In “Naamah’s Kiss,” Moirin leaves Alba at the behest of the Maghuin Dhonn herself. It is clear that her destiny will take her far away from everyone she knows. She travels to Terra D’Ange to find her father. She also finds a teacher who hones her skills, something she’ll need to survive. But those same skills attract the attention of an ambitious healer, who takes advantage of Moirin while breaking her heart. In defeating his ambition of raising fallen angels or demons, she is sheltered and loved by the Queen, a mercurial and passionate young beauty who eventually steals Moirin’s heart. But her goddesses don’t allow Moirin much rest before they are pushing her to leave Terra D’Ange for the distant country of Ch’in where she has to rescue a princess from her possession by a dragon. She leaves in the company of her teacher and his apprentice, Bao. Later, as Bao lies dead, the teacher combines his knowledge and Moirin’s magic to resurrect him. Unfortunately, Bao and Moirin find his rebirth had a terrible cost. The beloved teacher is dead and now the two share Moirin’s diadh-anam, the soul-spark of Maghuin Dhonn. This yokes them together, unwillingly. Bao leaves to come to terms with this new destiny and to discover if he feels true love for Moirin or if it’s just the magic of the diadh-anam that drives his desire.

In “Naamah’s Curse,” Moirin waits patiently for Bao to return and when he does not, she cannot ignore the insistent pull of their linked diadh-anam and sets out over the steppes of Tatar country to find him. Bao has gone to find his own father, a Tatar prince who raped his mother. When Moirin finally finds him, it is too late – the Great Khan has gifted Bao with his daughter as wife. Bao finally declares his love for Moirin and the Great Khan sells Moirin to some travelers to protect his daughter and his honor. Moirin ends up in the hands of a fanatic priest of Yeshua. This priest is on a holy – or unholy – crusade to bring the Yeshuite faith to the licentious D’Angelines. Because of her dual heritage, he sees Moirin as a perfect candidate for conversion. If he can convert her to his faith, he’ll be able to use her as rallying point in a holy jihad. He binds her with magic chains that cut her off from her connection with Bao and from her gods. He uses her cruelly and finally, with some help, she escapes. She immediately plans to find Bao, who is obviously in trouble as Moirin can tell once their linked diadh-anam is connected again. The rest of the story is her journey to the other end of the continent to find Bao. Like Phedre in Carey’s earlier books, Moirin is the agent of the gods and in her path are wrongs to be righted. She is an unintentional heroine.

As with Carey’s other books, I am in love. She is the mistress of romantic fantasy. The books are superbly plotted, the characterizations are deep and rich, the storytelling is incomparable. I will own that I started “Naamah’s Kiss” with some trepidation. The heroine and the story were so much gentler than her previous books that I felt a bit… disappointed. The sex and the passion in her earlier books were…intense. But, fortunately, the disappointment didn’t last. In her own way, Moirin is as passionate and brave as Phedre albeit with gentler intentions and skills. I’m looking forward to the third book where Moirin will, undoubtedly, return to Terra D’Ange to finish what she started with the ambitious, and probably possessed, healer. ~~ Catherine Book