The Talon of the Hawk
Series: Twelve Kingdoms #3
Pub. Date: May 26, 2015
Publisher: Kensington
Pages: 438
Format:
eARC
Source: Publisher
ISBN: 13: 978-0-7582-9447-0
ISBN: 10: 0-7582-9447-6
ASIN: B00ONTR57A
Cover Artist: Design by Kristine
Mills,
Illustration by Don Sipley
A HEAVY CROWN
Three daughters were born to High
King Uorsin, in place of the son he wanted. The youngest, lovely and sweet. The
middle, pretty and subtle, with an air of magic. And the eldest, the Heir. A
girl grudgingly honed to leadership, not beauty, to bear the sword and honor of
the king.
Ursula’s loyalty is as ingrained as
her straight warrior’s spine. She protects the peace of the Twelve Kingdoms
with sweat and blood, her sisters from threats far and near. And she protects
her father to prove her worth. But she never imagined her loyalty would become
an open question on palace grounds. That her father would receive her with a
foreign witch at one side and a hireling captain at the other—that soldiers
would look on her as a woman, not as a warrior. She also never expected to
decide the destiny of her sisters, of her people, of the Twelve Kingdoms and
the Thirteenth. Not with her father still on the throne and war in the air. But
the choice is before her. And the Heir must lead…
The Talon of the Hawk is the conclusion to the Twelve Kingdoms series, where we follow Ursula to determine the fate of the land. The book picks up very soon after the Tears of the Rose left off. I would not recommend trying to read these as standalones, as the story arc continued over all three books. This review may contain spoilers for the earlier books.
King Uorsin had three daughters, said to be each more beautiful than the last. Ursula is his oldest, least beautiful daughter and heir to the high king's throne. Unfortunately High King Uorsin is a depraved power-hungry lunatic. He commits cruel acts in his quest for power, and Ursula is seemingly blind to them all. She follows her king with unflagging loyalty, despite hard evidence of his unspeakable acts. Believing the king is above the law, she continues to support him even when he has committed atrocious acts against her.
I liked Ursula for the most part, it's always good when your heroine knows how to wield a sword. She earned the respect and loyalty of the men and women she commanded, known as the Hawks. She was a fierce fighter, good strategist, and a fair captain. She was a problem solver and had a huge heart, thinking of everyone else before herself.
But there were also some things I didn't like. I could not understand her blind loyalty to get tyrannical father. It seemed to go against her intelligence and leadership style. I also went a little nuts at the relationship drama that occurred toward the end. I felt that putting that big of a drama at 92% of the story really messed it up for me. I was so aggravated at Ursula, and then she didn't have the time to redeem herself for me.
Ursula's love interest is Harlan, captain of a band of mercenaries from a land we had not heard of in earlier books. I really liked Harlan. He was this big muscle-bound teddy bear that set out to win Ursula's affection from their first meeting. He was extremely patient with her, even when she didn't necessarily deserve it (especially when she had her stupid female drama at the end).
There is a subplot to this installment that carried over from the Tears of the Rose, namely the kidnapping and rescue of Amelia's daughter. So this book was not lacking in action. However I feel like the subplot took too much focus away from the main story arc, so that the culmination of events with King Uorsin seemed anti-climactic. The bit with Ilyeria seemed the same, and was a bit disjointed since it didn't connect to the prior 2 books.
Overall the series was good, the plot was well-developed, and the characters were engaging. The first two books made me pick up the next installment immediately so I wouldn't have to wait to find out what happened. 4 stars for the series as a whole, 3.5 stars for this book individually, and 3 flames across the board for the sultry factor.
I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Excerpt:
The bright pennants of Ordnung, High King Uorsin’s
rampant bear topping them all, snapped in the cool breezes from the high
mountain peaks. Those pristine white towers, the banners of the Twelve Kingdoms
gathered under one, all symbolized my father and King’s greatest triumph. One I
believed in with all my being.
Or
had once believed in.
From
the ravages of internecine wars and crippling enmities, Uorsin had united the
kingdoms, bringing them together in lasting peace, capped by the shining castle
he built on the ruins of the past. Always, no matter in what condition I
returned home, I’d felt a surge of elation at the sight, pride in my legacy and
sacred duty.
