Monday, June 19, 2023

#Review - Time's Fool by Karen Chance #Fantasy

Series: Dorina Basarab # 6
Format: Kindle, 503 pages
Release Date: March 30, 2023
Publisher: Karen Chance
Source: Amazon Kindle
Genre: Fantasy

Long before Dorina Basarab was a respected member of the Vampire Senate, she was an outcast known as a dhampir. Half human, half vampire, all pariah, she scraped out a living catching monsters even more terrifying than herself. But perhaps the greatest foe she ever faced was also the most unusual—and the most dangerous.

Kit Marlowe wasn’t always a senator, either. Once, he was a master vampire with none of the wealth, family or experience that the rank should have afforded him. He had been Pushed, or forced into the position through a ritual that had risked his life, because his master desperately needed an operative who knew Elizabethan England. Leaving Kit two years into his undead life and facing a country about to go up like a powder keg.

Gillian Urswick was a witch torn between two men: the one she loved and the one she’d lost. But sorting out her heart required solving a mystery that involved the past and the present, as well as any hope she might have for a future.

Together, Dorina, Kit, Gillian and the mysterious vampire Mircea, end up on a mission that will either save the world, or help destroy it.

Karen Chance's Time's Fool is the Sixth installment in the authors Dorina Basarab series. Rather than continuing where the last novel left off, with Dorina in Faerie alongside Ray, and Dory and Louis-Cesare preparing to help her, we get a trip down memory lane and end up with an adventure in Elizabethan England. Time's Fool is divided into parts denoting where we are in time and with which characters as the main focus. The perspective shifts between Dory (sans Dorina), Kit Marlowe (our favorite Elizabethan spy), and Gillian Urswick (a coven witch from two side stories), along with Mircea Basarab. Rhea and Hilde show up from the future, and Louis Cesare is also from the future

Long before Dorina Basarab was a respected member of the Vampire Senate, she was an outcast known as a dhampir. Half human, half vampire, all pariah, hunted by vampires, she scraped out a living catching monsters even more terrifying than herself. But perhaps the greatest foe she ever faced was also the most unusual—and the most dangerous. If you've read this series from the beginning, Dory has some interesting facets that recently came to light including the fact that a certain Master Vampire took away her memories to protect her.

Kit Marlowe once was a master vampire with none of the wealth, family or experience that the rank should have afforded him. He had been Pushed by the Lady Vampire, or forced into the position through a ritual that had risked his life, because his master desperately needed an operative who knew Elizabethan England. Leaving Kit two years into his undead life and facing a country about to go up like a powder keg. Kit's relationship with Gillian drives part of this story.

Gillian Urswick was a witch torn between two the one she loved and the one she’d lost. But sorting out her heart required solving a mystery that involved the past and the present, as well as any hope she might have for a future. Together, Dorina, Kit, Gillian and Mircea, end up on a mission that will either save the world, or help destroy it. Leaps across time, magic, and worlds, this story takes you on a wild ride. 

It also gives further insight into the start of the Coven Wars with the Silver Circle, Dori's discovery of where she came from, and how Marlow came to be the greatest spy master for the Senate. In all fairness, let's not call this Dorina's book, but a combination of Dory, and Kit, and Gillian, as well as the villain of the story, Morgan, a vengeful witch ghost, who is trying to rewrite history and destroy the Silver circle rather than the Spanish armada. And, before you ask, no, Cassie Palmer does not show up in this story, but her apparent heir mentions that she's too busy to help with the events that happen in the book. 





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