Valley of Silence (The Circle Trilogy, Book 3)
by Nora Roberts
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Book Reviews of Valley of Silence (The Circle Trilogy, Book 3)
Book Review: Series review
Summary: 3 Stars
I'll start out by saying, I am not a fan of Vampire Romance. I do love and read romance, but this particular flavor of the genre is definitely not my cup of tea.
I've read Vampire horror fiction by some of the best - 'They Thirst' by Robert R. McCammon; 'Salem's Lot' by Stephen King; 'The Vampire Lestat' by Anne Rice - and was entertained as well as scared witless.
When the Vampire Romance craze began sweeping the publishing industry, I tried on a few for size and didn't care for them. It has now snow-balled to include werewolves, ghosts, demons, and all manner of creatures that "go bump in the night". We now have romantic monsters, smart-aleck monsters, erotic monsters and even kinky monsters. Frankly, I don't "get it" as there is nothing even remotely romantic about any of them. But that's just my opinion.
However...
When I saw that Nora Roberts was having a crack at it, I decided, "Why not?" I have yet to read one of her suspense novels that I didn't thoroughly enjoy and I have liked a few of her trilogies. So, I decided to read her Circle Trilogy. I should probably note here, this series is actually a blend of Vampire/Monster romance with Fantasy.
The first novel is Hoyt and Glenna's story. While it begins in 12th century Ireland, it takes place predominately in modern day. For the most part, this book sets the stage. We are introduced to the main characters, the mission, and the goal. Hoyt is a sorcerer and Glenna is a white-witch. Roughly the first third of the book is fairly bland, but stick with it. The pace starts to pick up as you get deeper into the story.
The second book is Larkin and Blair's story. Here we get to know the world of Geall where the final battle will take place. This is a magical place where dragons are as common as birds. Larkin is a shape-shifter and Blair a demon-hunter. While Blair's profile might remind some of "Buffy", the resemblance is remote. Nora definitely made this character into her own. The pace of this book is fairly even and fast. I never found myself struggling to get through it. This was my favorite book of the three.
The third and last book is Cian and Moira's story. I was impressed with Cian. Nora actually made me care about a vampire, I didn't think it was possible. He is truly a tortured hero. The final battle in this book, while predictable, was still intense and rapidly paced. I found myself reading it so fast, I had to go back to pick up things I missed. There are some deranged, disturbing, twisted moments in this book. I almost stopped reading it a couple times. The only thing that kept me glued to it was my investment in Cian. This was my least favorite of the three books.
Overall, I have to say I enjoyed the series, which surprised me. Her main characters are vividly detailed, the worlds she shows us are rich and vibrant. As you read the series, you can "see" it all in brilliant technicolor. You can "smell" the grass, the flowers, the sweat, the sulfur. You "hear" the birds and the clanging of the swords. You "feel" everything the characters are feeling. But then again, this is Nora. Overall, I'd give the series 3 1/2 stars.
Book Review: end of the trilogy
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the last of the Circle trilogy that started with Morrigan's Cross and continued with Dance of the Gods. The consensus seemed to be that this would be the best of the series and everyone seemed to be waiting for Cian's story.
So when I wasn't thrilled, I wanted to know why--what other people saw in this book that I didn't, and vice versa--and I read a bunch of reviews to try to figure it out. The positive ones drooled over Cian; the negative ones complained that there were *gasp* vampires. I don't know why I bothered.
It did make me think more about my reactions, though, which was, after all, the purpose.
First, the good stuff. I liked the interactions between the group of 6, and basically the characters in general. The four stars is primarily for the characters, including the bad guys. The vampire leader Lilith, her 2nd in command Lora, her "son" Davey, and their wizard ally Midir were nicely creepy, believable, and 3-dimensional. They were vain and selfish, but cared about each other. I didn't agree with the reviews that said they weren't evil enough. Evil with human characteristics is so much more interesting than just pure evil.
Also, Cian and Moira were in a pretty impossible situation--always a good plot for a romance. He's an immortal vampire, content with his life in 21st-century earth. She's a mortal, queen of her people, in Geall, an alternate world that's mostly like medieval earth.