Not
this sick dread.
As we
rode closer, the formidable grandeur of Ordnung only mocked me for my many
failures of the past months. Soon I would stand before my King, and I had no
idea how I would explain myself and my actions. Or what price he would exact.
“Nervous?”
Dafne, riding on her gentle palfrey, studied me with serious eyes. A scholarly
woman with a quiet manner, she asked with complete sincerity what might sound
like a taunt from another.
“Being
nervous would imply that I’m uncertain about the confrontation to come,” I told
her. “I am…readying myself for King Uorsin’s sure disappointment.” And his
rage. Never forget the bear’s towering fury. As if I could.
“You
don’t need me to tell you, but you did the right thing, Your Highness. I wasn’t
sure which you would choose—love or duty.”
“Think
you I could have ripped a newborn from my baby sister’s arms, with her barely
recovered from thinking her daughter dead, hard upon the heels of her husband’s
murder?”
Dafne
considered the question with due gravity. Which made her interesting. No court
sycophant she, with ready answers to most please the people who governed her
fate.
“Before
I answer, I’d like to make clear that I don’t agree with the word ‘murder.’ You
did not kill Prince Hugh in cold blood, but rather in the heat of battle. More
self-defense than anything.”
Remembering
the sickening feel of my sword cutting through Hugh’s neck, realizing I’d
killed my sister’s husband, I knew better. All of it had happened so fast—Hugh
lunging to kill Rayfe, my other sister Andi thrusting herself between them. I’d
acted without thought, though hardly without consequence.
“Self-defense
means defending one’s own self. I was in no danger. He was my ally and did not
deserve to die by my blade. Nor for me to compound my guilt by fobbing off
responsibility for it onto Andi and the Tala.”
“Queen
Andromeda was right to insist on taking the blame. If Princess Amelia hadn’t
taken it as a reason to incite Avonlidgh to civil war, Old King Erich would
have.”
“Which
is happening anyway. Warring over an infant heir.” The disgust and frustration
that had ridden me these past months leaked into my tone. Speaking to Dafne,
though, and surrounded by my loyal Hawks, I could say what I normally would
not. Ami and Hugh’s son belonged neither to Uorsin nor to Old Erich, though you
wouldn’t know it from the way the two kings behaved, both claiming him as heir.
If I hadn’t killed Hugh, we wouldn’t be in this particular battle. One the
Twelve, already plagued with problems, could ill afford.
“That’s
on Erich, not you. As for the question of murder, I’d put forth that defending
your sister is the same for you as defending yourself. Both of your sisters are
part of you on a profound level. In a way that even Queen Andromeda and
Princess Amelia don’t fully appreciate.”
A legal
scholar’s mind, there. Always useful in a companion for someone in my position.
“And the answer to my question?”
“Yes,”
Dafne decided. “I think you would and could do anything. You’re certainly
capable. If you believed it to be the right thing to do.”
“Obeying
the High King is the right thing to do,” I replied, knowing full well I hadn’t
done so. The grind of guilt and failure made my bones ache. “Semantic arguments
aside, the High King commanded that I bring Amelia’s son to Ordnung. I could
have and did not.”
“Some
truths exceed the law of man.”
“But
not the law of the King.”
“The
King is but a man.”
“Don’t
let High King Uorsin hear you say that, librarian. You won’t long keep your
place—or your head—speaking that way.”
“Would
you report me?” She cocked her head, brown eyes sparkling with curiosity. No
trepidation there—only apparent genuine interest. As if she had already
gathered her information and predicted my actions. The answer I gave her would
simply confirm or deny her theories.
“Have
you no fear at all, Lady Mailloux?” I asked, instead of feeding her the
insights she sought. Let her continue to speculate.
She
transferred her gaze to the castle, imposing on its rise, framed by the
snowcapped mountains. The corners of her soft mouth tightened. “It’s always
strange to me to see it as it is,” she commented. “In my mind’s eye, I still
see Castle Columba, though it’s been gone nigh on thirty years. I don’t know if
it’s fear or something else that digs at me now.”
“And
yet, you return, for a second time.”
