For Keirlan de Corizi--the legendary 'Blue Demon' of Adalucien--death seems the only escape from a world where his discolored skin marks him as an oddity and condemns him to life as a pariah. But salvation comes in an unexpected guise: Tarquin Secker, a young woman who can travel the stars with a wave of her hand.
But Quin has secrets of her own. She's spent eternity searching through space and time with a strange band of companions at her back. Defying her friends' counsel, Quin risks her apparent immortality to save Keir. She offers him sanctuary and a new life on her home world, Lyagnius.
When Keir mistakenly unleashes his dormant alien powers and earns instant exile from Quin's home world, will she risk everything to stand by him again?
Number one, Is that cover not seriously hawt? All right, moving on to an actual review. *Glances at cover one more time.*
OK, I think I'm ready now. I. Loved. This. Loved it. It's some of the best science fiction I've read in a while, with two incredibly different main characters who discover that they're not so different after all.
Yes, there are alien races, yes there are other planets, but deep down, what I love most about this book is that it's a book about people.
Keir has been ostracized his entire life because of his blue skin. Otherwise seemingly normal, Keir has been forced to hide in the shadows, scavenge for food, and fend off attackers since a young age. As a result, he's incredibly distrusting. When he first meets Quin, he's being held in a storage room, a beaten and battered prisoner. The pair manages to escape, leading them down a road where Keir finds not only acceptance, but a deep, abiding love.
Of course, that's not all, and you're gonna have to read the book to find out. The world(s) Pippa creates are wonderfully done, each having its own customs, lore, and geology. Nothing felt...contrived, or too difficult to understand, if that makes any sense. Each world the characters travel to feels like it could exist somewhere, and the different alien races are fleshed out with their own political issues, customs, etc.
At its heart, Keir is a story of love and redemption for both Keir and Quin, two incredibly broken people who find healing with one another. Though Keir has suffered the most physically and mentally, Quin has suffered emotionally. Immortal after the destruction of her world, Quin has traveled the stars searching for the being responsible for destroying everything and everyone she loved. She's loved and lost along the way, and each loss has left its scar. Once she starts falling for her Smurfin companion, she wonders if he could ever love her, but buries her feelings. The middle of the book is when their love story truly starts, and it's pretty amazing to read. I laughed and cried with both as they found their ways to each other.
And just FYI, the last 20 pages or so nearly scarred me. I was almost bawling.
Pippa Jay's Keir is most definitely a fantastic science fiction read (admittedly, I read it all in one day). It's also a fantastic read that happens to be science fiction. I would recommend this heavily.
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1 comment:
Wow! you have really dressed up your blog. Haven't been here in awhile. Must return more often.
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