The Green Rose

Stephanie
Burkhart
Genre: 
Paranormal

Peace on the continent of Gaia is being threatened as the savage wyldebeasts have somehow breached the Wall that protects the allied countries from their violence.  They are led by a treacherous wizard who will stop at nothing to claim his birthright.  The nobles of the realm task Ivanstan, crowned prince of Dahaka, and Sonia, crowned princess of Tapin with finding the Green Rose – the only object powerful enough to defeat the dark wizard.  During the quest, the two royals fall in love.  

From the opening lines, the author sweeps the reader on an adventure rife with magic, deception, and romance.  The premise is interesting, and the mystical aspects are familiar enough to be comforting, without being boring, to those who read fantasy often.  Most, if not all, great epic fantasies are multi-volume works, and with good reason – more space to develop characters and story lines.  The Green Rose tells a complete tale in one volume, and does a fair job, but a bit more development of certain scenes, especially the one that takes place at the witches’ cottage, would have been welcome.  Perhaps it is because of this space limitation that the romance between the prince and princess falls a bit flat.  Nevertheless, readers who do not want to commit the time to a bookshelf worth of installments will find an engaging tale with a complete story all wrapped up in one tidy package.  

 

Leslie Stokes