Jeffrey Overstreet, Cyndere's Midnight

Cyndere's Midnight

Jeffrey Overstreet

Waterbrook, Sep 2008, $13.99

ISBN: 9781400072538

To be or not to be is the question that Cyndere asks herself every day at the water ' s edge. The widow grieves the loss of her spouse Deuneroi. He was more than just her husband; they shared a common dream of trying to help the Beastmen. She struggles to live another day although she is the House of Bel Amica ' s heiress because she no longer dreams except for leaping off the top of the Stairway Rock. Besides losing her husband, the Beastmen who they wanted to assist killed him in cold blood.

Jordan the Beastman has heard of the enchantment of Auralia ' s Colors; his cursed tribe especially his three blood thirsty brothers think he is crazy as they hear nothing. To his chagrin, Jordan finds himself thinking of shades of consequences that he and his Beastmen do in their black and white berserker rages. When he meets the grieving Cyndere he sees first hand the impact on a person; adding to his guilt, she wants to help him rather than he her. Still confused, as his siblings prepare to attack the House of Abascar, he must decide whether to help Cyndere defend the place or join his brothers; the former feels foreign but right while the latter feels instinctive but wrong. Either way he chooses to ally himself will impact the kingdoms of The Expanse so that they will never be the same.

The ' Blue Strand ' sequel to ' The Red Strand ' thread (of AURALIA'S COLORS) is a wonderful fantasy starring a grieving widow with nothing to live for since her mate and with him their dream, was murdered until she meets Jordan. He gives her a renewal of faith by lifting off the hopelessness that engulfed her; she now has a reason to live. In some ways the confused Jordan is the more fascinating character as his world has changed from that of his siblings; whereas they think in terms of us and them; he understands complex interweaving colors of us, us, and more us. CYNDERE'S MIDNIGHT is an entertaining wonderful fairy tale.

Harriet Klausner