A Touch of Stone and Snow by Milla Vane

 

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After reading The Beast of Blackmoor, I immediately jumped into A Touch of Stone and Snow by Milla Vane. This is the second book in her series A Gathering of Dragons. Now, as mentioned before I planned to read this over the weekend since I had more reading time and I like to read these a little slower. I just don't want to miss any little detail and allow myself to get really immersed in her writing and world. However, I wasn't thinking and this took me longer to read since I wasn't able to read at all Sunday with preparations for our little party and my normal Sunday chores.

I don't know why I waited so long to get to these after reading A Heart of Blood and Ashes last year. I loved getting into this world even more and loved that the stories of the gods and world building is just continuing to expand. One of the things I love about Milla Vane's writing is that she doesn't make the world building or fantasy elements seems overwhelming. 

This book focuses on Lizzan and Aerix from the island Koth. Were moving north in the world and see them connect with the alliance party that was formed at the end of book 1. (Fun Fact: Milla's website has maps of the land!) Lizzan is a soldier that was wrongly exiled from Koth kind of by Aerix, the remaining prince (and bastard of the current king's brother). This is a second chance romance, which I'm not usually that fond of. I did love that Lizzan and Aerix couldn't stay away from each other. I also liked that it didn't take very long for Aerix and Lizzan to dicuss the circumstances of her exile and why Aerix didn't do more to stop it or go with her. I was kept guessing on what was actually going on with the plot. Plus we got a couple more of the Destroyer's seeds taken care of!

 It was absolutely perfect that I read the novella The Beast of Blackmoor before this book because there are a lot of references to the people and what happened. We also get a fun cameo from Shim, Mala's horse companion! What's fun is we also meet Mala's sister Laina as she starts her quest from Vala (and is the heroine of book 3). I also love the way that A Dance of Smoke and Steel is setting up and can't wait for it to come out later this year!

Another fun fact, Milla Vane was on the Wicked Wallflower's podcast and talked about her plans for this series. She wants to do 6 books, but in 2 trilogies so if she ends up stopping at 3, there's still some resolution. She also has mentioned on a blog post in late 2020 that the book will be twice as long. I can't wait! Like mentioned in my review of The Beast of Blackmoor, I've had it on preorder since it was able to be!

Have you read A Touch of Stone and Snow?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: A Touch of Stone and Snow, Milla Vane, 5-stars, 2 days, paperback, 398 pages, published 2020

The Beast of Blackmoor by Milla Vane

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After reading Radiance, I was fully into Fantasy Romance for FaRoFeb. I was debating to getting back into Milla Vane's A Gathering of Dragons series or continuing on with Grace Draven. Since it was Saturday, I figured I'd go with Milla Vane so I would have more time to devote to it in one sitting. Things didn't go as planned, but I'll talk about that more in my review of A Touch of Stone and Snow. Before jumping into book 2, I decided to read the novella as a primer to get me back into the world. The Beast of Blackmoor was originally published in the anthology Night Shift, which I already had! It's also sold separately now as an ebook (with the matching cover to the series above). Can I just say though, Milla Vane, if you're reading this, please release a physical copy of this book! I would love to have the paperback copy of this cover to put with the others!

This novella focuses on The Beast of Blackmoor, Kavik and Mala. Despite being a novella, I didn't feel like anything was rushed or cut short. It was masterfully written and paced. While I would love for it to be longer, that's just because I love this world that Milla Vane's created. Mala is such a strong female and strong in the physical sense. In the first book, Yvenne is strong, but more in a mental and willpower way, so this change in our Heroine was a nice surprise. She is tasked by the goddess Vela to tame the beast of Blackmoor. What she doesn't know until after meeting Kavik, is that he is the beast. Kavik has been dreaming of Mala and knew that she was his one and only, but to find her finally coming for him and as the "woman in red" from his prophesized "end" just throws him for a loop. I loved the way that he kept trying to push her away, but at the same time he wanted to never let her go. Plus we got the fun battles and fight scenes that are so beautifully written and add more to the world. I also didn't catch on until closer to the end that Kavik was the rightful king. I do have to put a warning out there, these books are dark and gorey. I feel like in the past these wouldn't have been quite as well received by romance readers as a whole, but with Game of Thrones getting so mainstream people are a little more desensitized to this kind of violence. Me personally, I love that she goes there, but doesn't do it in a way that feels overly harmful or too much (red wedding anyone?).

I loved this novella and it was the perfect way to get back into Milla Vane's series. I immediately jumped into A Touch of Stone and Snow and can't wait for the third book A Dance of Smoke and Steel to come out later this year! I may have had it on preorder as soon as it was available to do so.

Have you read The Beast of Blackmoor?

Bookishly Yours, 

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: The Beast of Blackmoor, Milla Vane, 5-stars, 0 days, paperback, 162 pages, Published 2014