I was given this book through the Paranormal Romance and Urban Fantasy Fanatics R2R for an honest review, thank you.



This story is told in third person with switching viewpoints through the main characters, Tardon a male warrior and Arianna a female warrior.

The Curse of Gremdon is set in a world where there are people who live within a fortress governed by the “Elders” and those who live outside the fortress who are called the “Cursed.” Warriors protect the people from the Cursed. The amulet worn by the people was given to them by the Elders supposedly to help protect them from those who are Cursed. I figured out pretty soon that the amulet controlled the people, but not to what extent, which I will leave for the reader to find out. I liked the world building, very interesting idea, although I think it would have been better to spend more time on the story of Gremdon, the Elders, and the society within the fortress rather all the over the top angst between Tardon and Arianna.

Now we get to Tardon and Arianna. Sigh, where do I begin? They have got to be two of the most annoying characters I’ve ever read. For half of the book, Tardon is lusting after Arianna and doing his ”I am Caveman! No one dare touch or even look at Arianna, she is MINE!” routine. He’s constantly threatening to kill Sardon because Tardon thinks Sardon wants Arianna for his own. Arianna on the other hand, went from a fierce warrior to a whining female. When she’s wounded she thinks she is useless, that Tardon will no longer want her. On and on she goes, “Does he love me? No, he doesn’t love me! He’s had so many other women who are much more skilled! I am not pretty enough! I am useless!” Dear God, I wanted to smack her and Tardon upside the head, or at least duct tape both of their mouths shut. Arianna was a whiny character that hardly ever spent time as a warrior; she was either injured, chained in the dungeon or pregnant. The author could have spent more time on the world building and the fortress and the stories about Gremdon rather than wasting so much time with the ridiculous relationship, or rather non-relationship, between Tardon and Arianna. Some people probably like characters like this, but I prefer a story with strong, real personalities and not an exaggerated example of a Caveman and a Damsel in Distress. Over half of the first part of the book before the journey could have been removed and the story would have been lots less annoying.

Next is the technical stuff. The book cover is great, very attractive, I like it a lot. However the bad stuff. Formatting for my NOOK, absolutely sucked. This book has some of the worst formatting I’ve read on an eBook. Paragraphs run together or cut off suddenly in the middle of a sentence half way up the page, only to skip a blank page and then continue on. Dialogue of two different characters run together in the same paragraph so it makes it difficult to figure out who is talking. Everything that could possibly go wrong with the formatting happened except font size changing.

In conclusion, the author created a unique world that I wish she had spent more time on. What kind of legends surrounded the Elders and how did they arrive? We could have been shown more of the workings of the fortress. As it was, the author wasted too much time on the ridiculous antics of both Tardon and Arianna for half of the book, which is a real shame. I give this story 2 stars because of the main characters. Even though I found the world building interesting, the mc's over the top behavior ruined it for me.


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My Thoughts

I knew I was going to enjoy this book I just did not realize how much. I absolutely LOVED IT !!!!

Ciara has created a fresh and unique story that will leave you well on the edge of your seat. This story is full of sensual passion and adventure. A love story like no other.

Are journey is with Arianna a fierce warrior living in a kingdom where she believes that they are there to be protected from the people (well what the elders of the kingdom call them the Cursed) of Gremdon. It is not until Arianna’s brother Mardel took ill with what they call the death fever. That things start to unravel and Arianna learns the truth about the elders. Along this journey Arianna finds love with Tardon but it is a long journey they both must travel in order to be with each other.

Ciara has created characters with depth and a world that is scary and beautiful at the same time. And her description is fantastic. At one point in the book her description was so good I had the heebee jeebeez it was like the rats from the dungeon where eating at me.

It is easy to say that this book is ah~may~zing and I pray that this will be a series. One kingdom was brought back into the light and out from under the spell of the elders but there are many more kingdoms that need saved. ( )

Originally posted at http://ufreview.com/2012/03/15/the-curse-of-gremdon/

I received a copy of this from the author through the group Knights of the Round Table on Goodreads so thanks to all for allowing me to read and review. The story is about two warriors Arianna and Tarden who leave the castle and travel to retrieve sap from the Tree of Life, the outerworld is filled with murderous "cursed" creatures and they must get the sap without falling to the curse. Arianna is doing this because her brother has fallen ill and the sap is the only thing that will save him and the only way the elders will allow him to be saved. Tarden is going because the elders have promised him he can marry Arianna if they are successful.

I loved the world building in this book, the images and descriptions were vivid and I could actually picture this medieval castle as I was reading. I could envision every detail and kudos to Ms. Knight it was probably the best scene setting I have read in a long time. When writing, especially fantasy I love when authors take the time to create a vivid picture of the world they want us to read share. The world was also HUGELY sexist where the male warriors were indulged and given gifts by the Elders and by gifts I mean whores. With the exception of Arianna who was the only female warrior most of the women were shopkeepers, peasants or whores.

I really liked the character Arianna, she was the only female warrior and she fought tooth and nail throughout the book to save her brother. The romance between her and Tardon was also great and I kept hoping for them to have their HEA. While the virgin thing, you know the female heroine in a romance are almost always virgins, usually gets on my very last nerve the author actually made it work. I found Arianna's innocence actually very endearing in this case.

Tardon, I found a little harder to like at times especially the beginning I found him to be a bit cliche, the broody misunderstood warrior who is really sensitive at heart but with a jealous streak a mile wide...yeah that guy. It wasn't until they set out for the Tree of Life that I found him interesting. Up until then I had found the other male characters more interesting. He started to show more depth when they left the castle and then I started cheering him on.

While I really did like the story I found the beginning dragged a bit, thrown in the dungeon brought out of the dungeon beaten up a bit back in the dungeon. Make out with Tardon almost have sex, almost get caught and lather rinse repeat. Once they set out from the castle the story got more interesting and the plot starts to unfold and questions start to get answered and that is when things got good.Overall I really did like Curse of Gremdon and I would recommend it to any fantasy fan.

3.5/5 Worth the read. ( )