Title: Valley of Silence
Series: Circle Trilogy
Author: Nora Roberts
Read copy: eBook (Kindle)
Published: October 31, 2006
Publisher: Berkley
ASIN: B000O76NDW
Her face, so pale when she’d removed her cloak, had bloomed when her hand had taken the sword. Her eyes, so heavy, so somber, had gone as brilliant as the blade. And had simply sliced through him, keen as a sword, when they’d met his...
In the kingdom of Geall, the scholarly Moira has taken up the sword of her people. Now, as queen, she must prepare her subjects for the greatest battle they will ever fight—against an enemy more vicious 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 now, she is ready to exact her revenge. But there is one vampire to whom she would trust her soul...
Cian was changed by Lilith centuries ago. But now, he stands with the circle. Without hesitation, he will kill others of his kind—and has earned the respect of sorcerer, witch, warrior, and shape-shifter. But he wants more than respect from Moira—even though his desire for her makes him vulnerable. For how can a man with an eternity to live love a woman whose life is sure to end—if not by Lilith’s hand, then by the curse of time?
My rating:
As the newly crowned queen of Geall, Moira carries the weight of her world on her shoulders. She knows that in a matter of days she'd lead her people into battle against the demons that could mean not only the end of her world, but all the other worlds as well. But while as the queen she should think of only her duty to her people, the woman thinks of her heart...And the man who captured it.
Cian had lived for nearly a thousand years, yet he'd never before felt what he feels for Moira. And never before he'd fought those feelings and impulses as he's been fighting them since the moment he's met her. But when it's she to make the first move, he's lost.
But there's no future for them. Not even if they make it through the battle. There can be no future for the queen of Geall and her vampire lover.
What an action-packed, emotional roller coaster ending to the trilogy this was. Everything they learned and trained for in the first two books, everything they've experienced and shared, led to this. To the final stand in the Valley of Silence against the vampire army led by Lilith, the demon queen herself.
It was bloody, gory, heart-wrenching...One word comes to mind—epic. Nora Roberts is a master painter with words and reading that last chapter, that last battle, it was like watching it on screen, in 3D. The sweat, the blood, the ash, the lightning as white and black magick battled, the clash of swords, the screams, the agony...
Masterfully executed, the final crescendo to the symphony spanning three books.
But as epic as the final battle and the road that led to it was, it paled in comparison to the romance at the heart of this last book, the romance that was hinted at since the beginning.
Since the start of it all, the main arc was all about choices. Hoyt's choice of traveling forward in time to gather the circle of six, Glenna and Cian's choice to join him, Moira and Larkin's choice to heed Morrigan and travel to another world, Blair's choice to become a team player, to chose happiness instead of loneliness, all of them choosing to go back to Geall and face Lilith in battle...
It were Moira and Cian's choices that drew this book forward, that gave her life, that gave her depth, providing balance to the darkness of the looming battle. They might not have much say in her becoming queen or falling for one another, but they chose to act on that love, despite the chasm between them. They chose to love and carve what little time they could for themselves even knowing they couldn't be together in the end. That's what makes their romance epically unforgettable. And it's their romance that makes this book and this entire trilogy memorable for me. The epitome of star-crossed, of epic romance that tugs at heartstrings and makes you shed a tear or two hoping and wishing for the impossible.
He kept her hand in his, then laid hers against his chest. "If it beat, it would beat for you."
Perfection.
5 stars, favorites, Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, paranormal, paranormal romance, shape-shifters, vampires
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