R- Bloodwind (v,x,some b), Nightwind (v,x,some b), WindFall (some v,x,some b)
Boyett-Compo is the author of several e-books published online at Dark Star Publications. The two novels I read were dark romances, combining light horror with McCaffrey-style romance plots. Though her plots for the first half of the books seemed predictable, they went through interesting twists later that may surprise you. They also had well fleshed-out main characters combined with believable and well thought out settings. If you want solid combinations of blood and sex written from both gender perspectives, these are the books you're looking for. Boyett-Compo also writes Celtic, Sword & Sorcery, and paranormal novels.
Reading entire novels on-line may be a new experience for many of you (it was for me), but I didn't find it to be a problem as long as I took a break every few chapters. Although you can't take these books with you when you go out unless you have a laptop, you also can't damage them in any of the normal ways, and no one can "borrow" them from you. In all, it's a pretty decent medium, and it provides an opportunity for the author to publish a number of books relatively quickly, which saves fans from those annoying delays. One of Mrs. Boyett-Compo's books, Keeper of the Wind, is published in paperback as well.
To learn more about Boyett-Compo's books, you can visit her official site at WindLegends.
Boyett-Compo just keeps getting better. In WindFall (coming in November, 1999), a prequel to the main series begun with Keepers of the Wind, Compo introduces us to some of the characters who will be legends later. That she does so with skill and humor goes without saying. The world she created comes across like those of David Eddings or Robert Jordan, but Compo's focus is on the people more than their destinies.
Prince Kaelan Hesar, younger brother of the current Jarl, wanted nothing in the world more than to marry Gillian Cree, youngest daughter of the Chalean ambassador to his country. But his brother Duncan has other plans that include marrying Kaelan off to a wealthy commoner against his will and marrying Gilly to Duncan's Chief Vizier, a perverse man. The love story then blends into a wider tale of corrupted power in several kingdoms and the cruelty of the Brotherhood of the Domination. The reunion of Kaelan and Gilly is a triumph of trust, justice, and the healing power of love. Though the latter half of the book obviously exists to introduce us to a large cast characters we will hear about again later, those characters are delightfully diverse and three-dimensional enough to hold the tale through plot twists and time skips. The author's skill in portraying men's interactions with each other, unusual in a romance writer, helps make this one of the most believable romantic epics.
WindFall is far less bloody than the other novels on this page, such that readers who don't like lots of violence may be more comfortable with it than the others.
Finally! A torture scene I can recommend to all my friends. Given my pet peeves, you can imagine what a joy this was. The premise behind Bloodwind is that a race of human-looking aliens, known as Rysalians, created the perfect weapon to sterilize their enemies, winning their wars through time rather than overpowering force. But the poison leaked into the worlds inhabited by Rysalians themselves, killing their women rather than sterilizing them. The Rysalians tried to use their former enemies' women, but these also succumbed to side effects of the poison. After finding a way to reach the distant Earth, Rysalia began stealing the best and brightest Terran women to replenish their population. Bridget, one of the main characters, was stolen in this manner.
The other main character, Captain Kamerone Cree, is a Reaper, born partly vampire, and allowed to do anything he wants until powerful men seek his downfall. They send him to the Terran women for a torture process called "conditioning", in which he is to be forced to literally feel his own death over and over again. What the powerful men don't realize is that the Terran women have their own agenda for Cree, one that does not involve him becoming more obedient to the empire. Everyone tries to manipulate Cree, through Bridget, through his distant father, through patriotism, through fear. But Cree does not like to be manipulated. This book starts off heavy on character and low on plot, then switches, providing overall a satisfying read for an angst junkie like me. The only drawback is that the ending begs for a sequel. Luckily, that sequel could not possibly be a repeat of the first book, so we can look forward to all new ways of driving the characters insane. I can't wait :).
Graphic violence makes this novel inappropriate for younger readers.
Nightwind, on the other hand, is set on Earth with almost no hints of SciFi. It stars Lauren, a woman of middle years who is completely ignored in her Florida panhandle town- until the day Syntian Cree arrives. Syntian was once a man, aeons ago, but now he is something much more seductive and deadly- an incubus. In her distress, Lauren unwittingly caught his attention....
This is an even darker novel than Bloodwind in its own way, though it still contains many of the same romance elements. The plot was predictable at first, with the characters as the main focus, but towards the end Lauren began to change and the plot twisted unexpectedly. Again, I would most highly recommend it to lovers of darker Lackey or McCaffrey romances, though anyone who likes popular conceptions of witchcraft may also enjoy it. My favorite part of Nightwind was Lauren herself: her strength and believability as a character formed the core of the book, forcing me to re-examine my own preconceptions about what makes a great fantasy hero. For Boyett-Compo, the strength of a person lies in their capacity for love, and that is where Lauren triumphs. We would all do well to learn from her.
Graphic sex makes this novel inappropriate for younger readers.
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Last Updated: September 16, 1999
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