Many Roads Home

by Ann Somerville

No trust without truth.

Fleeing his murderous brother-in-law, Vicont Yveni, heir to the Duchy of Sardelsa, seeks safety abroad until he can reclaim his birthright. Instead he ends up shipwrecked, captured and taken to the one country where he dare not reveal his identity. Worse, he s just been bought by a man with no love for Sardelsa.

Ripped from his family as a child and sold into slavery, Paole s natural gift for healing made him a valuable asset but did little to shield him from abuse and prejudice. Though he s now free, for the first time in his life he s alone and he hates it. All he wanted was an apprentice and traveling companion in this hostile land. Instead he winds up the unintentional owner of a slave with a mulish attitude and a suspicious history.

Yveni dares not tell the truth about who he is, and Paole refuses to trust him until he comes clean. The battle of wills only serves to heat up a sizzling attraction that throws a new complication into the mix: love.

Paole wants acceptance. Yveni wants his birthright. Even if they manage to come to an understanding, forces are gathering against them that could tear them apart forever "

Genres: Fantasy, M M Romance, Romance, M M Fantasy, Paranormal, Magic, Historical

255 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 3, 2009

About the author

Ann Somerville grew up in one of Australia’s prettiest small cities. In 1989, she left Australia with a BA and a burning ambition to see more of the world and its people, and to discover this ‘culture’ thing people kept telling her about. In 2006, she returned home to Southeast Queensland with two more degrees (this time in science and IT), an English husband and a staggering case of homesickness, vowing never to leave Australia again.

Her long, plot-driven fiction featuring gay and bisexual characters has been published by Samhain Publishing and elsewhere.

Reviews

[Paul Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deposed prince, a former slave and an incredible journey to reclaim what was lost. As usual, Somerville creates amazing full, masculine and likable characters who find more of themselves once they meet each other. Sharp prose and an interesting plot.. Doesn't get much better than this in the m/m romance world.

[Ladene · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book as it had so many things I enjoy reading. M/M romance, fantasy setting, etc...but I couldn't.

First, I'm not afraid of kink, for sure, but pedophilia is not attractive and there was no other way to look at this. It gave such a creep factor to the character I couldn't like him. All the talk of 'his boys'. Just eww.

Secondly, I can suspend my belief for a lot of things. I like Fantasy novels for gawd's sake. But two men, one a horny teenage boy, sleeping together and just kissing? How often does that happen? Especially for months...no way.

Which brings me to the third and final thing for this review, though not the last of my dislikes for this novel. All of this could have been easily fixed if these two characters were written with more depth and if they just talked to each other. Romance novels cannot be based on the only thing keeping them apart is JUST SAYING THE WORDS. Gah.

There is promise to the writing but without some help and a good editor, I cannot recommend anything about this book or others by her. A story should be lived through the characters and not told by the author. I can't count how many pages I just skimmed as useless narration. I only finished it as I had bought the thing and I hate to leave things unfinished.

[Camilla · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you're looking for a hot, sexy M/M book, this defintiely isnt it. When the main character looses his big V, on the last page, you can figure out yourself how much comes before that.. Not a whole lot, let me tell you that..

But if you're looking for a sweet M/M story, this could be for you, I guess. Even though I'm still a little confused about it. Yeah, I get that we are in a "made up" land, but I never figured out the year, which made it a bit difficult to visualize what kind of clothes or whatever these people would wear..

Now I'm thinking about it, there were a few more things I didnt like about this book. What was up with all the "young boys" Paole had in the beginning? We didnt know his age at that point, so that made me a little negative towards him.. Just sayin..

I dont know.. Not my favorite book, but loving the guy on the cover though.. ;o)

[Rosie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got really caught up in this book. All the characters had depth, and the love story was simply beautiful.

