Heart of Light by Sarah Hoyt

[meganbmoore]

In an alternate Victorian era where magic is commonplace, Nigel Oldhall is an agent of the Crown travelling to Africa with his Indian-born bride, Emily. What Emily doesn’t know, however, is that she was selected as Nigel’s bride because it was thought that her magic powers would let her imprint on a compass that will guide Nigel to a ruby that will secure Queen Victoria’s hold on Africa. In Cairo, however, Nigel finds his contact has been murdered and his safe house destroyed. He intends to send Emily home immediately, but Emily-looking through his things because she fears his neglect is because he has a lover-finds an imprints on the compass, forcing Nigel to keep her with him. They’re joined in their search by Peter, an old friend of Nigel’s, and Kitwana and Nassira, two Africans who are secretly a part of a militant group seeking to free Africa of European influence.

Unfortunately, this was ultimately an exercise in frustration for me. From the setup, it sounded almost perfect for me: historical fantasy with spies and mysteries that wasn’t “The Further Adventures of the White Man.” Actually, I rather suspect it’s a response to that. However, Nigel’s character frustrated me. Emily did too initially, but once she found out why Nigel married her, she grew a spine and started sticking up for herself, and doing things even though she was scared, and didn’t just immediately forgive him. Nigel, however, spent the entire book suspicious of Emily and expecting her to betray him. See, I don’t mind Emily being suspicious of Nigel because their marriage is based on his deceiving her. I mind Nigel being suspicious of Emily because his suspicion is based on the fact that he deceived her. And I didn’t feel like the author really knew what she was going to do with them until near the end, and what she did end up doing is one of my personal pet peeves.

The book and plot had a lot of potential, though, and the author seems to be specifically writing for women who like romance and fantasy, and want women to have more active roles in historical adventure fantasy. Nassira especially makes me think this. She’s consistently portrayed as the most competent person in the book, and it’s eventually revealed that she latches on to men who need someone to take care of them because she likes being the hero. However, aside from her and Peter, a lot of the characterization was aggravating.  Err…and I should mention that the prose for the first 50 or so pages made me wonder if I’d picked up a mid-list paranormal romance by mistake and was very awkward, but it quickly improved.  I'm interested enough, though, to check out the second book.  Admittedly, that I already have it is an influence, but…

ETA:  Spoilers in comments.

Comments

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

What? HE lies to HER and he's untrusting?

And what is your personal pet peeve that they did?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I mean, I get that what the author was going for was that it was his own fault (and it was always treated as his fault, not hers, it just didn't make him more likable) and that he was creating his own doubts, but it didn't make him more likable.

At the end, she's with another of the guys (Kitwana) but they're still married. Honestly, the author seriously dropped the ball on the romance. She was writing both Emily/Nigel and Emily/Peter pretty hard throughout the book, as well as some Nassira/Nigel and a bit of Nassira/Kitwana, but aside from both briefly thinking the other was attractive, there was nothing really to support Emily/Kitwana, so when it happened, it felt like it was from out of nowhere. The impression I got was that she wasn't sure who she'd have Emily end up with until it actually happened.

I was willing to go with Emily/Nigel if he pulled his head out of his butt because they were already married, and of the three, he seemed the most likely to work for her in the long run, and I can't see her being happy in the long run with the lifestyle of either of the other two, but the way it played out really wasn't that great. It ends with Nigel leaving them together trying to decide whether to divorce her or tell everyone she died (I do give him credit for accepting that it was her decision and his own fault, but I can't by into the "he only loved her as a sister" bit that was thrown in) and thinking that the right one was out there for him, leaving me capable only of "YOU'D BETTER BE GETTING RID OF THIS MARRIAGE IF YOU'RE PLANNING TO FIND SOMEONE ELSE! NO BIGAMY!"

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that definitely sounds like this didn't go through enough drafts before getting published.

I hate it when romances come out of left field like that.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think this is one of those things where it was thought the idea of it would be strong enough to overcome the problems.