It felt slow and since it’s been a while since I read the first book I was constantly trying to remember if I knew these characters. It took a while for me to get into it and I even had checked the overall length at one point because I was shocked that I was barely 30% in and figured it had to be super long - but it wasn’t. Which I get! But I loved their connection so much that I was super greedy for it.

I just wanted much more of it! Once they give in to their love it seems to go to the back burner to all the suspense and world drama. I loved their love! I loved the pain I felt for them when circumstances make it hard for them to be together. I think the lands, people, and Gods would be easier to understand if you had that as a back story. While I think you could probably follow along if you haven’t read the first book, A Heart of Blood and Ashes, I wouldn’t recommend it. Overall Opinion: This was a good addition to the series. Or there will be no future for the western realms. But when a goddess's demand binds them together, Lizzan and Aerax must find a way to overcome their painful pasts. Though they were childhood friends, Aerax cannot allow himself to be close to the only woman who might thwart his treacherous plan to save their island realm. Shunned from her home, Lizzan now wanders in solitude as a mercenary for hire, until she encounters a group of warriors seeking new alliances with the northern kingdoms-a group that includes Aerax, the bastard prince of Koth, and the man who sent her into exile. When Lizzan leads the Kothan army against these terrors, only to see her soldiers massacred and to emerge as the only survivor, she is called a coward and a deserter. Even Koth, a northern island kingdom left untouched by the Destroyer a generation past, is besieged by terrors spawned from corrupt magics.

The Destroyer’s imminent return has sent the realms into turmoil as desperate citizens seek refuge-but there’s no safety to be found when demons and wraiths crawl out from the shadows.

Milla Vane returns to a world of kings, magic, and passion in her exhilarating A Gathering of Dragons series, as a great alliance forms to stand against an evil warlord intent on their destruction.ĭanger lurks in the western realms.

A Touch of Stone and Snow by Milla Vane