Genre: Fantasy, Romantic Arc
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay, Bi, Non-Binary, Poly
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About The Book
This city of fools will be brought to order!
Deposed, her father presumed dead, her friends slaughtered and the cavern in chaos, Grace Harrington is on the run and entirely alone. The only ally she has left is the man she hates most in the world: Nathaniel Morgenstern, the assassin who murdered her mother and seduced her father.
Grace’s only hope of reclaiming the throne and saving her people is to seek the aid of Éamon Tadhg, the High Druid of Arajon. But she needs to survive the hostile streets of Iole City before she can even think about fleeing to the Violet Valley.
Nathaniel made a vow to Doran to protect Grace, but he could never have imagined how quickly and horrifically their lives would fall apart.
Grieving the dual losses of the man he loved and his new friend Tsa Lien, Nathaniel devotes himself to the service of the overthrown Lady Archon who despises him – even if it costs him everything he is.
Warnings: Some graphic death/execution scenes.
About the Series:
Doran Ó Seanáin, former miner and leader of the Black Lung Gang, and his best friend, Lien, are almost at a breaking point in their ongoing conflict with the city of Arajon’s tyrannical ruler. Just when things are getting out of control, Doran crosses paths with Nathaniel Morgenstern, an apotheker with a mysterious past. As their relationship develops against the backdrop of the ongoing social turmoil, the secrets Nathaniel is keeping might threaten to destroy them all.
The Review
You know that feeling when you’re down to the last twenty pages of the last book of a series you really loved, and you don’t want it to end, so you start reading slower and slower to drag out the inevitable?
That. Hard. For Valley of Secrets, (currently) the last book in H.L. Moore’s blockbuster fantasy series “Death’s Embrace.” I have it on good authority that there will be more coming, and thank the writing gods, because this is one hell of a series.
In each of the previous books, Moore has added a new POV character. Book one was Doran’s alone. Book two saw the addition of his lover/nemesis Nathaniel, a former nameless assassin (it’s complicated). In book three, Grace, Doran’s daughter, joined the party. And book four continues the trend, with Lien, Doran’s steadfast friend (and maybe more) getting her own voice. At this rate, the cast may be unmanageable by book ten, LOL, but will be so there for it.
Series spoilers – book four picks up where book three left off, with Grace deposed from the Archon Throne in Iole City after a brutal coup (think red wedding in a throne room) by her former Captain of the Guard, Iovanius. Grace is on the run with Nathaniel, and Doran and Lien are presumed dead. But Moor has a few tricks up her sleeve.
In this volume, we finally get out of Iole City into the Valley of the title, the rest of the nation of Arajon that’s ruled by the Draoidhean, druids who revere nature above all else and disdain the technology and loose morals of Iole City. Grace flees the city to seek their help in overthrowing her former Captain, but there’s another challenger to the throne, and a secret threat that neither she nor Doran sees coming…
Each of the previous books featured a shocking surprise about three-quarters through, and this one is no exception. And it’s a good one too. Moore isn’t afraid to really put her characters through it, making the wins, when they come, all the more rewarding,
Valley of Secrets also fulfils the long-promised poly relationship we’ve been led to expect at least since book two, but it does it in a wholly satisfying way. And although this is the final book for now and not the end of the series, it wraps everything to date up neatly, so you won’t feel like you’ve been hung out to dry.
Although there is an intriguing coda that suggests the future of the series.
There’s an entire world still t be explored outside of Arajon, and I can’t wait for Moore to get back to her keyboard to give us more of it.
Go ahead. I’ll wait. * taps foot impatiently *
But seriously, this is the best fantasy series I’ve read in a long time, on a par with the greats – right up there with McCaffrey, Wurts, Donaldson, and Kay. Epic, extremely well plotted, and with a unique world that offers so many different possibilities for future storytelling.
Grab a copy now and get reading. You won’t be disappointed.
The Reviewer
Scott is the founder of Queer Sci Fi, Liminal Fiction, and QueeRomance Ink, and a fantasy and sci fi writer in his own right, with more than 30 published short stories, novellas and novels to his credit, including two trilogies.