Counterpoint (Song of the Fallen, #1) in Riptide Publishing

Nov 26, 2010 Darien rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011-reads, fave-m-m-characters, fave-books-of-2011, my-m-m-lovin, historical-m-m, three-dollar-bill-reviews, favorites

^^A POINT WELL EFFIN MADE!^^

Counterpoint is one of those epic love stories, that completely engages the reader and makes you fall in love. I was completely caught up in the characters, and the world created. I will say honestly that I wanted to read this book, because the cover is just so impressive. It drew my eye, and it turned out that this book is more than just a pretty cover (pffft, pretty cover, more like a sexy cover).

This book as I said before is epic, epic fantasy that is. Its pure fi ^^A POINT WELL EFFIN MADE!^^

Counterpoint is one of those epic love stories, that completely engages the reader and makes you fall in love. I was completely caught up in the characters, and the world created. I will say honestly that I wanted to read this book, because the cover is just so impressive. It drew my eye, and it turned out that this book is more than just a pretty cover (pffft, pretty cover, more like a sexy cover).

This book as I said before is epic, epic fantasy that is. Its pure fiction, from the war with the ferals; to its hatred between men and elves. It can also be described as historical, without actually being historic. From the horses, lands armour and fighting soldiers. It offers up all the things I like in my historical romance, but with a great twist, and an elf that just makes me happy. It is a book for all my fantasy lovers, and those looking for a book with romance, that was a progression and did not happen in like 20 pages into the book.

Ayden is an eight-hundred year old elf. Watching a war play out between humans, and feral beasts. Feral beasts are animals that have been taken over by some form of darkness, and changed them into beasts. Their intent is to destroy, and their targets are humans. Ayden feels no love for the humans, he thinks them beasts also, arrogant, and stupid, and they share the land has enemies. The elves on their side, and the humans in their own little world. Until his sister enters human territory, and he has no choice but to go in and save her, when humans soldier are hot on her trail. He fights to protect his sister, but loses the battle and is captured, him and his sister both.

Acting King, Freyric is up to his ears in politics and war, he is prince but his brother crowned king is away due to the war with the ferals. That leaves Freyric to the responsibilities of life at court. When word gets to him about the capture of elves, one of the elves slaying sixteen of his men, his job is to lay out punishment. That becomes hard when his eyes land on the beautiful and battered Ayden. The stirrings of lust rushes forth, but Freyric is feeling something else, and makes Ayden his personal slave. This leads to a passionate story about a man fighting to save his people, and an elf warrior fighting to save his sister and leave the human world. What they never expected was to fall in love.

I thought this book was gonna be one of those stories, where the captured falls in love with his evil and domineering master. Forced to succumb to his lust, but eventually starting to care for the man. I was in for a treat, Miss Haimowitz manages the progression of feelings so beautifully. Here is a Freyric a man of power, who can take what he wants from Ayden, yet he was always such a gentleman. Never perfect, not always gentle but his attitude and apparent feelings for the elf was one of the reasons why this book was so enjoyable.

A friendship is formed wrapped in powerful emotions, and it’s through this, man and elf found a bond. Freyric must convince Ayden to help with the war, but Ayden cares nothing for humans and they care nothing for him. The people of Farr would love to see Ayden suffer, but their prince protects him and this very reason is causing suspicion of Freyric. Therefore, it becomes a story of sacrifice, what man/elf is willing to give up in the name of love. Will Freyric risk the love and respect from his people, and will Ayden throw out pride and sacrifice himself all in the name of love.

This book is for fans of true romance, who enjoy a good plot, and smart and witty characters. I am a fan, because I fell in love with Ayden’s humour and his strong spirit. I love Freyric’s loyalty and his compassion; he is just a “wow” of a character. I loved that sex played a secondary role to the story, and its characters. I loved the sexual tension. I loved the world building. I freaking loved it all. I recommend this read in a big way (BIG WAY).

I look forward to the second, because this book ended with my heart in my throat.

Reviewed for TDB Reviews

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Jun 03, 2011 Heather C rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m, ebook, lots-of-tension, paranormal-romance, faves, series, fantasy, psychic-abilities, elves

OH.MY.GODS!!! I loved this book!!!

This book was picked for me to read as a challenge and I dove in without reading the blurb or any reviews. I really didn't know what to expect other than that this was m/m fantasy and it had a cliffhanger. It also has one of the most beautiful covers I have ever seen.