“It
seems to be my fate.” She gave me a wry smile. Amelia was right that Lady Dafne
Mailloux often failed to observe courtesy. Not that it bothered me. So did my
Hawks and the other soldiers I regularly trained, traveled, and fought with. Something
about focusing on a greater purpose relegated the bowing and scraping to the
negligible category. “Besides, I owe you. When we thought Stella dead, you
wanted to spare Princess Amelia the pain of it, to let her rejoice in having
Astar happy and healthy. I expected you to be angry with me for forcing the
truth into the open.”
She
would be the one to lay it out there, when others would avoid the subject.
Those had been dark hours, Ami near death from birthing the twins, then finding
the girl, Stella, dead in her cradle. At least the boy, Astar, had stayed
strong.
“I
was wrong to conceal it from her.” I shrugged, using the motion to loosen my
shoulders. Not that it worked. “Not only because she had the wit to see through
the trick that I did not.”
“I
saw Stella’s dead body, too,” she reminded me. “That black magic fooled us
both.”
Enough
that we’d even buried her, giving someone enough time to abduct little Stella.
Everything in me champed at the bit to be searching for my niece, to be helping
Amelia instead of riding into Ordnung. Infinitely preferable to facing the High
King with the news I brought. Nevertheless—and though it had nearly killed
me—I’d followed my duty and returned home. Though we’d traveled fast, a
messenger could have caught up with us. I kept expecting one, saying they’d
recovered the babe. With each passing hour that the news failed to arrive, my
dread and uneasiness that I’d made the wrong decision grew. Lately what had
once been black and white had shaded into disturbing grays.
“I
disobeyed a direct command,” Dafne persisted. “You would have been within
rights to kill or dismiss me for it. So I owe you.”
“I should have given her credit for needing to know
the truth, for being strong enough to stand up to the pain. You owe me nothing.”
“Nevertheless,
I have an idea of what you’ll have to deal with at Ordnung, and I couldn’t live
with myself if I let you face it alone. Returning with you was the least I
could do.”
She
meant that well, in all earnestness, so I didn’t comment. Didn’t say that no
one and nothing could spare me my father’s wrath. I’d learned that lesson
early.
We’d
passed through the outlying farms and rode through the extensive township that
surrounded Ordnung. People moved about busily, with the many chores of summer
at hand. They acknowledged our passing with respectful bows and salutes—and
something else. A sense of wariness that made the hairs on the back of my neck
stand up.
We
did not travel with fanfare. Out of long familiarity with my comings and
goings, the people did not dote as they might have on the rest of the royal
family, so I did not expect effusive greetings. I preferred it this way—in part
because it relieved me to dispense with the pomp and formalities when not
necessary, but also because it gave me opportunity to take the measure of the
people of Mohraya, the small kingdom that housed Ordnung.
Uorsin saw to his own first, so the
Mohrayans generally fared better than the other eleven kingdoms, regardless of
the swings in harvest yields and other variable producers of wealth. No matter
how severe the troubles in other parts of the Twelve Kingdoms—some I’d seen too
much of lately, sorrows that weighed on me—I could usually count on at least
Mohraya to be doing well.
Not
so, it appeared. One more problem added to the precarious pile that threatened
to topple over onto us all.
No,
things were not right here. The town burst at the seams, crowded with people.
Overly so, despite the increased activity of the warm season. The farmers and
livestock growers ought to be out on their land, tending to those concerns.
Perhaps
I’d lost my count of days and they’d come into town for market or a fair. But I
didn’t think so.
For a
start, many of the people gathering in the squares were neither buying nor
selling. I’d never expect to recognize all the faces, but the citizenry teemed
with unfamiliar looks. More men than usual. Tall ones, light haired, with
broad, exotic features.
I called over my lieutenant. “Marskal.” I kept my tone
easy, conversational, so he wouldn’t go on alert. “What am I seeing here?”
“Seems
the population has grown during our travels, Captain,” he replied blandly. He’d
been taking note, too, then. Part of why I relied on him.
“What
do you put it down to?”
“We’ve
long heard of the increasing conscription rates.”
“Those
are foreigners, not raw recruits and new conscripts.”
“True,”
he agreed.
“I’ve
read the people of Dasnaria across the Onyx Ocean described as such,” Dafne,
still riding on my other side, observed. “Tall, fair-haired, strongly built.”
