Dagger-Star (Epic of Palins, Book 1)

Red Gloves and her companion Bethral are mercenaries who are looking for work. They have ventured from their homeland, to that of the Palins people and it appears they have ventured into a land fraught with danger and hopelessness. But, when they stumble onto the falling down croft of a goat herder they are offered the lodging and kindness they have needed for a while. But, when Josiah accidentally sees Red Gloves while she is bathing, he is stunned to see that she has a birthmark that marks her as one of the Chosen among his people. She means more to his people than a simple mercenary would. She is one of those who are supposed to lead his people back "into the light" and out of the darkness and hopelessness. But, Red Gloves has other ideas. That is until Bethral sidetracks them at a local slave auction. Now things are different and after they return to Josiah he is able to contact others that might be able to better explain things to her. But will she accept the fact she is one of the Chosen? Will Josiah ever forgive himself, for what he believes was his role in sending his people into despair? More than that will the emotional journeys, along with the physical ones, heal them both and let them fall in love? Dagger-Star is the much-awaited new series by Elizabeth Vaughan, after the super successful "War" series. I again thoroughly enjoyed the alternate world that Ms. Vaughan has developed. She is also very astute in developing real characters that you will laugh and cry with. There are a number of twists and turns in this first story that I didn't see coming. While this story will not go on my keeper shelf with the War series (there was just some spark missing for me and I am not sure what was) it is a solid offering. Dagger-Star is not light reading and does take on a number of tough subjects, though it was entertaining. I will continue to look for the next offering by Ms. Vaughan. Tanya Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

WOW! I just bought this and had to MAKE myself go slow. I loved Vaughn's first trilogy that started with Warprize and bought this book based on that love. Red Gloves is a true mercenary. Everything has a profit or it is of no use to here. Vaughn doesn't muddy Red's focus with emotions right away. She truly crafts a character that upholds the idea of sword-for-hire. When Red discovers that her unusual birthmark tags her as an answer to a prophecy, she wisely saddles up her horse and leaves! Finally a heroine that does what I would do. No diving into someone else's mess for our girl! Josiah, however, intrigues her on such a deep level that Red can't even vocalize at first. She tries to tell her sword-sister and fails. When she and her sword sister buy a badly injured slave, they are forced back to Josiah when the sellers suddenly want this slave back. Weaving in a very funny poke at the traditional hero's journey via the character of Ezren, Vaughn managed to keep me amused as a writer as well as an informed reader. She literally mocks Joseph Campbell's time-honored hero's journey--not in a mean, derisive way but rather a nudge in the ribs to those of us who get the joke. The only thing that bothered me in this book was Red as sexual aggressor. At times she seemed to be emulating masculine tendencies without any motivation for it. By the end of the book, the reason for this behaviour is revealed. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a well-crafted high fantasy with a healthy dollop of romance. This hero's journey is one I will keep on my shelf (or rather my e-book reader) for ever.

I am a voracious reader of all genres, but fantasy and historical romance are my favorites. Lately I have been disappointed with the books I have been reading so I didn't really expect much from Dagger-Star. Dagger-Star was the first Elizabeth Vaughan book I had ever read and I enjoyed it tremendously. So much, in fact, that I purchased the three War books and read them. They were good, but not as good as Dagger-Star. After reading the reviews posted here for Dagger-Star and seeing the low ratings by others, I read it again thinking maybe it wasn't as good as I thought the first time I read it. IT WAS! I am anxiously awaiting the next book in the series.

Dagger-Star is the first book in a new series by Elizabeth Vaughan, the much talked about author of the Chronicles of the Warlands trilogy. With a distinctive story-telling style and a talent for creating a rich tapestry of characters Vaughan has another hit on her hands. Meet Red Gloves, a saucy, seductive warrior woman and Bethrel, her sword-sister. The story begins with these strong women of Soccia seeking shelter from the rain in the war ravaged land of Palins. Taken in by a lonely goat-herder named Josiah, the two women get drawn into a world of prophecies and preistesses, mages and barons. A rescued slave turns out to be a legendary story-teller and Josiah himself holds some great secrets. Born with the dagger-star birthmark, Red too, is pulled against her will into fighting for the future of Palins and maybe for the love of Josiah. But when Red claims the throne will she be able to remove her mysterious scarlet gloves and rule over Palins, leaving behind the humble goat-herder she's grown to love? Fans of Vaughan's Chronicles of the Warlands won't be dissapointed to know that this series is indeed set in the same world as her previous trilogy. It's uncertain whether it is set in another part of the same world or perhaps the future but you'll notice some similarities right away. With strong world-building and even stronger character creation I fell in love with Ezren and other members of the secondary cast. If you're new to Vaughan this book is a great place to start as this series is completely seperate from the Warlands and is a decent example of Vaughan's ability to tell a story. My only trouble with this story was how easily Red won everyone over in her adventure and how easily she defeated her enemies, warrior woman or no I felt like she needed some weakness. Overall this is a great fantasy story and an okay romance. I look forward to hopefully reading Bethral's story next.

I was drawn into Elizabeth Vaughan's Dagger-Star just as surely as Red Gloves was drawn into Evelyn's rebellion, if far less reluctantly. This tale plays host to a panoply of fantastic characters; not only are all the main faces made into fascinating, multi-faceted people, but so are many of the ones that only appear briefly. Red Gloves is a wonderful main character: stubborn, willful, far from perfect yet perfectly enjoyable. Bethral, a quiet `mountain' of a woman who talks to animals and takes on every lost cause she comes across, makes the perfect foil to Red's bluster, temper, and crudeness. Josiah, too, is far from the expected male lead of a romance or fantasy novel: quiet, contemplative, and a farmer at heart, surrounded by an odd quintet of magical goats that go everywhere he does. The chemistry between Red and Josiah is quite good; the sex is explicit and for adults only, but not extremely adventuresome. The book does touch on some dark adult subject matter, however. I'd love to babble about some of the wonderful plot twists; in particular, an incredibly interesting variant on what should be a tired-and-true (no, that isn't a typo) prophecy plot. However, I'd hate to spoil anything. There are lovely twists near the end that absolutely delighted me. You'll also find laugh-out-loud funny moments, such as a scene that makes unashamed fun of the impracticality of female armor designed to appeal to male readers, game-players, etc. It seems obvious that there are meant to be more books--there are certainly things that don't get wrapped up in this volume--but happily, it does stand alone well enough. All in all, Dagger-Star was a sheer delight to read, and Elizabeth Vaughan just joined my list of favorite authors.