I appreciated Moira's growth once she became queen, and how she proved herself to her people, stood up for them, and motivated them.
But I think this trilogy dragged on too long for me. The war that was supposed to provide the bulk of the conflict in this book didn't. I didn't really care about any of the people involved in the earlier skirmishes; and the outcome, and even the course of the big battle at the end were predictable and thus lacked tension.
There was very little tension in the romance plot, either. Cian and Moira initially tried to deny their feelings for each other, but Moira decided to seize what happiness she could, and didn't have much trouble convincing Cian. Any complaints about their relationship from the other 4 or from Moira's subjects were dismissed easily.
And oddly, despite the fact that in Morrigan's Cross, Cian was a fascinating character, he had very little to do in this book. It's primarily Moira's book, about her becoming queen, her personal growth, her battle to save her people, and her tragedy of loving someone she couldn't have a happily-ever-after with. Cian was just a secondary character here.
As for the ending... I know plenty of people like paranormal stories that end like this, but it feels like a cop-out to me. In fact, I think I'd have liked this book better--or at least felt it was more honest--without the happy ending. Don't get me wrong--I do not at all advocate pushing the envelope of romance genre conventions by eschewing the happy ending--with an other-than-happy ending, I'd have called it something other than romance.
Book Review: Nice Wrap-Up
Summary: 4 Stars
Nora Roberts' trilogy about a sorcerer (Hoyt), a witch (Glenna), a shape shifter (Larkin), a demon hunter (Blair), a vampire (Cian), and a scholar and queen (Moira) who fight an apocalyptic battle against an army of vampires draws to a close. In Book I, Hoyt and Glenna fell in love and formed the Circle of Six with the others. Moira and her cousin Larkin came through the Dance of the Gods (where Hoyt also came ahead in time almost a thousand years) from the land of Geall, an almost storybook place of dragons and a Cinderella-style castle. In Book II, Blair and Larkin develop feelings for each other while they train and plan for the battle to come, then everyone travels through the dance back to Geall, where Moira would become queen, and begin to ready the Geallian people for battle. Book I was more about all six characters and the formation of their circle, whereas Book II was mostly about the romance between Moira and Larkin. This book follows more of that formula when the attraction between the vampire and the queen heats up and ignites. There is a bittersweet poignancy to this romance, however, as Cian is a vampire. He and Glenna are not only from different worlds, but Cian is not really a man; some even refer to him as a demon. They can never be together, never marry, never conceive children together. Cian has lived 900 years and will never age, yet in an amount of time almost meaningless to him, Moira will grow old and die. Their love is impossible, but they are irrevocably drawn into it nonetheless, each knowing heartbreak is inevitable. When the moment comes, Nora does not shy away from a single crushingly bleak emotion from either of them. The whole time, I knew that something would have to happen to bring them together in the end, but I had no idea what that would be, and neither Cian or Moira believed they had a future. They were heartbroken, not over some silly set of circumstances, stubborn pride, or miscommunication that could easily be overcome, but by the very laws of nature. When the solution came it was almost disappointingly simple, but in the end, these six characters had been through enough trials and bloodshed, magic had been a constant presence, they traveled through time, and even between worlds. Perhaps making it simple was best after all. The ending bespoke of how love makes giving up everything else a pittance to pay, a decision so impossibly easy to make that it's not a decision at all. It's true that Nora Roberts could sell millions of copies of drunken ramblings, but the reason why her books continue to sell so well is that she tries new things, breaks new ground, and finds new ways to tell a story that has basically never changed. While this trilogy may not be for everyone, with its violence and fantasy elements, I enjoyed not only the unusual and creative story and colorful characters, I also admired the way it was crafted.Book Review: Cian &Moira lose the spotlight, as the battle takes centerstage.
Summary: 4 Stars
Much like the first book of the series our romantic leads, this time Moira and Cian, must share the spotlight with the rest of the 'Circle' and with the climatic battle against Lilith and her immoral forces of darkness. While this dilutes the romance between Cian and Moira a bit, the story was still enjoyable even though it ended up feeling more like a classic fantasy novel with romantic elements than a romance novel.
