Bertrice Small

The World of Hetar — (2005-2008) Publisher: Welcome, dear reader, to the world of Hetar. A land of Forest Lords, of Shadow Princes and Coastal Kings. A place that is both civilized and savage. Where the social classes know their place, but where anyone can, under the right conditions, advance to the highest pinnacle. This is a place where pleasure is not censured but encouraged; where the ends are justified by the means. And yet all is not as perfect as it may seem. The orderly, elegant veneer of refined Hetar cannot prevent the rebellion brewing in the Outlands, a dangerous place of both magic and mystery. From the City that is the very center of Hetar, Lara, the beautiful half-faerie daughter of John Swiftsword, ventures forth on a journey that will take her into the heart of darkness and the depths of desire, as she learns the true meaning of love that will last an eternity — a love that will change the destiny of Hetar forever.

Lara

Lara has been sold into slavery by her father. For most young women in the world of Hetar, this is a disaster that brings about nothing but fear and sorrow. For Lara however it is but the very beginning of her adventure. Half human, half faerie, Lara is stunningly beautiful and willful as well. Her faerie protector guides her in finding her destiny which involves a series of great adventures and great lovers. Finally reaching the Outlands, Lara comes to realize her destiny is to aid the people she finds there in their war against her homeland Hatar. But when the battle comes will she be ready to face her fears?

Ok, I searched my mind long and hard to find a word that would describe Lara. The only word I can come up with that would seem to fit would be: kitsch. The plot of Lara is pretty simple, and it is very obvious that it is Small's first leap from romance novels into fantasy novels. It is also obvious that Small is a non-confrontational person. Everything comes so easy to Lara — she's beautiful, so everyone wants to sleep with her, she has a natural skill with weapons, she's super smart, she has magic to help her when her brain can't, and the list goes on and on. She has no faults.

Not only was the fact that the main character has no faults sort of sickening, but I also wanted to barf when all of the obstacles in Lara's way bowed down to her. She had to only fight in one battle at the very end where her side won a total victory slaying all of the adversary and only taking about 20 deaths on the "good" side, and none of them significant in the least to the plotline.

Small's writing style leaves something to be desired as well. Take a line from page 405 where she is describing a battle:

…soon the battlefield ran red with blood, and it was difficult not to slip or fall…

Huh? In the heat of battle when she could have swords clashing, men screaming, heroics going on all around, she decides to say that it's hard to stand up?

The dialogue between the characters is also rather on the pathetic side. It reminded me of The Boxcar Children. Do you remember that book? You read it when you were maybe like 8 and the characters said: "Good!" to everything and didn't speak like normal people would? At times Small got almost Shakespearian on the reader and added in a lot of 'nays' and 'ayes' and 'thous.' It was quite tedious at times.

Now that I'm done destroying this book, I do have to admit that despite this large laundry list of problems with the plot, characters, dialogue, etc… I actually kind of liked Lara because, despite all its shortcomings, Lara kept me entertained. I'm not running out to get the sequel — as the ending is in no way a cliffhanger — but I'll put it on my book swapping list and if I have a bunch of credits built up when it comes along I'll consider reading it.

Lara is not going to win any awards anytime soon, but the theme can appeal to those who enjoy romance stories with a touch of fantasy, and is easy enough to read and get through quickly. A good light starter book for those new to romantic fantasy… just don't have super-high expectations going in. —Julie Waineo

A Distant Tomorrow

Five long and peaceful years have passed since the Winter War the people of the Outlands fought and won against the greedy nation of Hetar. But Gaius Prospero has not given up his scheme to become emperor, and after an unexpected and tragic blow, the Fairy woman Lara is pulled towards her distant and elusive destiny once again.

Unexpectedly Lara finds herself in a distant land across the sea know as Terah where, with her newfound powers, she manages to banish an evil curse and earns the love and adoration of the ruler Magnus Hauk. However, even in this far away land, Prospero threatens Lara and her new way of life. Together Lara, Magnus, and the people of Terah must stand together against the locust land of Hetar in order to continue to live in peace and prosperity.

Admittedly, A Distant Tomorrow did keep my attention, probably better than its prequel Lara did, in actuality. A Distant Tomorrow still had the same clichés that were present in Lara, however: a heroine who can do no wrong, hastily written sex scenes, and situations that are glossed over and therefore fail to create any kind of suspense or drama.

I really have no idea why I keep coming back to works by Bertrice Small. She’s really not all that gifted as a writer, especially a fantasy writer, but there is something oddly alluring about her style and the continuing story of Lara and her friends. A Distant Tomorrow, and indeed the entire World of Hetar series is an easy and mindless read for those of us who enjoy the occasional trashy romance novel. I must admit that I’m looking forward to the next installment.

Bottom line: Can I call A Distant Tomorrow and the associated books good? No. Mindlessly entertaining? Absolutely. —Julie Waineo

The Twilight Lord

Lara, Domina of Terah has been extremely happy caring for her family and husband. She has been reunited with her other children in Terah and they are learning to love their mother again. Nothing could be better.

But over in the Dark Lands, the Twilight Lord is planning her abduction because he has seen the future and Lara is to be the mother of his heir. After erasing her memory and bringing her to the Dark Lands, the Twilight Lord plans to make Lara his bride. Will she be able to remember who she is and escape before the Twilight Lord can complete his evil plot?

Alright, I have been exceptionally kind to this series up until this book. Some might say I’ve even “thrown it a bone” more than once. Unfortunately the charade cannot continue. Where I found the other books in this series (Lara and A Distant Tomorrow) charming and to some extent entertaining, The Twilight Lord was anything but. I got to chapter 3 and started wanting to put the book down.

Bertrice Small is usually the master of romance, writing great romantic scenes. But, the ones in The Twilight Lord were just scary and kind of disgusting. When I wrote this review, I listed several specifics, but my editor has taken them out because she didn't want Fantasy Literature to be blocked by Google SafeSearch.

I pressed on through that however, attempting to give the rest of the story a try. It only got worse from there. The dialogue got more and more cheesy and it seemed like Bertrice Small had just stopped trying.

I finally couldn’t take it anymore and put it down. Save yourself some misery (not to mention some stomach turning) and leave The Twilight Lord on the shelf. —Julie Waineo