Destiny’s Tarot by Thea Harrison

Narrated by Sophie Eastlake

Destiny’s Tarot is a duology of two Elder Races novellas – Devil’s Gate and Hunter’s Season. They fit well together because the main character of the second novella turns up late in the first so there is a kind of continuity to it even though they are separate stories.

This set of audios is for existing fans of the series – while they are stand alone stories and don’t have a big impact on the main players from the books, the world building is scant and relies upon a reader’s prior knowledge. That’s fine as those who’ve read/listened to the books don’t need a lot of exposition and, regardless, the full length books are great.

I actually have all of the series novellas in print but I haven’t had time to read them. I’m really glad they’ve been released as audiobooks and the dual format makes the price worthwhile. (The other Elder Races duo logy audio, Divine Tarot, features the two earlier novellas – True Colors and Natural Evil.)

Devil’s Gate

Those familiar with the series, will recall Medusa, Seremela Telemar. She was formerly a Medical Examiner in Chicago but has taken up a research position with Rune and Carling in their new venture. Her sister calls to let her know that her niece, Vetta, ran away some months ago and a private investigator has now located her – will Seremela please fetch her back? Seremela has a complicated relationship with her sister and vows this will be the last time she drops everything for her wayward niece. After this, Vetta and her mother will have to work things out for themselves.

Duncan Turner is a vampire – progeny of Carling in fact. He is a high-powered lawyer with a super sexy, Liam Neeson-like, voice and Seremela has had a crush on him for a while now. In late middle-age for a Medusa, Seremela has little romantic expectation in her life. And, it has been her experience that many people are turned off by the snakes growing out of her head (instead of hair).

This was my first Medusa romance and it was a lot of fun. Seremela is very kind and sweet but also noticeably not human. She has some human physical characteristics – primarily her general body shape and lady parts but her skin is greenish with a snake like pattern lightly embossed on it and she has slit for pupils. And then there’s the head snakes.

Duncan has been fascinated with Seremela since they first met and he’s not turned off by the snakes at all. In fact, they seem mighty partial to him and take every opportunity to wrap themselves lovingly around him.

The conflict was fairly minimal and fairly easily resolved and the pair moved to “I love you” too quickly, but I liked them very much and especially enjoyed learning more about the Medusa mythology.

While Duncan’s is described as being a deep baritone that has that uber-sexy quality like a Liam Neeson or an Alan Rickman, Ms. Eastlake can’t really perform in a manner that matches that description. She does, however, give Duncan a very nice, mild Irish lilt and he sounded markedly different from Rune and the other males in the story.

Sophie Eastlake is such a wonderful narrator for this series and I’m so pleased that Tantor stuck with her for the novella duologies (which were published digitally by Samhain, unlike the full length novels which were published by Berkley). She nails the vibe of the stories and conveys the tension and suspense of the action, and the humour and passion of the romantic pairings as well.

This story was a pleasure to listen to and I’d happily listen to more about Seremela and her Duncan.

Hunter’s Season

The romance in Hunter’s Season is slower to develop and was therefore more successful for me. Aubrey Riordan is Chancellor to Dark Fae Queen Niniane. After she took the throne, Aubrey’s then-wife, Naida, plotted to kill her in order to install her own husband on the throne. She died as a result of her treason and something broke in Aubrey thereafter. He was so utterly betrayed by Naida – he is a man of honour and a genuine public servant. He is also loyal to Niniane.

As an assassin, it was Xanthe’s task to kill the last of the treasonous plotters. It took her a year to achieve and the cost to her emotionally was high. In doing so, she also permanently blew her cover so she is now assigned to the Palace Guard and spends a lot of time with the queen.

Xanthe has long had a case of hero worship for Aubrey but as she spends time with him, it becomes a more real and personal emotion. When there is a nearly successful attempt on Aubrey’s life, Niniane and Tiago ask Xanthe to care for Aubrey at her cabin so that he can recuperate in secret while they investigate the plot.

This novella then is effectively a “cabin romance”. As Aubrey recovers and spends time in close proximity to Xanthe, he finds himself falling in love with her and appreciating aspects of her beauty (not necessarily physical but some of that too). They do fall in love quickly, but it was much longer than the couple of days in the first story. There is also an epilogue some months later, making the romance feel better developed.

Sophie Eastlake again delivered the tone of the story well, portraying Xanthe’s nervousness and hesitance in dealing with Aubrey. She’s crushing on him so hard and doesn’t think he could ever see her as a romantic partner; it just seems impossible to her. Aubrey is a little older and, after all he has experienced, his philosophy in terms of his romantic life is now (literally – and also one which he borrows from Tiago) “fuck what people think”. Both Aubrey and Xanthe had a distinct (and similar) accent, which I think is what Ms. Eastlake is using for the Dark Fae. It isn’t quite Irish, it isn’t quite British, and it isn’t exactly Midwestern USA either. Sometimes, it sounded a bit like one accent was fading into another but on reflection I think it was just that the narrator was trying to come up with something unique for this race.

Xanthe is not traditionally pretty but she is not unattractive either. Nevertheless, as Aubrey gets to know her, his fascination grows and she becomes more and more beautiful to him. It was apparent in his voice as the story progressed.

I liked this story better than Devil’s Gate. Both were enjoyable but this was a touch more romantic.

Kaetrin

Narration:  B

Book Content:  B

Steam Factor:  Glad I had by earbuds in

Violence:  Fighting

Genre:  Paranormal Romance

Publisher:  Tantor Audio

Destiny’s Tarot was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.