~ETERNITY~
Raven St. James and her
mother are accused of witchcraft one fateful evening, and summarily executed
in the center of their village. One man stood alone against their accusers,
trying to save them, but was doomed to failure in the face of so many.
Duncan Wallace never forgot his failure, nor could he forget the beauty that
touched his heart so in the space of a mere moment. Her vision haunts him
as if she were still alive and breathing even today.
But Raven is alive and breathing, and Immortal High Witch who is now
immersed in the struggle for her very life as she flees from the mortals who
would kill her out of fear and the Dark Ones who would take her very heart
in order to prolong their own evil lives. Her flight lands her in America,
where she and Duncan finally meet again and consummate their love all to
briefly before he is killed trying to save her from a mob once again.
Having sacrificed himself to save another witch, Duncan will be reborn as an
Immortal High Witch one day. If it takes an eternity, Raven will wait for
him.
Having read some of Maggie Shayne’s previous work, I expected to love this
book. It had everything I wanted – an author whose work I admired, a plot
that intrigued me, and characters who piqued my interest.
What unnerved me in the story was the fact that it moves back and forth
between first person point of view and third person point of view. I am not
a reader who minds either one, and I rarely notice which voice a story is
written in, but having both in the same book was extremely distracting for
me, and made it difficult to really immerse myself in the book, no matter
how interesting the plot was.
Other than that, the plot stood up to my expectations, as did the character
building. Were it not for the issue I had with the book constantly
switching between first person and third person, I imagine I would have been
able to enjoy ETERNITY much more than I did.
All that aside, I am glad I read the book, as it provided a basis for the
later stories in this saga, which I was able to enjoy more from knowing the
history behind all of the characters.
~INFINITY~
After the defeat of the
Dark One who took the life of Arianna’s lover centuries ago, she discovers
the many secrets in his journals – among them the fact that an Immortal High
Witch whose heart has been taken can be revived by replacing their heart.
This knowledge brings Arianna hope she never dreamed of, and she sets off on
a journey to Nicodimus’ resting place, to attempt just such a resuscitation
herself.
It works. But Nicodimus has few memories upon waking, and those he has
brand her a betrayer to him.
As with the first book in this collection, I fully anticipated this being a
tale I would adore. Also like ETERNITY, I enjoyed the plot
and characters in INFINITY immensely.
While it was not quite as prevalent as in the previous story, INFINITY
also switched between first person and third person point of view, which
disrupted the flow of the story and made it impossible for me to lose myself
in it. I will say that there was less of this in INFINITY
than there was in ETERNITY, however.
As with the preceding tale, I wouldn’t recommend missing this story if you
are planning to read those that follow INFINITY in this saga.
Reviewed by Jennifer
