes
- Stress Pattern eBook Neal Barrett Jr
- The Pilgrim Progress Part II By John Bunyan Illustrated John Bunyan 9781520811284 Books
The Eternal Autumn Vaelandrian Goddesses Book 2 edition by Cassandra Duffy Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
Reading anything by Cassandra Duffy is such a treat. I get the warm fuzzies every time I sit down with one of her books. There's none of those restless moments -- no skimming -- where I have to stop and wonder where I am, or where this is going, or who the heck these people are. That's because Cassandra writes with such conviction and purpose, I know I'm just going to surrender the reins and sit back and let her do all the driving and heavy lifting. Even in these fantastic settings, her characters are real, they matter, and the world they inhabit has substance and consequence.
And her books are fun!
I said it in my review of the last book, Divine Touched, and it remains true with this one I'm in awe of her ability to balance humour with real drama and action -- and romance (and thank goodness for that). I know this is not easy. While I'm forever smiling, often snickering while reading, the book never becomes silly or slapstick. It's the opposite. It becomes even more real.
More people need to discover the amazing talent that is Cassandra Duffy. If you haven't already read Divine Touched, do yourself a favour, and do so now.
Let me first say that if you haven't read the first installment of this series, "Divine Touched", then please do so because it's a fun-filled tale of knights, mystical beasts, epic battles, magical mysticism, a mischievous pantheon, and a wonderful love story involving Harper and Calista. "Eternal Autumn" continues the story of the Dagger Falls Company in two story plots - Harper and Calista trying to make their new marriage and motherhood work, and Sofea, Wendy, and River (all three new members of the DFC) trying to catch up to rejoin Harper and Calista in helping them solve the mystery of why autumn never seems to end. The book description summarizes nicely so I'll dispense with my own synopsis. While this book offers much of the same characters from the first book that is where it departs in similarity. "Eternal Autumn" probes deeply into the relationships of all the characters. Harper and Calista struggle to find their roles as mothers while trying to retain something of their former selves from what they were prior to marriage. Will their love survive after their whirlwind romance and the birth or their daughter granted by three goddesses? Meanwhile, we get to adventure along with Sofea who travels with Wendy, a witch hired by the patron of the DFC and River, a bandit turned compatriot, in their quest to catch up to Harper and Calista. Their adventure is full of humor, lover, passion, and mischievousness due to their young ages and inexperience as adventurers. Their dialogue caught me chuckling out loud several times. I loved this book because it was so different from the first book. The exploration and contemplation regarding love, passion, forgiveness, and trust left me thinking about it long after I was done reading. I can't wait for the next adventure!
I finished this book in December and this review is shamefully late. That can partly be blamed on alternating bouts of laziness and being very busy, but a large part is that I was so impressed by this book that I barely knew where to start, combined with the desire to write a review that does it the proper justice it deserves. And boy does it deserve it. Cassandra Duffy is entering rarified air for me and is now right there in the company of my favorite authors.
She's just good. Her imagination is fantastic and her voice is now incredibly confident. Her books are fun, lets state that from the start, but more and more there is a depth of emotion and inteligence. Concepts of womanhood, motherhood and feminism flow throughout Eternal Autumn making the story fuller in your mind and heart and that's what makes me so impressed. Because you can focus solely on the surface if you want and it's an engaging, darkly funny and sexy adventure with strong, lesbian heroines and that by itself is a must read as far as I'm concerned. But when you add in the depth and layers it becomes one of the best fantasy books I've read in several years.
The story follows two separate groups this time, Harper and Calista trying to find a safe home for their daughter on the one hand and Sofea and her new companions trying desperately to catch up to them on the other. Both groups journeys have their own tone and emotional arc. Sofea's start out with more fun before getting darker and more desperate as her and her companion's inexperience catches up to them. Harper and calista travels have a gloomy pall over them from the start that persists until they can finally work through the emotions that pull them in different directions and threaten to fracture their unique, beautiful family.
I really liked Sofea coming into her own as a warrior. Her travels brought her to several strange places and saw her in over her head a lot. But she never lost her fight. More interesting and important to me were the Harper and Calista parts. I am very glad they had issues to deal with. At the end of Divine Touched it felt like Harper was hiding from some painful truths about who Calista was as a person and she needed to face them for their relationship to have any chance of success. At the same time, it's not all on Harper. Calista was not presented as infalible. And really, you just generally have to root for Harper more seeing as how she's not a murdering assassin. Calista though, had a powerful internal journey of trying to find out if she can accept her new life as a wife and mother. It's a place she never planned to be and the answer to whether she can make it work or not is very much up in the air.
Things build and tension grows steadily, making this an incredibly tense story for most of it's running. When the tide turns though, a powerful elation came over me. All the credit to Duffy for her excellent pacing. This is a longer than average book, but it never once dragged for me. I only wanted it to continue on. And that's as high a praise as a book can get, isn't it?
The ending leaves things in an unexpected place. A place that made me ache to know what happens next. It is a middle book and so naturally things will end without the resolution we want. Still it was very a very interesting place to leave things with a mixture of equal parts hope and longing.
I have a lot of dissatisfaction with how authors are categorised these days. And it's especially galling when a writer is as talented as Duffy is. Publishers and mainstream critics think she's niche. A "lesbian" author if you will. And that somehow makes her books less legitimate and sorted away from other high fantasy and science fiction. But then is George R.R. Martin a "hetero" author? Give me a break. Duffy is a great, imaginative writer period. Her life experiences pull her a certain direction and her heroines happen to be lesbians, but that doesn't make her books any less profound or well written. I want to see her shelved beside writers like Martin and Lois McMaster Bujold someday. She deserves all the success in the world.
So to sum up, if you're a fan of inteligent, exciting, feminist and downright sexy fantasy you need to check this out. The battles are intense. The humor made me laugh all the way through. And the relationships were moving and believable. I loved my time in Duffy's world and can't wait to go back. I'm not sure if the next book will be the last with these characters, but I really, really hope it won't be the last in this wonderful fantasy setting. I think it's ripe for more stories with as many strong, interesting women as Duffy can create.
0 Response to "[LUW]⇒ Read Free The Eternal Autumn Vaelandrian Goddesses Book 2 edition by Cassandra Duffy Literature Fiction eBooks"
Post a Comment