[Elisa Rolle · Rating 5 out of 5]

2009 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge)

[LD Durham · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very well put-together story. I enjoyed the characters for the most part, but felt that Paole lost quite a bit of himself in the last third of the book. In fact, during the first two-thirds of the book I was heavily invested in both characters. I enjoyed their separate stories, being completely involved in their lives, so that I never felt impatient for them to meet and "have the real story story start." Their beginnings were important and engaging on their own. I then truly enjoyed their relationship when they finally did meet, getting a kick out of their back-and-forth. Paole was strong and confident, and Yveni was strong, stubborn, with just enough shake in his confidence to sympathize with him.

But then time suddenly jumped a few times in the book and both characters seemed to have changed off-screen, so I lost my connection with them. The story concluded well, but I admit to being just about done with their "miscommunications." It was one time too many. But I still ended the book fairly satisfied.

[Lady*M · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Anything Ann Somerville writes is better than the average M/M offer and I personally enjoy her style immensely, but Many Roads Home wasn't my favorite among her books. There was nothing really wrong with it, in fact I liked that smaller, less physically powerful man was stronger than the other in many aspects, even when he was enslaved and far from any position of power. I also enjoyed occasional, well-placed humor. But, one-step-forward-two-steps-back relationship was tiresome at times and I wanted to slap both protagonists on several occasions. Still, people who like slow, tender romances will certainly enjoy it. Those who want more edge in their reading and by this particular author could try Kei's Gift or Cold Front. It could also be that the author spoiled me and I started expecting that her every book will be awesome. ^^

[Arthur · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was among the earliest m/m books I read. I enjoyed it very much, since the characters develop from the beginning to the end of the book.

Yvenni grows from being a prince to slave and returns back. Paolo grows from a slave owner to the prince consort.

I like the way their relationship grow slowly. Paolo is a reluctant slave owner, and Yvenni is jealous that his Master sleeps with other boys. I also like how Paolo's protective instinct toward Yvenni is still there during the political conflict.

Neither character is whinny, even though they have to face very hard situation. They just man up and live.

[Ptdog · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book first back in 2010 but I didn't remember it when I was reminded about it by a Goodreads friend. So...I reread it. I liked it a lot. Somerville gave her characters depth and dimension. It's an interesting storyline and I am satisfied with the final resolution of the plot line. I've got 3 books that I'm in the middle of because each has become a little annoying after awhile. It was nice to finish this book (again) without needing to take a break.

[Christy Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty dry.

[Anna C · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

2017 might be the reading slump year for me. The first reading slump episode is thanks to the most unforgettable In Allegiance by Kate Islay which helped me set the longest record in my life, 6 months! Still couldn't believe it, I even thought I might finally at that age, you know, suddenly lost my compassion for reading forever and ever. To say it's a terrifying moment for me isn't an overstatement, who have been in love for books since I can read.
So, this time I went into another short episode of reading slump again, but no blame game on the book this time. This is me wanted a short break from BL and to do other stuff in RL.

So, my impression of this book. Despite the warning from the author and one reader about the UST, I fortunately found the UST less frustrating than what I had expected, sure both MCs possessed so many brakes before finally accepted their feelings as love, but I might be quite immune to this kind of UST since Captive Prince by C.S. Pacat and the other work of this author : Kei's Gift. So in one way, the UST in this book didn't bother me much.

Although it's only 255 pages, I was in no hurry to devour this book, I admit it's not the kind of book that left you hungry for more and more. I particularly enjoyed the slow burn romance here (it's no secret slow burn romance is my thingy but insta-love is my guilty pleasure sometimes,lol), yes the plot flow is slow like you having a waltz session, but you know and appreciate the joy of the waltz itself. Each has its own beauty, slow or fast pace.

