$20.99
ISBN 1553165861
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Reviewed by Jean Roberta
(05/12/04)
According to the authors of these two fantasy novellas in one volume, "When we began our journey into Paradox, [we knew] we would stick with the two most important elements our readers enjoy: the aspect of the paranormal and romance."
Within the limits of "the paranormal" (fantasies about characters with superhuman abilities) and "romance" (heterosexual love stories with happy endings), both authors find fresh ways to bring their characters to the altar. Each story includes luscious and detailed sex scenes which dramatize the central relationship while advancing a suspenseful plot. The current volume repeats this formula (and the term is used with all due respect) as successfully as the first Paradox.
The continuity does not end there. J.C. Wilder's "Nova," the second novella in Paradox II, takes up the adventurous life of the older sister of Dani, the heroine of "Heart of a Raven" in the first Paradox. As in the first volume, the stories in Paradox II are set in a vaguely medieval world in which nature is both harsh and beautiful, and the social system is feudal. Both authors handle some grim subjects (imperialism and war crimes in "Adriana" and non-consensual slavery in "Nova") with a light-enough hand to satisfy romance readers.
When first shown, the heroines for whom both stories are named have every reason to distrust men and to avoid them as much as possible. Both stories raise the question of whether (and how) a self-sufficient woman who has been toughened by hard times can afford to give in to her attraction to a man, and whether attraction can (or should) lead to emotional commitment on both sides. The heroes of these stories also have reasons to be wary of strangers, since they have also been betrayed and abused.
In "Adriana," the title character is introduced to the reader as a priestess (or witch) who lives alone in the woods and watches for deserving victims: "Adriana had consecrated herself to Rache, the Goddess of Revenge, twelve years earlier. As a child of ten, she'd witnessed, with young and innocent eyes, the coming of the Astrians."
By a fluke, she escaped the massacre of her family and the destruction of her village by an army of these foreigners. Adriana has been raised by two older priestesses who taught her the ways of the forest, including a knowledge of healing herbs and water-magic: the ability to raise a mist or a fog, or to befog a human mind.
Could this solitary young woman learn to love a man, and an Astrian at that? Only if he is exceptional in several ways. When Mark of Windhawe wanders into her forest, Adriana is moved by his masculine beauty and by his apparent devotion to justice and good government. He seems unaware of the atrocities which have been committed in the name of the Emperor who has sent his investigators to the colony to set things right.
In a seduction scene based on mutual attraction and a credibility gap, Adriana offers sexual hospitality to her guest as the first step in her process of destroying the enemy. Mark, as a gentleman, asks her several times, "Lady, is this seemly?" He can't believe his good luck -- as, in fact, he shouldn't.
Adriana feels torn between desire and her religious mission of revenge:
"Her own heart raced at the prospect of his cock seated deep inside her. Why this sweet ache between her legs? And this wild yearning to feel his male force within her body? What matter? If need and duty met then obligation became sweet pleasure, and the sight of Mark of Windhawe, aroused male, was pleasure indeed."
Mark voluntarily swears that he will return to Adriana to become her mate, forcing her to choose between her original plan and one that seems fairer. Adriana chooses to protect Mark while giving him up, but fate has other developments in store.
While Mark learns how brutal the local Astrian enforcers really are, Adriana must decide whether her feelings of love, compassion, and respect for individual Astrians clash with her vow to her Goddess. One of the priestesses who raised her wisely advises: "'Go back to Rache, tend your goats, and think. The answer will come.'" The other priestess says: "'Your heart knows the direction...just look inward.'"
Eventually, Adriana and Mark both learn that "the sweetest revenge of all" is tolerance and love. It seems noteworthy, however, that a colonial government based on terror and torture has to be replaced before tolerance and love are possible.
In "Nova," a resourceful young woman who has endured years of slavery before buying her own freedom is determined not to give it up. When she wins a mysterious male captive in a high-stakes card game with a merchant and a slave-dealer, she decides to offer Kel, her new possession, a paid job as construction worker in rebuilding her old home before setting him free. Kel's brutal treatment at the hands of the money-hungry slave-dealer and his henchmen moves Nova to help him return to his home, but she does not want to lose her heart to any man.
As Nova explains to Kel: "...in the human world sex is about power. Men use the power of sexual attraction to control their mates while women use it to get what they want." She also asserts: "Men do not receive satisfaction in giving pleasure."
Kel, however, is not exactly a human man -- he is a sea-dweller, a kind of merman without a fish tail. He tells her that his kind is known for being "exceptionally sensual." He tells her: "I receive almost as much satisfaction from giving pleasure as receiving it. Obviously I receive physical pleasure from an orgasm, but I receive divine gratification from bringing release to a woman."
Kel's apparent superiority to every man Nova has ever known, combined with his obvious sexual attraction to her, persuades her to try him out as a lover. The emotional bond between them develops more slowly, as Kel learns about Nova's past, and both of them must overcome repeated threats to their freedom.
In short, these unpretentious stories for grownups are fun and convincing enough on their own terms. The promise of "happily ever after" is especially appealing in a time when such endings seem mighty rare in the real world.
