The Undying King
4 "Cededa" stars
Tineroth is real as is her king. His people once called him Cededa the Fair, then Cededa the Butcher, and then they called him no more. Only the carvings on Tineroth's gates remember him and not by name. He drank the Waters and became the Undying King.
Imogen of Leids was raised on these legends, as they were known for thousands of years and yet when her mother on her death bed tells her to seek the very same legend, by revealing her the key to follow in search of the long lost city of Tineroth,
King Cededa, corrupted by immortality and doomed to imprisonment in a city caught between worlds.
as he – the Undying King, holds the answers to lifting her curse.
Can an immortal king truly help a woman who's been born as Death's handmaiden.
And that's the burden Imogen carries with her, her touch brings death, therefore she's never known what skin on skin feels like, she's never touched anyone in her young adult life and the notion that she could be free of that imprisonment fills her with an eagerness and resolvment to set upon that journey. What she ultimately finds is more than she ever thought possible...
„I saw the man within the king, Sire. Even if you had no way of lifting my bane, i'd remain grateful and happy to the end of my days that I met you, Cededa the fair.“
she's awakened in her senses, as her mere presence brings the same to the imortal man who craves to be just that, after the being depraved of all the senses for so long...
„Your bane has been my blessing. Those desires once dead for me are alive again. I may be resistant to your curse, but I'm no longer resistant to your touch. „I never thought I'd hold Death...or beg her love and mercy.“
BUT along with the resolution of her burden, she also finds the truth about her past and the ploy to keep her in bonds of her past and yet it's only on her to fight for what she truly wants, or better yet who.
„I will love you until we are both dust when even Tineroth is no more and passes from all memory.“
Even since I have read Radiance and Eidolon, then Master of Crows series by Grace Draven, she became my one click to buy author. I would jump in blind, no questions asked or whatsoever...that's why making a decision to read The Undying King was the easiest one I have ever made. And I liked it, I liked it cause I love the way Grace writes and she, again, gave me another reason for an escape into her fantasy world...and boy, what a fantasy that was. I loved her „stepping up“ into the more explicit detailed description of sexual content which actually only made my rating of this novella higher, LOL, but seriously, she emphysized the sensuality of tenderness as she usually writes in that tone, it only made it more palpable! What I wasn't pleased with, though, was the abrupt ending and not enough explainatory segments that I thought would be significant to the story and it's development. Therefore, i felt I was depraved of the full experience I usually get from her masterpieces. BUT I guess that's always the risk one takes while either writing or reading a novella considering all the segments one must be content with for the full impact.
