The first thing that struck me when reading this book was the reversal of traditional fantasy roles. Usually you would expect the noble knight galloping to rescue the "hauntingly beautiful" runaway slave. Nothing of the sort here! We have a naked male slave trying to escape certain death at the hands of his captors, as he is an unwilling participant in a hunt. At the point when he starts to think that all is lost he is rescued by a mysterious woman on horseback.

The story that follows is packed with mystery, evil magic, unspoken pasts and a growing attraction between the two main combatants. Initially the tale seems quite straight forward but soon Val, the slave, is haunted by dreams of a past that isn’t his.

Gail McAbee has written a well-paced and enjoyable fantasy tale with a number of interesting ideas. At one point I began to wonder if this was the 1st book in a trilogy, as the conclusion did seem too distant to be reached in one novel, but at the end all storylines were resolved.

Hopefully this story will lead into further series of books as I am sure there are stories still to be told!