Ami's Hoard

3.5 stars

First of all, I was quite surprised with the tame manner of this short fantasy novella coming from Dreamspinner Press. Why? Because usually, I found this type of stories being released by that other publisher -- it's pretty much their trademark. It was different, I guess, but at the same time a pleasant finding. It lacked of steam, in fact only one quick kiss on page.

It was a rather light read, a story about a bastard son of a King who went to see the Ice Lord with intention to sacrifice himself to save his country. Arius, the sorcerer, has been living alone for years, in his role as the Ice Lord. And the appearance of Loren in his life made him feel something that he has never felt before.

I know that it only took a short time for Loren to get under Arius skin, but their devotion felt convincingly real. Probably because of the isolated situation that they were in, all the way in that cold, freezing tower, it enhanced their interaction. Arius and Loren did spend more time afterwards though, after they left the Tower.

I found myself liking these characters very much -- Loren, the courageous loving young man and Arius, the more skeptic brooding sorcerer. I enjoyed reading their conversations, especially the way Loren and his love for the gardens and his faith in kindness, just breaks down the wall in Arius' heart.

Anne Mok also succeeded in creating the world of ice cold tower and then the country of Evernesse. Her descriptions were quite vivid, and I could feel the difference of both places. Although I admit, I loved the Ice Tower better -- with the different rooms, and the ice wolves, and the white owl.

What lacking of this short novella, however, was the background story. The information about the pact, what started the war, what cursed actually fell upon Evernesse, as well as the resolution, to be very much vague, if not totally unclear. Which was too bad, because it could shape up the story better in my humble opinion. I would love to see that part being fleshed out a little bit more, so I could understand the context better and saw the significance of Loren's sacrifice.

It was not bad for my first experience of this author. I actually LOVED that there was no sex on page for this one. I'm very much into 'clean' and 'non steamy' stories this past few days (just one of those moods, I guess) and it fits the bill perfectly. I think I would look forward for more stories coming from Anne Mok.