I found the World very interesting with the song and abilities of the elven people, the barbarism and prejudices of the humans, and the madness of the Ferals/Darkers. There was a bit of world buildi ...more

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Feb 24, 2011 BookAddict ✒ La Crimson Femme rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m, no-longer-loanable-kindle, bdsm, challenge-mm-gang-bang, zz-bookie-lended

I didn't like this book too much. I enjoyed another book of Ms. Haimowitz, but this one didn't do it for me. The 300+ pages filled with hatred, biogry and ignorance only caused me to be pissed, not engaged. As much as I would like to know what happens in the second book, I'm going to have to ask someone else to tell me what happens.

I liked the Prince and the elf here. I really do. I didn't like Kona the cunt nor did I like Ella the imbecile. I'm not sure why Ms. Haimowitz wrote in such despicabl ...more

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Oct 17, 2010 Cat rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Ok I just wanted to say that after reading this book I was mad and hurt... I was mad that I had to wait almost a whole year until the next one comes out. This book is a great story of Understanding, Patience and in the end love with some other stuff in the middle. I was caught hook, line and sinker and could not put it down. I swore after reading the ending I heard the dramatic music of supise and possible pending doom. Or was it..............

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Oct 16, 2010 Kari Gregg rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: glbt, fantasy, capture

Captured by his human enemies, Ayden is presented and enslaved to Freyrik. Freyrick, however, has a soft heart toward his elf captive and rejects the blind hatred that rules Ayden's every thought and emotion. He seeks to win Ayden over with compassion -- as much as this story world's culture allows, at any rate. While Freyrik's sexual attraction to Ayden is immediate and urgent, he chooses to court Ayden to him, but that doesn't stop Rik from using Ayden's skills as a warrior to defend the very Captured by his human enemies, Ayden is presented and enslaved to Freyrik. Freyrick, however, has a soft heart toward his elf captive and rejects the blind hatred that rules Ayden's every thought and emotion. He seeks to win Ayden over with compassion -- as much as this story world's culture allows, at any rate. While Freyrik's sexual attraction to Ayden is immediate and urgent, he chooses to court Ayden to him, but that doesn't stop Rik from using Ayden's skills as a warrior to defend the very humans who robbed him of his dignity and his freedom.

Counterpoint is, by no means, a light read. If you're looking for shallow characterization and frivolous plot, keep looking because this ain't it. The story world the author paints for us lives and breathes. Rik and Ayden are fully realized heroes -- they sweat and make mistakes and sacrifice for the ones they love. The scope of the book (and the one to follow, no doubt) is truly epic.

The only quibble I had with this book was the style. I prefer a much more sparse -- even terse -- text and as a result, I occasionally skimmed paragraphs to go forward to the next bit of dialogue, the next action, the next step ahead in the plot. That is not to say that the author overly belabored descriptions or anything of the sort. That was not the case. I simply have the attention span of a gnat on crack and love to see white space on the page. Give me a word, maybe three, pointed words, deliberate word choices that have been carefully honed to paint my mental picture of the scene, the characters' emotions and the actions taking place and I am one happy woman. Rachel Haimowitz doesn't write like that. Which is fine. Just a matter of personal taste. It didn't distract or pull me from the story.

Overall, I can say that although I'm widely read in GBLT, I've never seen a story world and characters as richly drawn and layered as Counterpoint's. It stands as genuinely unique, a rare treasure the reader would be a fool to pass up. Highly recommend.

http://www.guiltless-pleasure.com/nov.... ...more

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Nov 20, 2010 Elisa Rolle added it · review of another edition

Well, be warned friends when you start this novel, almost 350 pages long in small characters, don’t expect to arrive to the end and be finished: that Song of the Fallen Book 1 is a fair warning, this is only book 1 in a probably longer series about the same two main characters, Prince Freyrík, a human, and Ayden, an elf.

The starting point of this novel, a human Prince who takes as captive a warrior elf, chaining him in his own bedroom in exchange of the safety of the elf’s sister, Ella, reminde Well, be warned friends when you start this novel, almost 350 pages long in small characters, don’t expect to arrive to the end and be finished: that Song of the Fallen Book 1 is a fair warning, this is only book 1 in a probably longer series about the same two main characters, Prince Freyrík, a human, and Ayden, an elf.

