Jane Routley – Romantic Fantasy
© Evelyn Keys
That is perhaps a little bit misleading. Routley's fist book 'Mage Heart' is a captivating little story, and brilliant for a first effort. The love story is essential but it's not in the least bit predictable, as some can tend to be. In fact it's as far from predictable as possible. The story line is neatly constructed and there's a definite sense from the beginning that there will be a twist.
A young woman is the only female mage in her adopted homeland of Gallia. When her foster father dies she's left in an all-male mage college, no surprises there. Dion finds herself completely useless in a world where 'equal rights' is unthinkable. Little Dion finds herself taking hazia - you guessed it some sort of hallucinatory drug - and that's what leads her to her first encounter with the demon curiously named Bedezzar.
The story picks up from here. I must admit I found her a little bit to angst ridden, but I guess she is a teenager, however long self-doubting monologues can make for a dreary read. However 'Mage Heart' is saved by a number of questionable but eventually likeable characters - even the prostitutes.
A bit of romantic fantasy with a great twist at the end. Necromancers, magic, demons with very large genitalia, prostitutes and healers, it's all there. The end might leave you a little deflated if you're a true romantic, but the wrongs of the first are righted in the second. Another gripe is the suddeness of the conclusion. Routley wanders easily through scenes in the beginning but there is a change in her style near the end, which sees a conclusion reached more quickly and without the care for detail throughout the rest.
There's a sequel. Routley's writing improved immeasurably in 'Fire Angels'. It's bigger and better with plenty of demons. It begins a little slowly, but if you stick with it, you'll soon be turning the pages avidly waiting for the next demon appearance.
So many books have too much good, and the 'dark side' so to speak is more akin to a toddler with a temper tantrum as opposed to a really nasty evil entity. Here we have nasty. In 'Fire Angels' we find Dion a few years older, and a bit wiser, and finally in touch with the family she didn't really know. Dion goes home. Not to Gallia, but her real family's home, to find that she's got a purpose. Dion's on the side of good, so it's not surprising she's off to battle the necromancer. On the way she meets demons, a lover or two, and some pretty nasty politics.
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