Void Dancer Tales from the Gemstone Kingdoms Book #4
Multicultural Romance, Gay Romance, Fantasy Romance
Dreamspinner Press
May 2, 2023
Kindle
262
Amazon
A brilliant inventor, Enzo Dragonbane has plenty to hide, including his secret identity as the recently deceased king’s bastard son. But he’s not half as mysterious as Cullen, the man he finds in the caverns. Cullen has no memories at all.
Cullen doesn’t know who he is or how he got there, and he certainly doesn’t know anything about his strange shadow powers. But he soon learns that memories or not, magic or not, the Ruby Kingdom stands on the brink of civil war. A lower-class group called the Ashen is poised to take advantage of the power vacuum caused by the king’s death to fight for equality.
Soon Enzo and Cullen find themselves in the midst of a revolution. As they untangle Cullen’s past, they discover they have much in common. But if they’re to have any hope of a peaceful life together, they’ll have to discover the secret of controlling Cullen’s abilities, take sides in the coming fight, and face up to the truth of who they really are.
Review By Sherry Perkins
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
“And tell me, fair Cullen, what else is there to know about you and how you became buried in these caves?”—Void Dancing
I’ve not read Amanda Meuwissen before. I’m going to have to look at her back list and do something about that. Void Dancing is the fourth book in the A Tale from the Gemstone Kingdoms series. The others are The Prince and the Ice King, Stitches, The Bard and the Fairy Prince. There is something captivating about a series of books that focus on gemstones being the defining object and force behind a kingdom and its people—and Meuwissen has an engaging, easy style of writing it.
The character development is interesting although it got wordy, if not confusing, when veering from the main characters Enzo Dragonbane and Heir to the Amethyst Kingdom Prince Cullen, thendelving into the “shadow” side of Cullen. Perhaps some of the confusion could have been lessened if it was clearer that Cullen had been magically imprisoned in an amethyst and tossed into a cave for a quite extended period of time.
Regardless, Cullen is eventually discovered in the caves where he’s been confined to the void. He’s been there long enough that he is suffering from a serious degree of amnesia. It makes for an interesting tale of discovery as he begins to remember what happened to him and to learn what he is. What he is, is not what he thought although there were more than a few hints before he was enchanted as a result of dangerous wild magic wielded by the Shadow King. The Shadow King is in cahoots with the Fairy Queen. Between the two of them, keeping Prince Cullen jailed in the void is their goal. Fortunately, freed from the void by Enzo, Cullen has different plans.
Enzo has an interesting story which ultimately leads to Cullen. I won’t give that away but suffice to say, it involves kingdoms in disarray after the death of their king, a revolution in the making, an instant attraction, minework (and if there is minework, can dwarves be far behind?), explosions and the loosing of a dragon (in more ways than one).
Because this is an adult paranormal romance read, there is the occasional bit of descriptive sex. I got a little lost in that because it turned into something tantric with lots of tentacle-like tendrils. Fascinating as it might have been, it left me giggling and thinking of Sting and Trudie Styler or alternately, an episode of Babylon 5 where Londo is talking about how the Centauri make out. I’m not saying it wasn’t sexy. I’m just saying it was different.
BTW, Meuwissen has done something interesting in the book back matter. Not only is there a snippet from an upcoming book in another series, but from her back list as well. The book covers are included which was a nice touch and the cover art for the A Tale from the Gemstone Kingdoms is clever.
A four-star rating for a book about a man who is not quite a man, and his lover who is something else altogether with tendrils.