Kick your week off right with The Lord's Fall by Thea Harrison!

In the latest Novel of the Elder Races, two mates find themselves on different paths, torn between their duty to the Wyr and the passion that binds them…

Before she met Dragos, half-human/half-Wyr Pia Giovanni was alone and on the run. Now she’s mated, pregnant and heading south to repair the Wyrs’ frayed relationship with the Elves. Being separated from Dragos is painful, but for the good of the Wyr demesne they need to figure out how to be partners—in more places than just the bedroom.

In New York to preside over the Sentinel Games, Dragos is worried about his mate, but knows that finding two replacement sentinels is essential to show the rest of the Elder Races just how strong and brutal the Wyr demesne can be. But as the Games heat up, Pia’s negotiations with the Elves take a turn for the dangerous, straining her bond with Dragos and threatening everything they hold dear…

Sounds good, right?  It is!  For this book it is best that you have read the whole series, as there are spoilers referring back to previous books and an important event at the end of Oracle's Moon that impacts this book.  If you haven't read them all you could scrape by with having read the first one and then this one, but I'll have to agree with Tyra on this one that you really will enjoy it more if you read them in order.

Having said that this book goes back to focus on the characters from the first book.  A surprisingly short amount of time has past since the first book, which was a bit hard to grasp given all the events of the books in between.  In the first book their adventures cause a rift between Dragos and the Elves and the subsequent books leave Dragos short a few Sentinels, his primary guard and enforcers.  These two very important issues force them to split up and try to work on getting the problems resolved.  Pretty simple. But as with all of Ms. Harrison's books things quickly become more complicated.

Dragos struggles being away from her and is having a hard time dealing with the drama of the games without Pia's calming influence.  He struggles with Rune being in attendance and having to see him again.  He struggles with Arial's constant attitude issues and with the Pia's former boss's participation in the games.  All in all, he is a very unhappy dragon and longs for the day to be over so that he can go home and magically communicate with Pia in his dreams.

Pia is forced to travel to an otherworld in order to speak with the Elf that has the power to end the feud with Dragos, this prevents her from mentally being able to communicate with Dragos and immediately sends him into a primal panic.  Little does he know that Pia has really walked into a trap and is in danger.  Risking breaking Elvin Treaty Laws, he travels to find her and ensure she is safe, arriving just in time to save her and her Elf companions.  The attack on the Elvin community is immense and he quickly realizes that this relates back to the prophecy from Oracle's Moon and is much more then it appears on the surface.  This means war.  Calling off the games, calling the Sentinels to join him to fight, he quickly regroups and begins to once again fight a age old fight against his enemies.

This book was fabulous.  I loved how we were able to spend time with previous characters and not have it be about them having trouble.  It seems like in so many series with repeat characters it ends up being all about them constantly breaking up and getting back together.  I loved how in this one they never doubted their love for each other but instead focused on learning how to grow as a couple and individuals.  As each issue and obstacle comes up, Pia and Dragos work together to compromise and grow as a couple.  The become a true team and work together to find a solution.  The story line is fresh and exciting pulling together the series characters, allowing the reader to get to enjoy them again.  Again, I really would encourage you to read them in order.  They are all quick reads and definitely for the "to keep and read again" shelf.

Enjoy!


RATING: Five Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries.  Many thanks.