Ynyr (The Torinians, Book 3)

3 STARS!

Ugh. The cover!

By the way, how did you guys mentally pronounce his name? I went with "Yan-Yur". This book was better than Wray, but still not as great as Grim. Also, people annoyed with editing issues should be warned that this book has similar editing issues seen in Grim. *** SPOILER WARNING *** I found the author re-using a lot of the plot devices from Grim: * Abby talking to the males under Ynyr's command and Ynyr being jealous. * Abby wanting to clean the mansion and re-decorate it. * Abby being horrified at the horded treasure on the female level * Abby befriends a local artisan, but instead of a glass-maker, it's a woodworker this time (Rude, egotistical displaced master woodworker) * Ynyr being insecure about himself due to being 3rd born. (Grim insecure about scarring) I'll refine this list with another re-read. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoyed it. But it felt like sort of a re-read with new characters. The first conflict begins with everyone saying Ynyr shouldn't take Abby to the Etruia (sp?) region as it's still rife with Bertos bad males. Abby gets no say in the matter and is very upset she is being sent to live with Ynyr's parents and brother Ull who believes she should be with him as Ynyr is just a 3rd male. Eventually Abby makes a good enough argument that she needs to be with Ynyr to help create their home as a couple. The second conflict is lack of trust/faith in the mate. After their first night together in their new caste, the Goddess and her mate have communicated to Ynyr via his dreams and Ynyr is hiding this information from Abby. Ynyr fears Abby won't believe him. The next morning, Abby realizes Ynyr is hiding something from her and becomes insecure about it. The main conflict in this one is an oldie-but-goodie involving the sins of the father. A very young boy is found hiding in the castle (3 year old) and all of the Tornians seem to already know about him. Brice is the orphaned child of Risa & Bertos. He has been hiding around the castle, stealing food and sleeping where he can as no one is taking care of him. Abby's heart is immediately wrapped up in this poor little boy (remember Abby was a kindergarten teacher) and wants to adopt & care for him. But all of the Tornians think of Brice as tainted by a bad bloodline. The toddler is frequently referred to as a little caca (shit). Abby is horrified that all of the Tornians want to send Brice to some prison type colony for orphans & disgraced males. She calls Lisa and Grim begging them to come pick up her and Brice. Ynyr forbids them from retrieving Abby and Brice. Grim also agrees Brice should go to the colony of misfit males. (Lisa isn't happy with this either) Abby abandons sleeping with Ynyr and sleeps in the same room with Brice. She ceases all re-decorating plans and furniture orders from the wood-worker she's adopted. Everyone is concerned about her change of attitude. Meanwhile, there are 'bad males' who have been dismissed from the castle that are plotting to hurt Ynyr through hurting Abby. (re-used plot device from Grim) When the "bad males" are about to hurt Abby badly, possibly kill her - Brice saves the day by getting Ynyr and Ull to ride to her rescue. This makes everyone realize that Brice isn't bad, so Ynyr agrees to raise Brice as a cherished member of the family. There were a lot of historical references to an ancient king of Tornian and his beloved wife who happened to be the sister of the Goddess they all worship. The HEA occurs when Ynyr renames his house after Abby's last name as this is what the ancient king did. The Goddess and her mate up above smile and say they knew he could do it. Meanwhile, the bad God Daco is throwing tantrums over this loss. I kind of find the Goddess/God scenes a little unsubtle. I liked it better in Grim when it was hinted at the Goddess doesn't appear in any scenes. The God/Goddess scenes feel like the Disney/Mulan ancestor scenes. Just weird and cheesy. Abby & Ynyr's first sex scene was pretty detailed and steamy, but that's the only one (like Grim) HEA Recommended if you loved Grim

#ALIEN #review #3STARS