Title: Bloodring: A Rogue Mage Novel
Average Customer Review:
Number of Comments: 1 Rating(s)   1 Review(s)

Good read!

January 5, 2012
Reviewer: A reader from Toronto, Canada

Bloodring is told from the perspective of Thorn St. Croix. Thorn is a stone mage, the only one of her kind who is not confined to a mage community called Enclave. On the run, she must keep her identity a secret for fear of her life. If she is found by the Seraphs, who are angel-like beings, she will be sent back to the enclave where she faces certain insanity for she has a "gift" of mind reading her own kind, and thousands of minds get a little noisy. However, if she is discovered by the humans she hides amongst she faces death by stoning. When a temptingly attractive police officer named Thaddeus knocks on her door in the middle of the night to tell Thorn her ex-husband has been kidnapped, she must risk using her powers to find him, even with the fear of discovery looming over her.

There was a lot I enjoyed about the book. It's filled with a subtle eroticism, that crests and wanes as you're reading.
"I dragged my thoughts away from his muscled back and what it might look like naked if he lifted a bale of hay overhead. In summer. After a hard workout."
:) Okay, some of it's not so subtle. But there's this slow burn as you're reading it, that let's you experience Thorn's frustration as she's unable to fulfill her desire.

Faith Hunter 'draws' characters very well. She can paint a picture with words, which fixes them in your head very quickly. She has a wonderful way of expressing herself - I can't remember the last time I read the word 'pellucid' or 'susurration' in a novel. It adds to the sensuality of the storyline.

One of my concerns before reading the book was the religious content, I'm pleased that the seraphs in this world haven't validated any religion. And that there are some groups that believe the seraphs aren't angelic but alien in origin. I like the fact that we're given more than one possibility and no definite solution.
There are also inconsistencies in the world Hunter has built. For instance, horses are the most common form of transportation, but cell phones and television still exist. People rely on trading and salvaging to get basic necessities but the internet is still a flourishing avenue for trade. Also, the human's incendiary reaction to mages doesn't completely ring true. Thorn is in constant fear of being discovered, and if captured expects to be raped and tortured before meeting a grizzly demise. That doesn't seem consistent with a world trying to rebuild itself after cataclysmic events, but then again that might be too idealistic.

Nevertheless, the world Hunter has wrought is an intriguing one. Deft characterizations, realistic dialogue, and excellent plot pacing combine to create a story that is both gripping and believable.