The starting point of this novel, a human Prince who takes as captive a warrior elf, chaining him in his own bedroom in exchange of the safety of the elf’s sister, Ella, reminded me of the old savage romance, and I was thinking, well, I’m ready to read once more a breeches ripper, hot sex in a fantasy medieval setting. But 100 pages after the hot sex had not yet happened, as it hadn’t after 200… more than 2/3 of the book was indead spent to let the two men know each other, and as in an old fashioned courtship, the sex arrived only when the two men respected each other and were ready to trust and love.

Actually the reader has a clue right at the beginning of the story, when Freyrík reassures his captive that, even if he is a prisoner, and confined in the Prince’s bedroom, he is not at risk of being raped. Freyrík has no need to rape men, or women, not only he has more than one wife consort, he has also male willing lovers, and I had the feeling that he was more interested in having a day relationship with Ayden, made out of friendship and respect, than a sexual one. Now don’t get me wrong, Freyrík is attracted by Ayden, but he has not sexual urges to posses him: sometime, in those old fashioned savage romance, you wondered if the men were sexually deprived since it seemed that for them it was absolutely necessary to have sex with the women otherwise they would go insane. Freyrík instead is sexually sated, he has no “need” of Ayden in that way, and he is more interested in conquering the elf’s trust, something that is even more difficult than conquering his body.

On the other way, Ayden plays the role of the tough elf, not interested in anything that is human, but oddily I found him funny sometime, like he had a friendly and light mood that wanted to awake Freyrík from his boring life. So, strange as it sounds, I read Freyrík as a lover and a gentle soul, and Ayden like a playful one, and both characters were forced in a situation, being enemies, that no one of them really wanted. When Freyrík plays at being the ruthless ruler, he is doing it out of his people custom, he doesn’t really feel like that; same Ayden, that inside the bedroom is more like a scared teenager than a seasoned warrior. Both Ayden than Freyrík have two personalities, public and private, and apparenlty their private personalities can be lover while instead the public ones should remain enemies.

As I said, be patient, since the romance in the story will arrive later, or at least the romance of lovers; I didn’t mind much, I like also the slowly friendship and trust blossiming between them, so much that when the sex arrived, it was more realistic, even if it was a fantasy setting. Another thing readers have to be warned of is that, as much time was given to the friendship to develop, not the same was for the love: I think most of this part of the story will be developed in the following book, this one was only an appetizer.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/9659151101/?... ...more

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Feb 15, 2011 Dee Wy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: m-m, m-m-fantasy, fav-series

Yes this epic story deserves five stars, not only for great writing and a setting in a fascinating, but not overly complex fantasy world, but also for a satisfying romance that builds slowly as is appropriate for the story. Great characters and great plot.

However, this is actually half a story, as book one leaves off with a huge cliffhanger leaving the ominous trials hinted to come for both MC's to be explored in a sequel due out late 2011. ...more

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Aug 18, 2010 Kassa rated it liked it · review of another edition

Counterpoint is book one of a two book epic story. The ending of this story is a cliffhanger with a few unresolved issues and definitely no happy ending in sight. This is perhaps why I had such a tough time with the story. On the one hand, the fantasy world is lovingly crafted with an eye for detail. On the other, I didn’t particularly enjoy the story’s focus on moderate violence, manipulation, humiliation, and hatred. This is a darker fantasy story that plays on the classic push/pull dynamic of Counterpoint is book one of a two book epic story. The ending of this story is a cliffhanger with a few unresolved issues and definitely no happy ending in sight. This is perhaps why I had such a tough time with the story. On the one hand, the fantasy world is lovingly crafted with an eye for detail. On the other, I didn’t particularly enjoy the story’s focus on moderate violence, manipulation, humiliation, and hatred. This is a darker fantasy story that plays on the classic push/pull dynamic of different races that instinctively hate each other. The main romantic relationship is a very familiar King/slave one and so the slave ends up sacrificing time and again. I was honestly tired of all the violence when the story ended and needed a break, which left me with a negative feeling towards the book but it’s highly subjective and another reader may not feel that way at all.

The summary gives a good indication of the story which is about an elven soldier, Ayden, who is captured while saving his sister from her predictable foolishness. To keep his sister safe and ignorant, Ayden agrees to do anything Prince Freyrik wants and the prince wants Ayden sexually. Freyrik however is willing to let Ayden come to him. The first part of the story deals with Ayden as he struggles to reconcile his feelings of capture, slavery, and growing respect for Freyrik, while the second finds the two in love but no happy ending. Freyrik treats Ayden as well as he can by keeping Ayden locked in his rooms, fed, and out of sight. Whenever Ayden does have to leave the rooms, he’s shackled, usually beaten, forced to kneel and subjugate himself repeatedly, which of course does nothing for Ayden’s massive pride, bruised ego, and welling hatred for humans.

