In other words, if you can get around the fact that there's a certain amount of smut and boning, what you've got here is your basic lo-budget Tolkein-ripoff, D&D style adventure.
And to a woman with a not-so-secret dork past, it was actually a cracking fun read. Oh, sure it was chockablock with rangers and bards and witches and barbarians and twisted evil fallen monk medics (Seriously, Helebore was totally Chaotic Evil) but if you have recovered from your adolescent binges on the Dragonlance series, then you can appreciate this book for what it is. A pretty good adventure novel with a bit of magic, a bit of oddly overwrought sex, and above-average writing. Seriously, for actual quality of storytelling and general wordsmithery, "Glenna McReynolds" if that is her name, is a pretty solid hitter. Not quite Robin Hobb, but a solid step above what I'd expected, which was essentially Dragonlance with naughty bits. So, basically Piers Anthony, minus the puns.
I'll freely admit to a sordid D&D-playing past, but I can't say I ever played dirty D&D, though I've heard tell of naughty nerds who did. I will say that I kept sniggering as I was reading and thinking about having to roll against THAC0 for intimate penetration.
Anyway, on to the story. Ceridwen was betrothed to an insane warlord, escaped, was savaged by an even insaner barbarian, and was then entrusted to the care of a Danish ex-crusader who knew healing. The "mage," Dane sets her ankle, salves her wounds, and teaches her how to make fireworks. Literal fireworks, not the sort one supposedly views whilst orgasming.
That comes later.
Pun intended.
See what even thinking of Piers Anthony will do to a person?
Depravity. Depravity, I tells ya.
Oh yeah. Plot. So, inevitably Dain, the mage and Ceridwen, the maiden fall in love and shit. A bunch of mysterious forest people who turn out to be elves require Dain's agnosticism to complete a ritual. While Dain is out in the woods being a ritual demon for a bunch of Elves for a fertility rite, Ceridwen breaks out of Dain's magical tower and finds him in the woods with the help of a friendly elf girl.
Oh, to backtrack a bit...Dain had been meant to heal Ceridwen up so that she could be delivered to her bethrothed madman, but they fell in love and all that. Dain's boss/protector Lord D'Arbois has promised Caradoc, the madman, that Ceridwen would be delivered for matrimony once her health was restored.
Caradoc and his insane priest Helebore think they require Ceridwen's blood to raise dragons. Also, there's a premium on her virginity.
Of course.
Anyway, back to the woods. With the help of Llyna, Ceridwen makes her way to the forest ritual, sneaks off with Dain afterwards, while they're both feeling rather feral and randy. They get all sorts of au natural out in the woods. Before the afterglow can dissipate, they and the elves end up being driven northwards to Caradoc's keep by D'Arbois's warriors, where they, the elves, a band of thieves, and other assorted rabble end up infiltrating the mysterious Balor Keep, which was once Ceridwen's ancestral home under the name of Carn Merioneth in happier days.
So, they break into the castle, steadily and incrementally kill off Caradoc's minions, and release a host of mystical worms into the caverns beneath the castle.
It is implied and insinuated that the worms may be larval dragons, but I expect one must pick up Dreamstone, the sequel to Chalice & The Blade, in order to find out.
I shouldn't admit to it, but I'm planning to add this to my library hold list for this weekend..
Well, I can't write about sexy books and hold out on ya, so here's the smutty stuff. There ain't a lot. One blowjob scene, one major sex scene. There's a fair amount of pants-heated longing going on throughout the novel, but nothing that's likely to knock your wig off.