Honestly I had this wild assumption at first by reading its blurb that Paole our healer is the beautiful and fragile uke here, ohh the stigma that I had in my brain because of some yaoi mangas with beautiful and meek healers. So at first I just somewhat felt disappointed because he's the seme, a giant seme to be exact, everything about him is BIG, even down there, hihihi. Paole the gargantuan seme. And Yveni our uke the 'prince' is an innocent and pretty young man, but along the way we will witness him maturing and learning how to be a wise heir for his country. Again, I was expecting the uke in 20-30 yo, not 18. But those are minor disappointments actually. However, surprisingly the most level-headed one in this book is the young lad, he might be young, he might be the uke here, he might look fragile and docile but he's brave and kind-hearted, smart and virtuous too. I think he's a dominant uke actually, lol. The seme is an ex-slave, so no wonder it's hard to learn how to be a free man even though he was freed from his last master for 2 years after his meeting with the uke, his new 'master'. He had chained the uke as his 'slave' after their first strife but actually both were emotionally 'chained' to each other later when the giant seme almost died from a severe and contagious illness. I couldn't hide my smirk around half of the book when they admitted their 'new' interest for each other openly, because they were so hostile to each other before, so the sudden turn of situation is comical for me, lol.

The chemistry and UST between them are certainly not groundbreaking or earth shattering for me, yet the love story is credible and entertained me. I enjoyed how their relationship grows, from enemies to friends to lovers, the coming of age of Yveni and Paole, the world building, the plot, the characters, and the storytelling.

However, I love her other work more : Kei's Gift. Kei's Gift is a tearjerker for me, and bawled my eyes out for their UST episodes and the countless brakes of its MCs (I think this might be this author's style) within 1000 pages. It has emotionally depleted me that I don't have any energy for its sequel anymore after that, 1000 pages spent for the seemingly never-ending UST was almost drove me to the madness, yet I love its story and would reread it in the future because I love to torment my eyes and soul sometimes, lol.

[Anu Vaarama · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good and well-written story in a bit different world; world with horses and swords but also telephones. I liked the plot which was all the time in balance and sometimes really exciting (got some goosebumps!). The characters were good enough although some depth would have made Paole better. I wish there would be more stories in this world created by Somerville, maybe a sequel.
Todella hyvä fantasiatarina kirjailijan luomassa maailmassa jossa on miekkoja, hevosia mutta myös puhelinlinjoja. Orjuusteeman voi nähdä myös kannanottona omaan maailmaamme. Hahmot olivat hienoja, etenkin Yveni, kenties Paolen hahmoon olisi voinut lisätä vielä syvyyttä. Juoni oli tasapainoinen enkä malttanut laskea tablettia käsistä kuin hetkeksi.. Aina yhtä kiinnostavaa on arvosteluiden ja mielipiteiden erilaisuus: se mikä kirjassa mielestäni oli rohkeaa ja hatunnoston arvoista, tarkoitti toiselle että kirja sai ain yhden tähden. -Suosittelen, ei vain tätä vaan muitakin Somervillen kirjoja.

[Juna Ratnam]

Many Roads Home by Ann Somerville is not the story I was expecting it to be. I was hoping for a Captive Prince style slavefic, but honestly, Paole was ready to set him free from literally the first day, and his rationalisation for forcing him to stay or reveal his identity made no sense (how the fuck could he have been in league with the slavers?). And we see (almost) nothing about what treating another man like a slave does to Paole himself. He seemed more inconvenienced than guilty.

The tone of the book actually reminded me of Ariah. And also The Pillar. I liked the Gifts, although Seeing was too useful and reduced the tension in the story. I liked Yveni’s friends. I liked how they prepared for the naval attack. I liked that it was a constitutional duchy. I liked that Yveni wanted to marry Paole.

There were one too many communication problems for me (especially that Paole apparently avoided meeting Yveni during his recovery for three weeks—and his explanation made zero sense at that point in the story). I think I went through the book on edge, waiting for the axe to fall, but really there was no trouble at all, except right at the end when Yveni went on a one-on-one fight with the regent for some stupid reason. And the world-building was atrocious. I can imagine that technology like telephones and vaccinations might not have spread through all the lands, but then I’d have expected more of a culture shock. It’s just—there’s rubber gloves and IV needles and telegrams and electrical lights, but there are no motors or vehicles? I can understand a time when pistols and swords co-existed but it was too bizarre.

