So much more happens in this book than I’m willing to sum up, though. Both loyal to their respective kings and countries, as well as understanding that the needs of the many far outweigh the sacrifice of the two, they enter into the political contract that will unite their countries and, with any sort of luck on their sides, will help them defeat an encroaching enemy bent upon stealing all the magic in their world, thereby destroying it. Prince Celyn ap Iorweth of Ys is betrothed to Ivarr, younger brother to Sjurd, First Prince of Axholme, though when all’s fair in love and war takes a turn for the unexpected, and Celyn ends up engaged to Sjurd instead, the arranged marriage that transpires isn’t so much a bother as it is a terrific burden for these two men, who’ve hated each other from the moment they’d first met years before.

Or at least that’s what I hope will happen if the author sees fit to write a sequel to this brilliant tale. It is a book filled with impressive imagery and ambitious storytelling that reads like a legend to be passed down from generation to generation, chronicling the story of how two princes who met as mere boys, evolved from enemies to husbands by way of politics, and went on to save the world. It’s hard to imagine that a one-hundred-thirty-eight page novella could be described as epic, but that’s exactly what The Lodestar of Ys is, set in a larger-than-life world where ships fly and islands float where two heroes rush headlong into the fray to battle the enemy, not because they are fearless but because they are fearful that if they don’t it will mean the end of existence for the people they love and live to serve. Review: From one little story in the 2013 Dreamspinner Advent anthology to a free novella in last summer’s Goodreads M/M Romance Group anthology Love Has No Boundaries, I am now wanting to know nothing more than where Amy Rae Durreson has been all my reading life. Can warrior Sjurd and diplomat Celyn find any common ground? When an elopement and the threat of invasion force the two princes together, however, they have no choice but to marry and fake true love to keep their countries safe. It’s a good thing that Celyn is engaged to Sjurd’s brother, not him, because Sjurd loathes the brat, and it’s quite mutual. Publisher: The Goodreads M/M Romance Groupīlurb: Sjurd is convinced that Celyn of Ys is the most irritating man alive.

Unhappy the land that needs heroes.” – Bertolt Brecht “Unhappy the land that has no heroes? No.

The Lodestar of Ys by Amy Rae Durreson