About the book:
Golden Daughter by Anne Elisabeth Stengl
Tales of Goldstone Wood: Book 7
Rooglewood Press
BEYOND THE REALM OF DREAMS
IS A WORLD SHE NEVER IMAGINED.
Masayi Sairu was raised to be dainty, delicate, demure . . . and
deadly. She is one of the emperor’s Golden Daughters, as much a legend
as she is a commodity. One day, Sairu will be contracted in marriage to a
patron, whom she will secretly guard for the rest of her life.
But when she learns that a sacred Dream Walker of the temple seeks the protection of a Golden Daughter, Sairu forgoes marriage in favor of this role. Her skills are stretched to the limit, for assassins hunt in the shadows, and phantoms haunt in dreams. With only a mysterious Faerie cat and a handsome slave—possessed of his own strange abilities—to help her, can Sairu shield her new mistress from evils she can neither see nor touch?
For the Dragon is building an army of fire. And soon the heavens will burn.
But when she learns that a sacred Dream Walker of the temple seeks the protection of a Golden Daughter, Sairu forgoes marriage in favor of this role. Her skills are stretched to the limit, for assassins hunt in the shadows, and phantoms haunt in dreams. With only a mysterious Faerie cat and a handsome slave—possessed of his own strange abilities—to help her, can Sairu shield her new mistress from evils she can neither see nor touch?
For the Dragon is building an army of fire. And soon the heavens will burn.
My review:
Masayi Sairu is Golden Daughter,
one of the most dangerous and secret weapons of her emperor. Trained to spend
her life protecting a patron disguised as a husband, Sairu takes her future
into her own hands and finds herself caught up in something far larger than she
could ever imagine.
Sairu is such a big, powerful
heroine packed into a tiny package. She is full of humor, skill and a smile
that can freeze enemies in their tracks. Her companionship with Eanrin felt
natural and flowed off the pages. Sunan is a character that is not new and yet
completely different from the Sunan readers will be familiar with. I enjoyed
seeing Sunan’s origins and hope to see more of him in the future. Jovann is a
new hero to Goldstone and I fell in love with him. He is a kind and peaceful soul
internally at war with his upbringing and family loyalties. Since childhood he has
had a connection to a certain songbird and must find his inner self and
strength to become his own man. Lady Hariawan is best described as empty. She
is almost completely devoid of emotion and has no sense of self preservation.
Her refusal to act has dire cost and I do not believe her tale in the Goldstone
is over just yet.
Epic has, for me, become synonymous
with the Tales of Goldstone Wood. Each
individual tale is interwoven with threads of biblical stories and well known
fairytales, without becoming just another retelling. I feel completely
comfortable going ahead and calling this my favorite read of the year! It is
packed with enough action and adventure for two books and the ever expanding
mythos of Goldstone wood becomes more alluring with each new novel.
***I received a copy of this book from the publisher
in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.***
