Ayla Nightshade has ruled Darkhaven for three years since the tragedy that tore her family apart. She has left her father’s cruel legacy behind and become a leader her people can believe in – or so she hopes.
Tomas Caraway is no longer a disgraced drunk; he’s Captain of the Helm and the partner of the most powerful woman in Darkhaven. He will do everything to protect Ayla and their adopted son against all possible threats.
But a discovery has been made that could have profound consequences for the Nightshade family. There is a weapon so deadly, it can kill even the powerful creatures they turn into. And now, that weapon has fallen into the wrong hands.
An assassin is coming for Ayla, and will stop at nothing to see her dead.
Love and fantasy
When Darkhaven came out, I wrote a bit about fantasy and crime and why I think the two genres blend well together. So now, with the release of Goldenfire, it's romance's turn. What is it about love and fantasy that makes them complementary to each other?
It's probably worth saying, first, that not everyone thinks romance has a place in fantasy. I've come across several readers who would rather their fantasy focused 100 percent on people hacking each other to death with swords and 0 percent on people falling in love. Each to their own. But in my personal opinion, romantic relationships are so intrinsic to humanity that to omit them is to fail to capture the very realism those fans of blood and gore are looking for.
Obviously, this isn't to say that every character should fall in love. If the characters in a book are a microcosm of the human race then some will be interested in romance and some not. Some in sex and some not. But leaving love out of the mix entirely seems just as extreme a position to take as putting the entire focus of the novel on it.
I don't write fantasy romance; the plots of my books aren't based around two people forming a relationship. Yet despite that, my characters do tend to fall in love – often despite themselves. And this is where I think love and fantasy blend well together, and for much the same reason as murder and fantasy: they are all about heightened emotions. Fantasy throws people into life-or-death situations. Often, literally or otherwise, the characters in a fantasy novel are in a permanent state of war – whether on a worldwide scale or a personal one. And it's a well documented fact that in wartime, people fall in love more quickly. When you think your life may end tomorrow, you fling yourself into it with far less caution.
Not only that, but I always say that fantasy is the perfect vehicle for exploring both the best and the worst that we as humans are capable of. And love in all its incarnations falls into both categories. Love can lead us to act with utter selflessness. It can cause us to perform great, earth-shattering feats, albeit for the most personal of reasons. Yet, twisted and distorted, it can also become obsession and jealous rage.
If one thing is certain, it’s that people are a bundle of contradictions. We’re capable of being concerned at one and the same time with very important, weighty matters – regaining a throne, locating a magical artefact, saving the world – and our own fragile hearts. Not only that, but the balance probably shifts far more towards the personal and less towards the truly altruistic than we’d like to admit. Love is a very powerful motivator. And not just romantic love, either: our feelings for our partners, siblings, children, friends have a huge effect on what we say and do.
Perhaps the outcomes of those important, weighty matters depend more on our fragile hearts than we care to think.
Darkhaven, 3 years later
Ayla Nightshade has been through so much and fought so many battles to take her right place as a ruler of Darkhaven.
She’s revered and feared while she’s trying to keep together a kingdom that was never meant to be hers.
The enemies are willing to do anything to remove her permanently and, now, they seem to have found the perfect weapon.
No one can be trusted and, until the hired assassin is found, Ayla is confined to her castle where she’s safer than anywhere else.
But, the mysteries haven’t all been solved and there are still secrets that will resurface, bringing more danger to an already dire situation.
Help will come from an unlikely ally who no one expected to step in and offer support.
This ranks among my favorite fantasy recently published series.
AFE Smith takes the readers on a journey in a world of fantasy where nothing is really what it seems, there’s a new mystery at every corner and the plot has enough twists and turns to keep you on the edge from beginning to end.
The writing style is really good making the story fast-paced and easy to follow.
I highly recommend Darkhaven to everyone who’s looking for a good Fantasy.
Just keep in mind that you have to start with volume one or it won’t make much sense and you won’t be able to enjoy the novels as you should.
Happy Reading!!
A.F.E. Smith is an editor of academic texts by day and a fantasy writer by night. So far, she hasn’t mixed up the two. She lives with her husband and their two young children in a house that someone built to be as creaky as possible – getting to bed without waking the baby is like crossing a nightingale floor. Though she doesn’t have much spare time, she makes space for reading, mainly by not getting enough sleep (she’s powered by chocolate). Her physical bookshelves were stacked two deep long ago, so now she’s busy filling up her e-reader.
What A.F.E. stands for is a closely guarded secret, but you might get it out of her if you offer her enough snacks.
