Heroes Adrift

If you enjoy vivid characterization, Moore is wonderful. Her central characters are surprisingly likeable, and the banter (mostly internal, as this is a first person narrative) is excellent. Yes, this world makes no social, economic, political or geographical sense. Tough. That's not what this sort of book is for. You'll enjoy this book if you've had fun with her previous two in the series. Might be tough to start here.

I didn't want to put this book down, even to sleep. I devoured it in one happy gulp, and found Ms. Moore's writing to be engaging as always. I enjoyed the new setting, and I'm interested to see where this story arc is headed. I adore Taro and Lee. In this book, their relationship finally evolves to the next level, but Lee thinks his interest in her is fleeting. I'm slightly astonished that Lee doesn't realize how much Taro loves her, even though he's never said so, but I think it's consistent with her character. She 'notices' things in the world, like physical details, but she's rather divorced from her own emotions. I knew she was in love with him in the first book, even when she pretended not to like him. To me, it's plain as day that Taro looks on Lee as his center and his anchor. He spent his childhood in utter isolation and neglect; he learned his charming persona as a means of coping with a world that bewildered him. For all his beauty, he needs someone who knows him and -still- loves him. Acceptance and belonging is what he craves above all else, and Lee offers that. No matter what she thinks, he isn't going to walk away from that casually. Taro is one of my favorite fantasy heroes of all time. By turns charming, petulant, passionate and tender, he delights me. Lee makes a fabulous foil for him, and I truly enjoyed the interesting juxtaposition during this book. I thought Taro steadied up quite a lot whereas Lee became more emotional. I can't wait to see how this shift affects them once they get back to 'normal' life, since they aren't a 'normal' pair anymore. I'm also tremendously intrigued by the new abilities they're manifesting, and I'm eager to see what exactly they can do (and what the world will make of their talents). Sidenote -- I do think Aryne will have some important role to play in future books.

This series just keeps getting better. For those of you who are new to this author, this is the third book in the "Hero" series. The writing is light with a dry/wry sense of humor. I laughed out loud at certain parts. For me, the core of this series is the relationship between Lee and Karish. The plot line of having them be on an Island where Lee is considered beautiful and Karish plain, was a great opportunity to explore their relationship in a new way.There was less fantasy/magical elements and no clear villain. But this did not detract in anyway from the pleasure of this wonderful book. Again, Lee and Karish' relationship is the heart of this, IMHO. I look forward to another book from this author. However from the authors website, the draft of the 4th book is not due to the publisher till Dec 2008. So we will likely have to wait till mid 2009 to read the next installment. I wish we could get it sooner!

I won't go into plot or characters since the other reviewers have more than handled that. I loved this book as much if not more than the others, primarily because the author is able to take her characters in new directions AND make it believable. Watching characters change and grow is what reading a series is all about and it is done very well indeed in this series.

In which Lee and Shintaro are forced to join a circus on a tropical South Sea island ... This third book follows on from "Resenting the Hero" and "The Hero Strikes Back." Despite the nautical title and the beautiful cover painting showing heroine and narrator Dunleavy (Lee) Mallorough on a sailing ship, most of this story is not set at sea, but in a travelling circus troupe. Most readers who enjoyed the previous two books will also like this one, but anyone looking for a carbon copy of the previous ones may be disappointed: Lee and Shintaro face very different challenges and their relationship also moves on to new territory. Moira Moore's "Hero" series of books are set on a far future human colony world. In the northern hemisphere where most of the habitable land in the planet is to be found and where most of the population lives, they can only be protected against frequent natural disasters by the special talents of two groups of people - "Sources" and "Shields". Sources can "channel" natural forces and dispel coming disasters: Shields protect the Sources and stop them dying or going insane while they do so. Both groups are taken from their families at an early age and intensively trained to use their special talents. In principle any source can work with any shield, but in practice most sources form an involuntary and spontaneous natural bond with one particular shield. Neither partner has any choice about who they bond with to form a "Pair" and once formed it lasts for the rest of the life of both partners. The bond is so strong that the death of either source or shield within a "pair" causes the demise of the other. Most pairs form a friendly and professional relationship, some ignore the advice of their training college by becoming lovers, and others find themselves tied for life to someone they can't stand. Shintaro Karish (Taro), who renounced the title of Duke of Westsea in the first book, and resisted family pressure to reclaim it in the second, is a Source. He is heroic, brave, virile, talented, charming, exciting, disgustingly handsome by the prevailing standards of most of the planet, and apart from being something of a rake, far too good to be true. Every young shield, expecially the female ones, hoped to bond with him, except for Lee, the narrator of all three books, who is a practical merchant's daughter and Shield. She wanted to work with someone calm, steady, and reliable. So guess who she got stuck with. A large part of the first book followed the response of the practical merchant's daughter to being yoked for life to someone she initially percieved as a brilliant but pampered and arrogant aristocrat. However, by the start of the second book Lee and Taro had established a strong working relationship and become close friends. By the end of "The Hero Strikes Back" it was obvious to the reader and to most characters other than Lee herself that she and Shintaro are deeply in love with each other. At the start of t