Radiance (Wraith Kings, #1)

by Grace Draven

THE PRINCE OF NO VALUE

Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, has lived content as the nonessential spare heir to a throne secured many times over.  A trade and political alliance between the human kingdom of Gaur and the Kai kingdom of Bast-Haradis requires that he marry a Gauri woman to seal the treaty.  Always a dutiful son, Brishen agrees to the marriage and discovers his bride is as ugly as he expected and more beautiful than he could have imagined.

THE NOBLEWOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE

Ildiko, niece of the Gauri king, has always known her only worth to the royal family lay in a strategic marriage.  Resigned to her fate, she is horrified to learn that her intended groom isn’t just a foreign aristocrat but the younger prince of a people neither familiar nor human.  Bound to her new husband, Ildiko will leave behind all she’s known to embrace a man shrouded in darkness but with a soul forged by light.

Two people brought together by the trappings of duty and politics will discover they are destined for each other, even as the powers of a hostile kingdom scheme to tear them apart.

• ASIN: B00S5IDLEQ
• Publish Date: 11 January 2015
• Publish Status: Unknown
• Imprint: Independently Published
• Format: eBook (Kindle)
• Pages: 297
• Language: English

Reviews

[EBookObsessed]

I absolutely love the premise of this story.

Months ago someone offered me a free copy of Radiance and I didn’t pick it up because someone’s review turned me off about the story. I can’t for the life of me remember what it was and with 23,000 reviews on Goodreads (mostly 5 star), I couldn’t find it again. Let me say big mistake. What a wonderful story. Someone else on Goodreads said instead of Beauty and this Beast, this was Beast and the Beast, which is a perfect description. Let me explain.

Ildiko, is the niece of the king of Gaur. Ildiko is human. Brishen, is the second son of the king of Bast-Haradis. Brishen is Kai. The Kai are gray-skinned with glowing-yellow eyes, sharp teeth and claws, and are nocturnal. They are both considered extremely attractive to their own people, but to each other…not so much. Both Ildiko and Brishen accepted that their lot in life would be to suffer a marriage beneficial to their kingdoms but neither expected to marry someone who wasn’t their own race. This starts off on the right foot because neither party is resentful of the other simply because they know that neither had a choice and while it was not a love match, neither was angry or belligerent of the fact they were marrying a hideous stranger.

I liked that Ildiko and Breshen enjoy each other’s company and really, really like the person inside, even if the outside is shockingly foreign. I also like that we see this not just from the human’s viewpoint of how strange Kai appear, because we hear Breshen’s thoughts often about Ildiko’s freaky eyes and pale skin. But whatever their outward appearance is, they quickly become a united front against the scheming king and queen of Bast-Haradis and against everyone else. They were in this together, and as neither one of them mattered much to their families except as a political pawn, they now had someone who cared about them. Someone really ugly, but someone who was kind and thoughtful too.

The basic story beside the marriage of Ildiko and Breshen, was that their marriage was to unite their kingdoms, but a third kingdom, who wanted to go to war with the Gaur, wasn’t so happy about it. Now they would have to fight the Gaur and the Kai, who were formidable warriors. This third kingdom wanted to kill Ildiko and Breshen.

While the plot was simple enough and we end up with some graphic violence, the best part of this story was watching Ildiko and Breshen enjoy each other’s company until eventually they stopped being turned off by the strangeness of the other person and find true love…with a still pretty hideous stranger.

This is the first of a trilogy? series? I am definitely starting Book 2 asap.

[stacey_is_sassy]

I took a risk on a grey-skinned hero...

Radiance has been on my radar for a very long time. Every time I logged onto Amazon it was a regular recommendation that eventually I HAD to look a little closer. Hmmm...this hero seems to be a little off-colour. The first time I checked it out I didn't even bother reading the blurb...THE HERO HAS GREY SKIN! The second time, I read the blurb, took another look at that decidedly grey tinged skin, and stepped away again. The third, fourth, fifth and sixth time I looked, read the blurb and studied the reviews as well. The reviews only had good things to say and nobody was appalled that the hero was a nightmare. I took the plunge and decided to give the audio version of Radiance a try.

I think Grace Draven did a remarkable job of getting me past my fear of grey skin. When I started listening, I wasn't convinced I'd get past the grey skin and believe the characters could fall in love. Instead of beating around the bush, the author deals with the characters differences up front. Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, describes Ildiko, niece of the Gauri king, as having mollusc skin. She thinks he's a thing of nightmares. We're not supposed to see these two characters fall instantly in love. We are fortunate to see the journey Brishen and Ildiko take in accepting each other and learning to love what they originally thought hideous.

Both Brishen and Ildiko have not been raised in a loving family environment. Brishen's parents are horrible and every time they were mentioned it made my skin crawl, especially his mother. She's EVIL and her last comment to Brishen was absolutely REPULSIVE. Ildiko's family were quite happy to see her go and I think she was even happier to leave them.