“Is
that so,” I replied. Both of them, knowing I did not ask a question, remained
silent. I misliked it, foreboding crawling up my already aching spine. They
could be here only with Uorsin’s knowledge, which made no sense to me. But
then, so much of his behavior had become erratic. Ever since Andi rode home
with the Tala on her tail. Absolute loyalty to my King and father meant I
should not question him. As his heir, it fell to me to give him my unqualified
faith and support.
I
hated feeling that erode, even in the quiet depths of my heart, where I
harbored doubts I spoke of to no one. That I could hardly bear to examine
myself.
The
nearer we drew to the castle walls, the more of these exotic men we spied. All
hardened warriors to my eye, all heavily armed. Uorsin had dropped hints about
having other resources beyond the somewhat questionable loyalty of the Twelve.
Ordnung’s guards manned the outposts and the usual positions on the walls—and
then some. I counted surreptitiously, lazily turning my face to the sun. More
than twice the standard posting. Looked like he’d dug into those other
resources after all.
The
conflict with the Tala and the overall unrest in the Twelve had made the High
King wary. Understandable. But these changes edged past that into paranoia.
Along with an expense we could not afford. More fears I’d never give voice to.
“Jepp
reported no alert, correct?” I asked Marskal. I knew our scout hadn’t, but it
never hurt to confirm.
Jepp,
at Marskal’s head tilt, jogged her agile mountain pony closer. “Captain.” She
nodded at me. “I checked only at the guard gates, and they gave the all clear.
No mention of… this.”
“Pass
the word to be on alert, then.”
Jepp
saluted and fell back. Not that I needed to tell my Hawks that something was
awry in Ordnung. They knew it as well as or better than I did. As much as we
could not be less than on alert, telling them so meant that they pulled in
closer, taking long-rehearsed positions. Dafne remained placid, a pleased smile
on her lips, though she had to be aware of her vulnerability.
“You
might have done better to stay at Windroven, after all,” I commented to her.
“I’ll
stick with you, if that’s all right. Right with you. I’ll keep up.”
Before
we undertook this journey, I had doubted that. Now I felt certain she could
keep up with the best of my Hawks. Unless we fled flat out, and it was frankly
too late for that. Even if I hadn’t been honor bound to return to Ordnung to
face the King with the bad news, my instincts warned we’d have to fight our way
free—impossible odds, not to mention a traitorous act.
On
that thought, guards stepped up to bar our passage into Ordnung. More of the
foreigners, their helms making them look even taller.
“Who
approaches Ordnung?” one demanded in our Common Tongue, though his accent
twisted the words.
I
stared him down, showing my great displeasure at being questioned, transforming
the deep unease into righteous fury. “Who dares raise a blade to a Princess of
the Realm, Heir to the High Throne of the Twelve Kingdoms?”
Jepp
and Marksal drew up closer, their battle readiness almost an audible buzz in my
ears. For a moment, it seemed it might come to that, the foreign guard
undaunted, scrutinizing me for some sign that I was who I claimed to be. I
flexed my hand on the hilt of my sword, edging Dafne more behind me.
A
series of shouts in another language relayed from the walls and my challenger
cocked his head, nodded, and stepped aside. “Welcome home, Your Highness.” He
bowed but did not apologize. I ignored him and rode forward, not feeling
welcome at all.
We
passed through the outer gates, the shadow of the walls passing chill over me.
About the Author
Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning
author whose works include non-fiction, poetry, short fiction, and novels. She
has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council
Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award.
Her essays have appeared in many publications, including Redbook.
Her most recent works include a
number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns;
the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion, and an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera.
A fourth series, the fantasy trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms, hit the shelves
starting in May 2014 and book 1, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred
Library Journal review and has been nominated for the RT Book of the Year while
the sequel, The Tears of the Rose, has been nominated for best fantasy romance
of the year. A fifth series, the highly anticipated erotic romance trilogy,
Falling Under, released starting with Going Under, followed by Under His Touch
and Under Contract.
She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico,
with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome
Doctor of Oriental Medicine.
Jeffe can be found online at her
website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular Word Whores blog, on
Facebook, and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is
represented by Connor Goldsmith of Fuse Literary.