[David Shuler · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was an unusual read. But still worth reading.

[Lilia Ford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable high-fantasy adventure. This has some strong parallels to Kei's Gift (though it's not as good), with a healer as one of the heroes and a lot of cool explorations of different cultures, one with magic, and how they clash. Both leads were great and as usual, Somerville's secondary characters are especially vivid and satisfying. There tends to be a lot of movement and action in Somerville's novels; she does great invasion sequences, showing how ordinary citizens and governments react to the threat of invasion. This book also had a lot of fascinating stuff on slavery, which was very insightful and convincing.

Mild Spoilers: My biggest criticism is that Somerville's leads take forever to get together--this has been true of a lot of her stories. The heroes seize on any excuse not to have sex, and agonize endlessly about the reasons they can't have a relationship, which becomes annoying when the reader knows damn well they are going to end up together. After a while it makes the heroes seem almost like teenaged girls and adds plot difficulties that don't feel worth the pages--Paole's refusal to go visit Yveni after he was wounded felt anti-climactic. (There were elements of this in Kei's Gift, though the book was so intense it wasn't a problem, but it became downright painful in Staying Power.)

Overall though, I really liked this. Somerville is one of the best fantasy writers out there, and though this is not quite as good as the Darshian Tales, it's a compelling adventure story with two interesting, likable leads.

[Gisuris · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 64%.

I really enjoyed the first part of the story. More specifically, the part where the two MCs had yet to meet.

After they did.. well. Things were still fairly engaging, even though I had a few pretty serious eyerolling moments with their chaste "sleeping together" arrangements and general awkwardness. And what the hell was up with Paole's "pretty boys"? Oh well, I kept on reading.

But when they finally got to Horches, things just fell apart for me. Characters started acting like caricatures of themselves, and I lost all interest. Not a rage quit, but more of a meh quit.

Honestly, I think I would have liked this story better if it focused on Yveni and Raina trying to make their way in the world. They had a hell of a lot more chemistry than the main couple. It just didn't work for me.

[Yblees · Rating 4 out of 5]

This starts off as a well written MM/Romance story of a freed slave making a successful life for himself, and a deposed prince fleeing for his life. But then it gently evolves into something else altogether. A blend of coming-of-age and adventure saga, which worked very well for me.

The strength of Ann Somerville's writing has always been in how well she conveys the character's emotions, and this book is no exception. However, the character development here is much more realistic than in, say, "Remastering Jerna" or the "Darshian Tales" series. So even if you didn't like any of the above books, do give this one a try.

[Gardavson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I just never connected to the characters. One, a former slave, should have garnered some emotional attachment but just... didn't. The other, cheated from his rightful ruling place, I just never cared about him. Their initial "misunderstanding" in which Paole became a slave owner and didn't trust Mc #2, felt very contrived and not in keeping with what we knew of Paole so far. I couldn't have cared less about the conflict in the end, again contrived, and frankly I was glad when it finally concluded. First half, 3 stars, second half 1 star. Overall 2 star.

[Estara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, another fantasy that Ann Somerville does so well, but I really wanted it to have more pages. As always we get so many interesting and well-developed supporting characters, I just want to read more. Personally, I think the ending would also be a good starting point for a follow-up novel.

My favourite Ann Somerville epic fantasies remain the Darshian Tales, though. They have the luxury of length enough for each tale to be fully explored.

[Sharon Iliffe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ann Somerville is one of my favourite authors and this book does not disappoint. The point of view moves between the two main protagonists fairly seamlessly and slowly builds up the story. Paolo and Yveni grow and mature as they interact and affect each other and as events affect them both. I will definitely keep this on my re-read list.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quicker read than many of Ann's stories but no less enjoyable for it. As usual, her characters are deep and fully realized. This book is slightly more character driven than some of her novels, but the action is no less believable, and doesn't exist only to keep the lovers apart (or together).

A novel that explores the damage and genesis of racism and healing from it.

[Emmie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[Roclaf Alter -Ego · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story for a warm summer's day.