In Valley of Silence, Cian's emotionless facade finally cracks as Moira enthralls him as no other woman has in all his thousands of years. Moira, now warrior-Queen, is drawn to dark and brooding vampire Cian and draws him out from behind the walls he has built around his heart. Though Cian tries to resist her allure, Moira forces him to acknowledge the love that will bring them a few brief days of happiness -- and likely years and years of heartache -- since Cian is very clear to Moira that their time together ends with the coming battle. Whether or not they live or die, Moira must stay in her world, queen to her people, and Cian, with his inner demon, must return to his own. The author, Roberts manages to make their relationship very poignant and Cian's final letter to Moira brought tears to my eyes. But the subsequent resolution to their dilemma was a bit predictable and Cian in the final chapter, seemed like a different character from the tightly controlled Cian who has lurked in the shadows throughout the entire series. As much as I love happily ever afters, this lessened the emotion impact of their reunion bit for me.
In addition to Moira and Cian's relationship, Roberts continues to forge relationships between her heroic circle of six. In Valley of Silence, the others, Larkin in particular, form connections to Cian in spite of his prickliness, to help him reconnect with his long denied humanity. Also the rest of the ensemble, Larkin -- who I loved in the last book -- Blair, Glenna, and Hoyt all have decent parts to play in the final preparations and they all get their own moments in the spotlight in the final battle. This continued use and development of previous characters is one thing that was really well done in the series. Even the villainess Lilith, though not redeemable in any way, is very well fleshed out in side threads and flash backs. Though this time spent with the other characters pulled the focus from Cian and Moira and made this book less of a romance than the predecessors, it was perfectly acceptable for a fantasy trilogy.
Even though Valley of Silence wasn't quite what I expected, I still enjoyed the series very much and I continue to be impressed by the fertile imagination of Nora Roberts.
Book Review: Not with a bang, but a whimper....
Summary: 3 Stars
I wanted to love Valley of Silence and fully expected that I would, as my appreciation for Dance of the Gods was greater than for Morrigan's Cross, and I thought the upward trend would continue. But it didn't. Valley of Silence, for me, was a let-down. It wasn't a bad book, and I certainly didn't dislike it. But it didn't wow me or make me loath to give up the Circle of Six.
The relationship between Cian and Moira was remarkably angst-free, which was kind of nice. They were very grown-up about it. They knew it could never work, there was no future for them, but they were willing to take advantage of the NOW they did have. They acknowledged their love for one another early on, and Moira defended her feelings and the right to act on them physically when she ran up against opposition and judgment from her people. She was level-headed and rational, and I admired the fact that here was a female character who didn't lack for self-esteem and common sense. You go, girl!
But still...the book fell flat for me. It lacked poignancy at the end, or any great sense of urgency. There's a big showdown, then it's over. I can't say more because I don't want to post anything spoilerish, but in my opinion the last tenth of the book was just not as emotional or celebrational or poignant as I would have expected. Very anticlimactic.
I also held onto some of my earlier quibbles, like the fact that our Circle of Six managed to save the world(s) after only three months of preparation, while the book mentions how Lilith spent centuries preparing. And Lilith just didn't seem very evil to me. Deviant, self-indulged, spoiled, petulant, tempermental, sadistic, more than bit insane at times...but not particularly evil. I've read a lot of Nora books over the years -- all but just a few -- and I've noticed that sometimes her villains can be a bit cartoonish. To me, Lilith was a bit like that: like a caricature of evil rather than a truly evil character.
There were things I definitely liked. I loved the character of Moira, and got a serious charge out of her adoption of American slang. So funny. I liked that Cian and Moia were mature about their relationship, and that we didn't have to wade through any kind of Big Mis or other typical romance novel plot device. But at the end of the book, I found myself wishing for more. I didn't necessarily wish for the series to continue, but just that this last book had better satisfied my craving for a big, poignant, emotional, stirring conclusion.