The Choice by Nora Roberts

Reviewed by Wendy Lipke

The Choice is the third book in the Dragon Heart Legacy trilogy by Nora Roberts. Although a reading of the first two books enhances what is in this book, it can be read on its own because the prologue provides the basic outline of the story so far. However, having already read the two previous books when they were first published, I still found it hard to place many of the large cast of players.

This is a series that promotes the idea that there are worlds other than the world of man. This storyline follows a young woman who finds herself in a world where man and Fey and gods exist. It is a story which straddles two worlds with characters moving between the two with ease, yet with few in the world of man knowing about it. Breen Siobhan O’Ceallaigh is daughter of Fey, of man, of gods.

When Breen discovers this other world, she learns that she has powers of which she was unaware and has to learn how to use them. She also learns that a dark god, her grandfather, desires her powers and will do anything to feed on what she has. In the second book of the series, a mighty battle was fought and for the present the enemy is held at bay although a threat still exists.

With an imminent birth and a wedding, everyone is looking forward to some happier times. This story embraces the good in communities, where all are there for each other and ready to defend what they have.

Breen had a life in Ireland having moved there from America, and in Talamh, and in both she felt productive and happy. While both worlds were so much the same, yet they were so much different, and as part of both, she had duties and pleasures on either side.

The book is divided into three parts, the first of which is titled Loss. On this page is also found two quotes about loss, one from Shakespeare, the other by Milton. As often happens with a trilogy, this story, for me, I found a little repetitive, particularly with some of the expressions and some phrases. It also seemed to be very drawn out. The reader knows that there will be a final battle where hopefully good will triumph over evil.

Breen and her friends are still planning for ‘after’. But no one knows when the battle for survival will come. There are little skirmishes along the way, and we see the main characters becoming more proficient in their skills, but it seems to take a long time before the major action takes place. Before this happens, Breen has to make an important choice knowing that the decision she makes could lead to her forfeiting all she has newly discovered about herself and her life (300).

Roberts enhances her story with beautiful descriptions of animals going about their everyday tasks. ‘A six-point buck, regal in his winter coat, waded through the mists…A pair of hawks, calling to each other, circled the sky on the hunt for breakfast…Released from the stalls, a buckskin foal frolicked in the field with infectious joy’ (107). She also makes the scenery come to life in her books. However, the detailed descriptions about clothing, hairstyles and cooking are probably of more interest to the female reader.

Nora Roberts is an American author of more than 225 romance novels. She writes as J. D. Robb for the In Death series and has also written under the pseudonyms Jill March, and for publications in the U.K. as Sarah Hardesty. Roberts was the first author to be inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame. At seventy-two years of age, one wonders how long she will continue writing as prolifically as she has in the past. There are at least six books planned for publication after this one through to May next year. At a time when publishers are struggling to sell books, Roberts is a rare runaway success story. And yet she’s barely known in literary circles.

As of 2011, her novels had spent a combined 861 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list, including 176 weeks in the number-one spot.  Her stories are always well polished and interesting with plenty of everyday situations to make them seem real, even if this one does have dragons and shapeshifters. All the people in the story have characteristics which are very human.

The Choice

(2022)

by Nora Roberts

Piatkus

ISBN:978-0-349-42645-7

$34.99; 448pp

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