WOMS: Dreamspinner

Remember my recent return to reading epic fantasy and how annoyed I was? It reminded me I hadn’t yet read the third trilogy in Lynn Kurland’s Nine Kingdoms series. If you haven’t guess by now, that’s exactly what I did, so let’s talk about it!

Why I took so long to read this third trilogy, I don’t know nor understand. Sure, last year I might have needed a break after plowing through the first six books, but for an entire year? When I love this series so, so, SO much?

What’s so great about the Nine Kingdoms in general is that they are a bit more my style in that they have that fairy tale meets Tolkien vibe I crave. Kurland’s prose even has an archaic diction to it, which I adore, but though that is how she stylizes her world, it’s far from anything similar. Her heroines are fierce and independent, and her heroes are tender and affectionate. She doesn’t maintain the outdated tropes but retains a sense of modernity within her more traditionally inspired world. It checks all the boxes for me.

Kurland’s Nine Kingdoms series is, I think, one of the original fantasy romance series, too, as she’s a contemporary of Jacqueline Carey; though, her series started a few years after Kushiel’s Dart.

There’s also the way she weaves together an ensemble of characters like a Richard Curtis film. She gives you all the crossovers you want whilst providing glimpses into the domestic bliss previous main characters won after their battles with darkness and evil.

Like I said, I adore these books, and Dreamspinner is no exception!

In this, we FINALLY have a story centered around the second eldest brother of Morgan and Ruith—Runach. Ever since we met him in book three, The Princess of the Sword, I have ached to have more of his story told, and I’m so glad Kurland did not disappoint!

If you haven’t read any of the previous six books, beware! Spoilers ahead!

After hiding in the library at Buidseachd for twenty years and pretending to be the servant of Soilleir, Runach is set on earning Weger’s mark like his younger sister, Morgan, then becoming a solider for anyone willing to hire him so he can live out the remainder of his long years in comfort without continuing to rely on the generosity of others. Though Soilleir would have been happy to continuing having him as his permanent guest, Runach is ready to see the world again.

Along his way to Weger’s keep, he runs into a scrawny lad who he finds out quickly is no small boy but a woman in disguise.

Aisling is on her way to meet Weger, the legendary trainer of deadly mercenaries, because she has been sent on a quest of upmost secrecy to hire an assassin and dispose of the evil usurper sitting on her kingdom’s throne. Little does she know what’s in store when her path crosses with that of a elven prince running from his own destiny.

Soon the two are in the throes of the chase together as they must out run those seeking to capture and use their power for themselves, a power Aisling did not know she had. Having lived in squalor for most of her life, since her parents sold her into slavery, Aisling has had little exposure to the outside world, especially the magic outside her country’s small borders as much as the magic living insider herself.

Together they seek to find the answers to why her country has isolated itself from the other kingdoms in the realm, and why she is able spin magic from nothing, all the while avoiding their assailants.

I will admit that not much action happens in this specific book; much less than the previous books. I hope that doesn’t spell doom for the next two in the trilogy. However, it provides all the same beats you come to expect when reading a Nine Kingdoms book with all the same beloved characters aiding our heroes along their quest.

I have a few theories of what’s to come, and how Aisling is related to a specific character, so now I must read the next book and see if I’m correct! Until then, happy reading!

Have you read the Nine Kingdoms series? What do you think about this fascinating world? Let me know if in the comments below, and find out what else I might review next by following me on Goodreads, too!