Valley of Silence by Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts presents the electrifying conclusion to her powerful new trilogy. In the kingdom of Geall, the scholarly Moira has taken up the sword of her people. As queen, she must prepare her subjects for the greatest battle they will ever fight - against an enemy more powerful than any they have seen. For Lilith, the most powerful vampire in the world, has followed the circle of six through time to Geall. Moira also has a personal score to settle. Vampires killed her mother - and she is ready to exact her revenge. But there is one vampire to who she would trust her soul....

The final book in the Circle trilogy following on from Morrigan's Cross and Dance of the Gods, and ultimately the conclusion in the battle between the Circle of six and Lilith, the vampiress driven by greed or ambition to rule the world.

It's taken me a while, but I finally got around to read the concluding book in this trilogy a week or so ago, and I really did enjoy it. The six are now in Geall, making preparations for the final battle, where the fate of the world rests in their hands. Whilst Moira is helping to prepare her people for battle, she is also distracted by the feelings that she has for Cian, who is a vampire himself. Complicating their relationship is that Cian will live forever, or until he is staked in the chest, whilst Moira is very definitely mortal, and this is where the most conflict comes from.

I have seen written in a couple of places that these three books really read like one long 1000 page book, and I have to say that I agree with that sentiment. Within each book, including this one, there is a romance, but really the build up to the romance between Cian and Moira started in the previous books and without that build up would have felt quite rushed. The other thing that developed nicely through the whole three books was the relationships between the six - the friendships between the girls, the relationship between the wizard Hoyt and Cian....well all of the non romantic relationships really. Even with all the ominous tension in the book as the build up continued, it was great to see that there was room for humour with the story - for example when Larkin punches Cian - not the smartest thing to do to a vampire one would think!

There were some very creepy moments within this book in particular - and even the strange relationships between Lilith and her followers was explored quite fully - especially her relationship to Davey, the little boy vampire that she has adopted as her own.

In the end, the resolution was well done, and all three books were good to read - maybe not as good as some of the other Nora Roberts books I have read, but still very readable. Nora Roberts' first foray into the full world of paranormal romance was a good one, and if she writes more I will be sure to read them!


Rating 4/5

Other Blogger's Thoughts:

Passion for the Page

Dance of the Gods by Nora Roberts

As the circle of six prepares for its final clash with the dark army of the vampire Lilith, the battleground shifts. In Ireland, a stone circle serves as the portal to another land and an ancient time. To complete preparations and round up forces to fight, the circle travels through time to Larkin's world, where Blair Murphy must choose between battling her overwhelming attraction to him - or risking everything for a love that can never be.

It's interesting to me how you can read a book, finish it and grade it, but then later think "why did I give it that grade". For me, this is one of those books. I finished reading it on Christmas Day, and graded it as 4 out of 5, which is a pretty good grade really. And that is fair enough because it was a pretty good read. Can you hear the but coming??

But here's the thing - the events of this book are completely fuzzy in my mind after less than three weeks, which normally doesn't happen. If I apply myself I can remember what happened but it does take a little bit of effort on my part. So if I was going to be grading this book now, I would probably rate it about a 3.5 as opposed to a 4.

To start with the romance - whilst it was obvious that the romance was coming the onset of the relationship between Blair and Larkin seemed really, really quick to me. There didn't seem to be enough build up between the two of them. I did enjoy some of the humour, like Larkin's addiction to Coke....know that feeling well!!

As individuals I didn't really empathise with Blair's daddy issues, so found her a little difficult to understand. Loved Larkin though. The idea of him being able to shape shift at will into creatures like dragons was very cool.

I thought that some of the ideas that were presented in respect of the enemy Lilith were quite interesting, and I am keen to see where some of them lead.

I did enjoy the tension that is building up between Cian and Moira. After all this time I am number 3 on the hold list at the library for Valley of Silence, and I am looking to see how this series gets resolved.

Overall, this was an entertaining enough read, with a good lead in to the third and final book in the trilogy, but it hasn't left a terribly strong lasting impression.

Rating 4/5

Morrigan's Cross by Nora Roberts

As a storm rages, the tale of a powerful vampire's lust for destruction-and of the circle of six charged by the goddess Morrigan to stop her-begins. One of the chosen is a medieval sorcerer whose quest will take him through time-and into the arms of a woman courageous enough to link her destiny to his own.

This book is Nora Robert's first foray into full-on paranormal romance, although there have been a few books that have had paranormal elements. In a way it would seem that she hedged her bets a little by having several different types of paranormal characters involved in this trilogy. There is a vampire, a witch, a wizard, a shapeshifter, a vampire hunter and a queen of a faraway realm.

Much of the first part of this book is spent in bringing five of the six central characters together, with the assistance of a god, Morrigan. Hoyt is the wizard. With the assistance of Morrigan, he is drawn to modern day New York in a search for his brother Cian who was turned into a vampire hundreds of years before. Cian is somewhat jaded as a vampire - no longer relying on human blood to survive, and having amassed quite a fortune over the years. Whilst in New York he meets Glenna, the witch. With there traditionally being a lot of distrust between witches and wizards, Hoyt and Glenna must find a way to work together, especially as their attraction grows stronger and stronger, as does their magic.

When the action moves to Ireland, the warriors who are gathered start training for the fight of their lives - against the queen vampire, Lilith, who coincidentally is the vamp who turned Cian. Lilith is the antithesis of all that is good - she wants to increase her own power by basically destroying the world. Joining them in Ireland are two more warriors who have been called to the battle by Morrigan who come from Geall, a realm that exists in a different world to our own.

As the six who are gathered start training and working together for the upcoming battles there is love and loss, new friendships to be built and several worlds to save.

As usual, what Nora does well is the developing relationships - between brothers, between new friends, between burgeoning lovers. I did feel as though there were parts that were a bit unevenly paced throughout this book - very dialogue heavy in parts where Hoyt needs to convince firstly Cian and then Glenna to accompany him and the magnitude of the task but in the end it is a satisfying read with well written characters.

Whilst I wouldn't say that this book is an exceptional read, it was certainly entertaining and I definitely will be following this series through to it's conclusion!

Rating 4/5