Soldier of Dorsa by Eliza Andrews is book two in the Dorsa series. This one follows Tasia and Joslyn on separate journeys, each with their own quest. Tasia thinks Joslyn is dead but she has little time to mourn for her love as war, betrayal and desperate measures force her into situations she is not prepared for.
Tasia fights for a crown she never expected to wear, in an effort to return honour to a name that is no longer enough to keep the traitors at bay.
Meanwhile, Joslyn fights to get back to her lover before her time runs out. The deal she has made in exchange for her life back means she no longer has the luxury of time.
In this one, we are introduced to Linna, the slave girl, who is gifted to Tasia by the Lord who is offering Tasia a safe place to hide while she makes plans to retake her throne.
Linna is a smart, adamant young woman who becomes an important character in this and the next book.
Despite the odds, these three remarkable women are fighting to ensure that Tasia wins the throne back from the traitors who stole it.
Intertwined fates, bargains and schemes are interspersed with slower story moments allowing us to really get to know and care about the main characters.
Pros
We jump back and forth in time as we explore Joslyn’s history. I liked the depth it gave to her character and the context for the way she is now.
I also enjoyed the new characters who were introduced, especially Linna who ends up being a major part of the ongoing story.
As always Eliza Andrews writes beautifully and the story is captivating if rather sad at times. This series is extraordinary
Heads up
Tasia and Joslyn are apart from one another for most of this book. That makes it difficult if you were hoping to see them get their happy ending. Persevere though, they get it at the end of book three.
This series contains violence and mentions of rape. It’s not graphic and generally in passing, though.
Narration
Elizabeth Saydah narrated the entire series. She is a wonderful narrator. Her work is as layered and textured as the world she is bringing to life. It was easy to tell the different characters apart and the wide variety of accents was fun to listen to.
The Conclusion
I enjoyed this one. The politics and intrigue that was started in the first book ramped up for this one making it feel a little like a giant game of chess. Having said, that it was never difficult to follow what was happening or keep track of things.
The story was unexpected, darker than the first book and often left one feeling frustrated by the gap between the women in love. But knowing where it ended up with book three I can see why we needed this story so do read it if you enjoyed book one.
And definitely go on to the next one after this. It gives you the happy ever after that you crave.
Excerpt from Soldier of Dorsa by Eliza Andrews
In faint grey light tinted pink by the rising sun, two women in two different places worked through a series of movements. Filled with leaps and crouches, the sweeping of arms and legs in great arcs and tight thrusts, sidesteps, dodges, and spins, an outside observer might have taken each woman to be engaged in a kind of unusual, exotic dance.
“What is she doing?” the observer watching from the shadows may have asked himself. “Is she imitating the mountain men, dancing to bring the rain?”
But no one watched either woman. Each had made sure of that, because their dance was a secret one.
One woman danced on floorboards so worn that years of footsteps had etched visible pathways into them. These floorboards rolled and shifted beneath her feet, for she was belowdecks in a merchant carrack sailing from Reit in the East to Paratheen in Terinto. Trade goods surrounded her, primarily in the form of sheep and cattle, and, although the men who hired her on as a cook thought she did not know, she also knew that a hidden compartment contained two barrels filled with meravin mushrooms — heavily taxed delicacies that were easily worth twice or even three times the cost of all the livestock.
Despite the unstable surface upon which she danced, her movements were fluid and graceful. The ship bucked and rocked, but she did not. Any warrior of the Seven Cities, who might have recognized her dance for what it was, would have also called her deadly.
The woman on the ship was known as Joslyn of Terinto. Only a few weeks earlier, she had been dead. But she made a bargain to a dark creature in a dark world to gain one more year of life in order to protect the woman she loved.
The second woman danced on an opulent rooftop courtyard. She had pushed the furniture to the edges of the patio to make room for her dance, and as she moved, she silently recited the names of each part, lips forming the words as she went:
Mountain. She planted her feet; she changed her breathing.
River. She dodged left, then right, then forward, then back, never letting her feet leave the ground.
Rising sun. She crossed imaginary daggers before her — because the movements were meant to be done without one’s weapons — and parried against an invisible foe, moving his weapon above and then behind her.
The woman on the rooftop was an amateur — but a well-trained amateur, if only she would stop mouthing the names of the movements like a child learning to read.
Her name was Natasia of House Dorsa — the Traitor Princess to some, the heir to Emperor Andreth and rightful Empress to others. Only a few weeks earlier, Tasia had watched the woman she loved die before her eyes. Tasia, by all rights, should be dead, too, but somehow here she was, a royal in exile, taking refuge with a strange lord in a strange land.
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Series: The Chronicles of Dorsa
Soldier of Dorsa
Bits and Bobs
ISBN number: 979-8621620448
Publisher: Indie Author
Audiobook Publisher: Indie Author
Narrator: Elizabeth Saydah
Audiobook Length: 21 hours 45 minutes
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