Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L Wilson

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Lord of the Fading Lands is the first book in C.L Wilson’s best selling Tairen Soul series and a book that I remember loving when I first read it, about a year ago. With the fourth book in the series just released, I decided to go back and reread the earlier books to refresh my memory as well as to see if the books are really as good as I recall. To my delight, and relief, Lord of the Fading Lands was just as good as I remember it being, if not better.

Rain Tairen Soul is the dark and solitary king of the Fey, the magical immortal creatures who reside in the Fading Lands. A thousand years ago he had decimated half the continent with rage over the murder of his mate and since then he has remained secluded in the Fading Lands. But now the Tairen are dying, his people are in danger of becoming extinct and a darkness is growing in the land of his enemies. Only Rain, the most powerful of the Fey and the only one able to shape shift into a magical winged Tairen, is capable of saving the Fey and their Tairen brethren. Desperate to find a solution, Rain forces a response from the Eye of Truth and is directed to the despised land of Celarians, where the mortals live.

All of her childhood, Ellie has been teased and shunned by the other children for being different. Abandoned as a baby, Sol and Lauriana had taken her in and treated her as their own, even as she was afflicted by horrible seizures and frightening nightmares throughout her young life. Now at the age of twenty-four Ellie is still unmarried with no prospects for marriage in the horizon. So when Den, the repulsive butcher’s son, makes his interests in Ellie known, Ellie’s parents encourage her to respond in kind. Desperate to avoid being married to a man she despises, Ellie prays for someone to come and save her from this marriage.

Rain did not know why he was meant to travel to Celarian, but he certainly didn’t expect the shock of discovering his Sheitan, soul-mate, there. From the moment he spied Ellie in the crowd he was drawn to her, and at the first touch of her skin he knew that this woman was bound to his soul. Not in a thousand years has a Tairen Soul found himself a Sheitan, and this occurrence is a cause for much rejoicing, and concern.

As Rain begins the process of courting Ellie he must also convince the king and his court that they are in danger from the Eld, the evil mages who had caused the death of Rain’s mate. But only Rain can sense the darkness that is brewing and no one will believe that the danger he warns them of is real. And due to growing hostilities towards the Fey, Rain’s allies are few and his enemies more numerous by the day.

Lord of the Fading Lands is a beautifully written book with a wonderful balance of fantasy and romance that is sure to please fans of both genres. While I had highly enjoyed the book the first time, reading it the second time was even more pleasurable as I eagerly anticipated my favorite scenes that I knew were coming up.

The part where Rain and Ellie meet for the first time is definitely one of my favorites, full of tension, confusion and tenderness. And I loved when Ellie’s beautiful nemesis, who never misses an opportunity to taunt Ellis, tries to lure Rain away from her, believing herself more worthy for a king, and- well, you have to read it to find out…

The whole book is just such a fun and magical experience. While the romance between Rain and Ellie is a large part of the book, Wilson did not neglect to provide a wonderfully told story filled with excitement, intrigue, humor and drama. Each character is fully and skillfully developed, from Ellie’s strict yet loving mother and her lovable, mischievous twin sisters to Rain’s entourage of deadly Fey warriors, each a memorable character in their own right. There is also the fairytale quality to the story, of the poor woodcarver’s daughter, discovered by a king and whisked away to become his queen. Ellie refers a couple of times to a Cinderella-like character, who she relates to, as she suddenly finds herself in the unfamiliar, glittering world of the nobility.

Lord of the Fading Lands is a book that I highly recommend and which I look forward to reading again and again. I'm now eager to continue on to the next book in the series, Lady of Light and Shadows, to see if it stands up to a reread as successfully as the first book did.