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A review by tita_noir
Harshini by Jennifer Fallon
4.0
Final book of the Demon Child trilogy.
R'Shiel (the Demon Child) accompanies Damin Wolfblade and his new wife, princess Adrina back to Hythria so that R'Shiel can help the Hythrians accept the unorthodox marriage and to cement an alliance between the Hythrians and the Fardonyhans. Once they arrive, people are awed by the Demon Child but dismayed by the marriage of the heir to their throne and the daughter of their enemy. While R'shiel, Damin and Adrina try to convince them all of the necessity of the marriage and the alliance, civil war breaks out and Damin must fight for his rightful place as High Prince.
Meanwhile the God Xaphista is not content to wait around to be killed by the Demon Child. He is busy planting doubt and attempting to suborn those closest to R'shiel to kill her first. R'Shiel is on her guard, not knowing where betrayal may come from.
And Medalon is a kettle ready to boil. Joyihinia, now possessed by the sadistic Lochlon is issuing orders that are subtly overturning centuries of Medalonian law. The Defenders are quietly preparing for rebellion and the Harshini may not be able to hold Sanctuary for long as King Korandellan is dying.
This series, which started less than stellarly for me, finished up quite nicely. This book was well written and quickly paced. I like that Fallon jumped from Hythria to Medalon to Fardonhya and back again so you could see what was going on in each place. She ratcheted up the tension very nicely.
As I reflected back over this series I couldn't help but compare it to other series (trilogies especially) that featured a central, pivotal female character. Elizabeth Moon's Deeds of Paksenarrion trilogy, Raymond Feist/Janny Wurtz's Daughter of the Empire trilogy, Elizabeth Haydon's Rhapsody trilogy and even Jennifer Fallon's own Wolfblade trilogy all spring to mind. I enjoyed these trilogies very much. And I can acknowledge, first book notwithstanding, that I enjoyed this Demon Child trilogy very much. However I know that my enjoyment of those other series was largely because i very much liked the main characters. Paksennarion, Mara, Rhapsody and Marla were all quite engaging and easy to root for. I can't say the same for R'Shiel. I actually had a very hard time with R'Shiel and instead gravitated to the secondary, yet infinitely more interesting Adrina. Rather than liking this series because of R'Shiel, I liked it in spite of her.
I do respect the fact that Fallon didn't go easy routes with R'shiel. In the end, R'shiel is a Godslayer. A very powerful person who affected great change in her time and place. So great that she basically united four warring regions and restored a persecuted, dying race back on the road to their former glory. Having accomplished all this it would be easy to give R'Shiel a nice, simple Happily Ever After. But she is denied that. Sure she triumphs and she is granted justice, but her road isn't the walk into the sunset that almost everyone else gets (even though, I think in the end R'shiel does literally walk away as the sun is setting...but you know what I mean). And I liked that very much. It felt very apropos.
Also while this book was overall a great read, it does lose a few minor points with me in it's portrayal of Marla. My impression of Marla is very much one that I formed reading the Wolfblade trilogy, which was written after this one. And I don't believe that the Marla she created in that trilogy would have reacted to Adrina the way she did in this book. I agree she would have been appalled at the political implications of Damin's marriage to Adrina, but the personal scorn of Adrina seemed out of character given how both of these societies view sexual relations. It just seemed to strike a discordant note with me considering how well she maintained continuity with Damin's character from one trilogy to the next.
R'Shiel (the Demon Child) accompanies Damin Wolfblade and his new wife, princess Adrina back to Hythria so that R'Shiel can help the Hythrians accept the unorthodox marriage and to cement an alliance between the Hythrians and the Fardonyhans. Once they arrive, people are awed by the Demon Child but dismayed by the marriage of the heir to their throne and the daughter of their enemy. While R'shiel, Damin and Adrina try to convince them all of the necessity of the marriage and the alliance, civil war breaks out and Damin must fight for his rightful place as High Prince.
Meanwhile the God Xaphista is not content to wait around to be killed by the Demon Child. He is busy planting doubt and attempting to suborn those closest to R'shiel to kill her first. R'Shiel is on her guard, not knowing where betrayal may come from.
And Medalon is a kettle ready to boil. Joyihinia, now possessed by the sadistic Lochlon is issuing orders that are subtly overturning centuries of Medalonian law. The Defenders are quietly preparing for rebellion and the Harshini may not be able to hold Sanctuary for long as King Korandellan is dying.
This series, which started less than stellarly for me, finished up quite nicely. This book was well written and quickly paced. I like that Fallon jumped from Hythria to Medalon to Fardonhya and back again so you could see what was going on in each place. She ratcheted up the tension very nicely.
As I reflected back over this series I couldn't help but compare it to other series (trilogies especially) that featured a central, pivotal female character. Elizabeth Moon's Deeds of Paksenarrion trilogy, Raymond Feist/Janny Wurtz's Daughter of the Empire trilogy, Elizabeth Haydon's Rhapsody trilogy and even Jennifer Fallon's own Wolfblade trilogy all spring to mind. I enjoyed these trilogies very much. And I can acknowledge, first book notwithstanding, that I enjoyed this Demon Child trilogy very much. However I know that my enjoyment of those other series was largely because i very much liked the main characters. Paksennarion, Mara, Rhapsody and Marla were all quite engaging and easy to root for. I can't say the same for R'Shiel. I actually had a very hard time with R'Shiel and instead gravitated to the secondary, yet infinitely more interesting Adrina. Rather than liking this series because of R'Shiel, I liked it in spite of her.
I do respect the fact that Fallon didn't go easy routes with R'shiel. In the end, R'shiel is a Godslayer. A very powerful person who affected great change in her time and place. So great that she basically united four warring regions and restored a persecuted, dying race back on the road to their former glory. Having accomplished all this it would be easy to give R'Shiel a nice, simple Happily Ever After. But she is denied that. Sure she triumphs and she is granted justice, but her road isn't the walk into the sunset that almost everyone else gets (even though, I think in the end R'shiel does literally walk away as the sun is setting...but you know what I mean). And I liked that very much. It felt very apropos.
Also while this book was overall a great read, it does lose a few minor points with me in it's portrayal of Marla. My impression of Marla is very much one that I formed reading the Wolfblade trilogy, which was written after this one. And I don't believe that the Marla she created in that trilogy would have reacted to Adrina the way she did in this book. I agree she would have been appalled at the political implications of Damin's marriage to Adrina, but the personal scorn of Adrina seemed out of character given how both of these societies view sexual relations. It just seemed to strike a discordant note with me considering how well she maintained continuity with Damin's character from one trilogy to the next.