The push/pull dynamic between the two is interesting and creates a good backdrop to show the intricacies of royal life. Here the setting is classic fantasy or historical with the acting King Freyrik, temporarily ruling in his brother’s place, subject to the whims and laws of his people. Humans were taught to hate and fear elves, thus they loathe and fear Ayden. Freyrik often feels badly about Ayden’s treatment and does what he can to mitigate it but Freyrik is perhaps even more helpless than Ayden. This theme of helplessness becomes more and more pronounced as the story progresses and is one of the key sources of frustration I had as a reader.

Neither Freyrik nor Ayden can effectively control their present or future. Freyrik is bound not only by his royal duties but his desire for Ayden. He often betrays his promises to Ayden by circumstance, but it’s a repeated betrayal and eventually I couldn’t feel badly for Freyrik’s emotions against Ayden’s physical pain. Instead I became more and more invested in Ayden and his struggle to reconcile his feelings. When Ayden helps Freyrik overcome an animal attack and they fall in love, the romance is there but the underpinning of doom can’t be ignored. Ayden does everything he can to really help and he’s repaid by suspicion, scorn, pain, violence, and betrayal.

On the one hand, the story is fitting to the manipulations of court, the classic evil sister in law, innocently fey sister, and other characters that are seen in almost every fantasy novel. There’s nothing especially new offered, though this story has some very nice magical touches. The world building is competent and thorough, woven into the story in numerous ways. So fantasy fans, especially those who prefer darker fantasy stories, likely won’t blink at this offering. It fits well with the genre and the writing has energy and life to keep you engaged and absorbed from the beginning. The characters are one dimensional though outside of the main couple but the focus is on Ayden and Freyrik, who definitely stretch through their association.

Ayden as the surly pseudo-slave plays well against Freyrik as the compassionate ruler. The story does a commendable job developing their romance over time. The star crossed lovers theme struggling against fate has some moments of good emotion and romance. There are two mild sex scenes with the rest fade to black so the emotion and romance is not the focus; the story and fantasy world is. This is another reason that I just tired of all the continued manipulations when I got to the hanging ending. I honestly thought to myself “great, another 400 pages of violence, blood, betrayal, and pain to get to a happy ending.” This isn’t a fair assessment because there is humor, romance, love, hints of happiness, and moments of quiet connection. These additions were essential to keeping me reading and mostly enjoying the story, but the ending reminds me of considerable more pain and heartache to come before a happy ending can even be hinted at. Not all readers will have this reaction mind you.

This is a highly subjective review – it is after all only my opinion – so the elements that struck me and stayed with me may or may not even bother other readers. The fantasy world is a major focus and well crafted with a solid, tightly plotted story. The characterization suffers outside of the main characters but their vibrancy almost forgives the subsequently flat cast. There is a familiar, almost classic feel to the romance/couple depicted and that familiarity may play well with readers. The moderate violence is done quickly, although the continued talking about and extended tension leading to said violence bothered me just as much as the actual scenes but not all readers will have that experience. I think the payoff of a happy ending is too far away for me to feel comfortable with the emotional investment so far but I am likely to continue with book two after a break away from the story.

As always see for yourself if the story sounds like one you’d like to read. My reaction is highly personal on this particular story so be sure to read critically for elements that are more suited to your tastes. ...more

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Nov 01, 2010 Alex rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, queer, romance, slave-master

Overall
The first of two books telling Ayden and Freyrik's story, I'd recommend readers diving in to the story be prepared to have Crescendo on hand after finishing Counterpoint. The novel is lengthy, a slow build from enemies to lovers, but the emotions on both end are eloquently executed as the pair learns to trust and care for one another while navigating the landmines their races' history has thrown in the way.

While this story is definitely a romance, it is just as equally an epic fantasy, wh ...more

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Jun 04, 2011 Katie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: lent, alpha, slave, alternate-world, soldiers-warriors

I was really looking forward to this book. I love fantasy and with the two MCs both warriors, one an elf, one a prince and both alphas, I figured it would be a home run. I liked the story and the world building. I was also very impressed that the two "enemies who become lovers" didn't need an injury to bring them together. At almost 400 pages I read it fast and easily within two days.

It just didn't blow me away like I was hoping. I liked the characters but I never fell in love with them. The st ...more

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