TEST
There were so many problems with this book, it’s hard to know where to start. For a change of pace, I’ll start at the end. The title says, “Book One of the Last T’En Trilogy”. I had a different expectation of what “trilogy” meant, because in most of romance series, the following books involve characters related to the ones presented in the first book. This is not the case with Broken Vows. The same hero and heroine introduced in this book will “star” in books two and three. What this means is those expecting a happy ending in a romance will be as extrememly disappointed as I was.
Tulkhan, General of the Ghebite army, has just conquered the Fair Isle of the T’En race. It was an easy victory because, after ruling for hundreds of years, the T’En had fallen into complacency. Theirs was a race of poets, philosophers, and intellectuals. All of the royal family is killed in battle, except the princess Imoshen. Tulkhan is determined to hold the island, and what to do with Imoshen is a dilemma for him.
Imoshen, 17 years old, with her red eyes, silver hair, mind and healing powers, and sharpened teeth, is considered a Throwback by her people. She is not considered a True-person, and therefore was forbidden to have a bond-partner. Because the original T’En intermingled with the people they conquered eons ago, very few of the pure T’En are born. Imoshen only knows of one other Throwback T’En, her second cousin, Reothe. By special dispensation from the church, they were betrothed since neither would be allowed to marry otherwise.
Imoshen is devastated by her family’s demise and is determined not to surrender to the conquering general. His race, the Ghebites, treat their women little better than slaves. The T’En women are leaders and warriors, equal with the men. However, after receiving counsel from the Aayel, the wise woman, Imoshen is directed to seduce the general and conceive a son. With the help of a potion and her T’En powers, Imoshen will become fertile at the end of 14 days and be able to choose the sex of the child. She can therefore bond the general to her, prevent her own demise, and ensure the safety of her people. The problem, of course, is that she despises the general, and he thinks she is little better than an animal.
The stage is set for a story that can be described by one line of Tulkhan’s, “He didn’t want to kill her, he wanted to claim her!” Ugh. There is no true emotion between Imoshen and Tulkhan other than hatred. They both consider each other as a means to an end. Imoshen can save her people by seducing the general, and Tulkhan will have the support of the population with Imoshen at his side. Imoshen also vacillates between lusting for Tulkhan, and her betrothed, Reothe, who can teach her how to use her T’En gifts.
Even after Tulkhan and Imoshen begin to trust one another, Tulkhan suddenly decides he really can’t trust her. Obviously, he believes, she has influenced him with her powers. From this point forward, he focuses all his suspicions on her powers, which gave the book a one-note quality. There were other problems as well. True-people were never fully explained, except to say that they were accepted while Throwbacks were not. Then there was Imoshen’s physical description, which reminded me of nothing so much as one of my pet ferrets. It didn’t help when, in one scene, she bit Tulkhan on the hand, his hand bled profusely and the bones were almost crushed. Definitely not romantic? The names were truly awful also. For example, if you put the right emphasis on Imoshen’s name, it turns into Emotion, and what about the name T’En?
The last and final hope that I had reading this book (other than a happy ending) was that the next one in the series would focus on Reothe, who could have been an interesting lead character. However, since Imoshen was still pining for him 3 pages from the end, it was obvious there was going to be a problem. The book ends almost exactly where it began, with Imoshen and Tulkhan suspicious and angry at each other. The author has set up the dreaded “love triangle” to slog through during the rest of the series. Frankly, I don’t care what their fate is, because I won’t be reading the next books!
Grade: F
Book Type: Fantasy Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 22/06/99
Publication Date: 1999
Related Reviews
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.