The Barbed Rose

Although I did not find this as good as the first in the series, I was still drawn into the charcters and world created by Dayton. In this strange world where magic exist, there are born powerful "naitans," wielders of magic, and women are the rulers and holders of powerful positions in government and family. The families, "ilian," can include four or five women and men and can extend to up to twelve adults. These people sleep together and when a child is born they raise it as their own even if they are not the blood father or mother. I could go on and on about this fasinating world created by Dayton. Learning about this world alone is worth reading the book. There is a plot to the story, Kallista, is the most powerful naitan of her time. She is called "godstruck," and she is the number one defense against the demons that are trying to distroy her people. In this book, seven demons have infiltrated her country and she and her ilian, are split up. Without them close by, she cannot use her magic as efficiently and strongly as she needs to distroy the demons. I thought the plot of this one was not as strong as the first, but I still enjoyed myself. Warning to those who are a bit passive when it comes to sex scenes, there is a high concentration of them in this book.

Kallista is the focus of her temple bound mates (a group marriage of husbands and wives known as an ilian) able to draw the magic from them to use in the defense of Adara. After defeating the foreign enemies of her country last year, Kallista and her iIlian retire to the countryside and she gives birth to twins and Aisse is pregnant. When Reinine Serysta recalls Kallista she has the twins, accompanied by, Stone, Fox, and Aisse and the nanny to a place of safety fearing danger has come to Adara. She learns that a civil war is taking place and the rebels might possess gunpowder. Kallista and her llian are sent to the rebel stronghold to ferret out information that can be used in the defense of the capital city. To save the children, Fox lets himself be captured and Kallista's main goal now is to free him. Kallista, the first godstruck in a millennium with the unheard of magical powers of the West is the only one who can fight and destroy the demons if they don't kill her first. After rejoining Fox and reuniting with the rest of her Ilian, she has enough power to fight the demons if she can find out who they are possessing. More husbands and wives are added to Kallista's ilian including the children's nanny and a former enemy making the group more powerful than any other in the country. The world building in THE BARBED ROSE is fantastic; making readers feel the place really exists. The characters are real, totally likeable and complex and readers enjoy getting to know the members of the ilian. In a world where everyday magic is taken for granted the heroine stands alone because she has great magic and an ever growing magical ability. Gail Dayton's tale has many surprises in store for the reader especially the dramatic ending. Harriet Klausner