Stevie Silverwood has worked hard to create a new life for
herself. At a young age, she was found wandering in woods
with no memories of who she was or where she came from.
She's pushed that all behind her now and wants nothing more
than to live a quiet life. That is shattered when David, a
friend from college, sends her a mysterious painting called
Aurata's Promise and a cryptic note proclaiming 'The world
needs to see this.' Soon after she learns that David has
gone missing and suicide is suspected. She isn't the only
one searching for David and his artwork though. Mist, an
Aetherial of ancient fey lineage, is also hunting for
answers to a painting that shows the destruction of his
city that took place in another world thousands of years
ago. He and Stevie form an uneasy alliance that takes them
from the human world, to the Dusklands, and beyond to the
very ends of all worlds. Only by uncovering the secrets of
the past can they save the future.
GRAIL OF THE SUMMER STARS is the third installment in the
Aetherial Tales by Freda Warrington. This is the
first of
Warrington's work I've read, so I came into the series with
absolutely no knowledge of the world. It was more than a
bit overwhelming. While the beginning of the story takes
place in the human world, the majority revolves around life
and the politics inside The Spiral, an otherworld populated
by many different magical races far older than humans. The
Spiral is a conscious world that can shift and change based
upon the inhabitants moods and wants. I have trouble
grasping an ever fluctuating world that isn't ruled by
understandable physics. I am too linear of a person.
Warrington's prose is delicate and borderline flowery. She
focuses on the heightened emotions and deep turmoil of the
characters. There's a spun-glass feel about the characters
and world, as if they're too beautiful and complex for an
ordinary human world. They're all a little too sensitive
and wise for me to make a deep connection with them. The
one character I was rooting for was Rufus and he was the
self-centered, egotistical, hedonist whose sole ambition
was to make trouble for humans. This really comes down to
personal style. I prefer grittier realism even in my
fantasies, while Warrington writes dream-like fantasy
worlds filled with sensitive and aching tenderness. That's
not to say that her story doesn't also deal with deeper
issues of betrayal, greed, power, and hate. There's a deep
underlying theme about the cost of losing your humanity. It
flows through all the characters actions and eventually
reflects their choice at the climax.
GRAIL OF THE SUMMER STARS wasn't the book for me, but that
doesn't mean it won't be right for you. Warrington immerses
the reader into a gossamer world filled with the fantastic.
Delicate, flowery prose paints a picture of the price that
comes from losing your humanity and how hard we must all
fight to hold onto it.
The climactic concluding novel in the spellbinding magical
contemporary fantasy Aetherial Tales trilogy
A painting, depicting haunting scenes of a ruined palace and
a scarlet-haired goddess in front of a fiery city, arrives
unheralded in an art gallery with a cryptic note saying,
“The world needs to see this.” The painting begins to change
the lives of the woman who is the gallery's curator and that
of an ancient man of the fey Aetherial folk who has
mysteriously risen from the depths of the ocean. Neither
human nor fairy knows how they are connected, but when the
painting is stolen, both are compelled to discover the
meaning behind the painting and the key it holds to their
future.
In Grail of the Summer Stars, a haunting, powerful tale of
two worlds and those caught between, Freda Warrington weaves
an exciting story of suspense, adventure and danger that
fulfills the promise of the Aetherial Tales as only she can.
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