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Arieh Sef’ea, a sheltered, religious
young man, is horrified to be taken by soldiers and sold
into slavery to pay his parents’ taxes. As one of the Riine,
a small, very religious ethnic group, Arieh was raised to
see other cultures as unclean. Angry, confused, and
terrified, he awaits the slave auction.
Enitan Viden is a high-ranking kentari,
or soldier, stationed at the slave market. While mediating
a dispute between slavers, Enitan notices Arieh. Since he’d
been looking for a pais, or mate, for some time, he decides
to buy Arieh. He knows winning the heart of a Riinean will
be difficult, if not impossible. Will Enitan succeed in
winning Arieh’s love, despite the forces against them?
Every Good Thing is a lovely, emotional tale.
M. Jules Aedin did an excellent job of creating interesting,
likeable characters. I loved sweet, hesitant Arieh and
strong, hopeful Enitan. There are many secondary
characters, such as servants and slaves in Enitan’s house,
other kentari, and many more. Each character managed to
have a personality despite the sheer number of them. The
plot is compelling and multi-layered, with the sweet,
slow-paced romance between Enitan and Arieh, and several
subplots involving other characters. All the plots converge
in the end, although there were enough loose ends left with
one of the important subplots that I suspect a sequel /
related book is in the works. The best part of Every
Good Thing, in my opinion, was the way Enitan and
Arieh’s relationship developed. Arieh’s upbringing made it
difficult for him to accept Enitan’s love, and the slow
steps they took were sweeter, and hotter, than many full-on
love scenes I’ve read in other books. |