An unlikely friendship is formed between the married couple and the more time they spend with each other, the more their connection grows. Radiance is not an overly sexy read but we definitely see their connection when they do come together. Again, we're not expected to believe that these two will easily work or connect and they must adjust how they handle each other.

It's not long before outside forces try to tear them apart and it's going to take Brishen, his warriors and a few friends to keep them safe.

The storyline was captivating, the characters original and the narrator does a very good job keeping me enthralled. I absolutely loved that Grace Draven left me satisfied and convinced me that Brishen and Ildiko could be together and have a successful relationship. I'm a firm believer that you can learn to appreciate the outside once you fall in love with the inside.

If you're a fan of Fantasy Romance but hesitant because the hero has grey skin, take my advice and give it a try. I was not disappointed and a little angry at myself that I took so long to take the plunge. I will definitely be coming back to the Wraith Kings series soon.

[Leigha]

Two people must learn to overcome their differences and save the world in this adult fantasy romance.

The Wraith Kings series is currently comprised of two novels, Radiance and Eidolon. I enjoyed the first book. It focuses almost exclusively on the relationship between the two main characters, Brishen and Ildiko. These two are not just strangers, but a different species from one another. Starting with an adorable meet-cute scene, their relationship grows from strangers to friends to lovers. It’s very much a character-driven story with lots of world building; you’re not going to find an action-packed plot here. In a genre saturated with “end of the world” plot lines, it’s refreshing to find a book focused on characters and their cultural differences.

While the first book hit the four star mark for me, the second book brought it down to three stars. Elements making the first book unique bled into the background for a generic action-packed plot. It felt like plot points pushed characters into decisions rather than them naturally arriving to decisions. The world building changed so much it felt like reading a different novel. The inclusion of a third narrator cut any tension from the resolution of the plot. Brishen and Ildiko may not have known the ending of the book, but I certainly did.

tl;dr A promising start to a new series veers into a predictable, action-driven plot pushing promising character growth to the side.

[lizarodz]

Reading With ABC http://readingwithabc.com http://readingwithabc.com/review-radiance-by-dawn-draven/To be honest, I’m not sure how I found Radiance, but I think it was just browsing along in Goodreads and when I saw the 4.20 rating and read a few glowing reviews, I was sold. Oh wow! I absolutely adored Radiance and if you love fantasy and romance, this book is for you!

This book is an absolute gem. This is a story of two “spare” members of different royal families that are betrothed for political reasons. If you read this description, you can tell that the beginning of the story is not unique. What is unique is that Brishen is not even human. He’s the prince of the Kai, a lithe, strong, fanged, tall, gray skinned, pupil-less eyes ancient race. He’s ugly to Ildiko and Ildiko is ugly to him, so no attraction there at all.

“You find me ugly, don’t you? …

“Hideous,” he said. “A hag of a woman.”

Another peal of laughter met his words. Brishen wilted, relieved she took no insult in him so bluntly validating her assumption….

“And you,” he said. “You don’t think me a handsome man”…

“She exhaled slowly. The space between her eyebrows stitched into a single vertical frown line. “Had you crawled out from under my bed when I was a child, I would have bludgeoned you to death with my father’s mace.”

Their relationship is slow to grow. Ildiko accepts her fate and new life head-on. The Kai keep a night schedule since their eyes and skin are unable to handle the sun. She has to the used to a LOT in a very short period of time, but she’s strong, willing to learn, she has a sweet and compassionate disposition and she’s able to get past appearances.

Brishen is so patient. He’s a warrior, a prince, a good commander, friend, an overall amazing being. Like Ildiko, I also felt in love with him. His family, especially his mother, are awful, but luckily, he lived a five day ride away from the court, by the border of a neighboring kingdom.

I think what I loved more about the romance is that Brishen and Ildiko became allies and friends before they became lovers, and finally fell in love. They were able to poke fun at each other, calling each other names and acknowledging that although they had a hard time to “reading” each other’s expressions and getting past their physical attributes, that their love was stronger than all of that.

“I think we all seek companionship, wife. Sometimes it’s physical; sometimes it’s much more.” An odd flicker danced in his eyes, and like his grin before, his smile faded. “Loneliness is an empty void. We look for that friend in the light.”…

“Will you be that for me Ildiko,” he said. “That beacon in the void?”…

“The void is vast, like the sea at night and no land in sight. I’ll be the beacon, Brishen.”

I adore the secondary characters too, especially Anhuset, Brishe’s cousin/sister and Serovek, their handsome and honorable human neighbor. The writing is very good, enthralling and insightful. The world that Draven built is detailed, easy to understand, even if there is a bit of magic, political machinations and power struggles. The ending is almost a cliffhanger and I want more!!

Overall, Radiance is a story about impossible love, political machinations, incredible evil, and the ability to see beyond appearances. I cannot wait for Eidolon, the next book (and conclusion) of the series due to be published early next year. This review was originally posted on Reading With ABC