The Battle Sylph

Solie is fleeing an arranged marriage when she is kidnapped by the king's men. The king plans to use her as a sacrifice to entice a magically powerful creature to leave its world. Solie escapes and ends up bounded to the Battle Sylph who views her as its queen and is eager to do anything to protect and please her. This is a great start to a new series. Solie and the Battle Sylph (accidently named "Heyou" when she calls out to it: "Hey you...") are both very young, immature, and inexperienced but I liked that they acted that way and were not perfect and perfectly powerful characters. Heyou especially turns the Alpha hero cliche on its head because not only is he very young and inexperienced but he knows it. Even though he is often over-matched by older more powerful Battlers, Heyou doesn't give up and is always determined to protect his queen. The details about the Sylphs home and why they really cross over to Solie's world are heartrending at times. I liked the reactions of some characters when they finally realized that Sylphs were more than just tools to be used and that Battlers were actually terribly tortured by what was done to them. The Sylphs are a new type of paranormal for me and I look forward to finding out more about them and the world they come from and the world they now inhabit.

Just when I was looking for a great new author, along comes JL McDonald and "The Battle Sylph". I loved every minute of it! Great charactors and world building. I didn't want it to end. The romance between Solie and her battle sylph Heyou was sweet. McDonald introduced several secondary charactors that I would love to see have their own books. Her next book "The Shattered Sylph" is already on my wish list. I plan to buy a hard copies of both.

...LOVE, HATE, FRIENDSHIP, HUMOR, INTERESTING CHARACHTERS, BATTLES, ROMANCE SEENS, LAYORS OF STORY AND SIMPLY FUN TO READ... Solie (a human girl) and Heyou (Hey You, a battle sylth/protector) are delightful as the story of comes together of their love and need for each other in creating a new life/community of humans and sylths together. The setting seems to be a cross between the past and the future with humans and elemental as well as battle slyths making up the dynamic charachter differences. I love how this book is light hearted and an easy read, not heavy on the romantic scenes at all which might be disapointing to some, but just enough to keep you interested. I love this new book/series and while this is not a series about demons, gods, werewolves or vampires i think if you love C.Feehan, L.Ione, J.R. Ward, S.Kenyon and others than I think you will like this one as well. Sylths: Creatures brought by humans through a portal to serve humans as slaves...woman sylths are elementals: earth, wind, fire, water and others are healers, makers of food etc. ... men sylths are BATTLERS that serve their master, thier ultimate purpose to serve and protect their QUEEN/hive ...

Her father arranged for Solie to marry a forty-five years old obese man. She refuses so believing her maiden Aunt Masha would taker her in, Solie flees her village. However, she fails to arrive at the haven she seeks. Instead she is captured by soldiers working for the prince of Eferem who expects a visit from a Battler Sylph. To bind him to the royals, they need a virgin sacrifice; hence the plan is to kill Solie the moment the Sylph crosses over as that enslaves them to the killer of his "queen". However, the soldiers underestimate their helpless prisoner who escapes their binds and calls to the Sylph "Hey You". He kills the prince and immediately the named Heyou and his queen Solie flee together. Outraged King Alcor Baldorth sends royal warriors and other Battle Sylphs to chase after this abomination of a female master of any kind of Sylph, but especially the most fearsome type, the Battler. This is a great opening romantic fantasy with a delightful tongue in cheek attitude that enhances the fun of the action-packed tale. The story line is fast-paced from the opening failed binding and never slows down as everyone knows females cannot be masters of sylphs. As Solie and Heyou rock their kingdom, readers will appreciate their escapades of trying to find haven, which is how she got into this mess in the first place. The Battle Sylph is a superb first act. Harriet Klausner