Obsidian Flame
Caris Roane
St. Martin’s, Apr 24 2012, $7.99
ISBN: 9781250008534

Due to her psychic skills and her fanatical parents demanding she adhere to their beliefs, for one hundred years, Marguerite was incarcerated in the Convent in Prescott Two on Second Earth. Her only respites from the ennui were her hope for freedom and “conjugal” visits from Thorne her Warriors of the Blood vampire lover.

When she is freed, she leaves Thorne behind on Second Earth while she journeys to Mortal Earth to start anew as Marguerite Dresner. As Commander Greaves and his Liberation Army begin their assault to control both Earths, Thorne deserts his post as second in command of the Warriors of the Blood for the first time in two millennia to follow his breh-hedden soulmate. However, other vampires recognize the rare skills of one of the Obsidian Flame triad that make Marguerite the Red Flame an extremely valuable commodity as a weapon of mass destruction especially with her two “sisters”.

As with the previous four fantastic Guardians of Ascension romantic fantasies (see Wings of Fire and Born of Ashes), the key to this entry is the cast; as the good, the bad and the ugly seem real with strengths, weaknesses and potentially fatal flaws. These characters ensure that the Roane mythology feels genuine. Action-packed, readers will root for Thorne as he joins the chase for Marguerite, but his motive is love not power.

Harriet Klausner