Book Review: Awakenings by Edward Lazellari
Awakenings by Edward Lazellari. © 2011 Tor Books. ISBN 9780765327871. Hardback. Urban Fantasy. 348 pages. Source: review copy furnished by the publisher.
“Cal MacDonnell is a happily married New York cop with a loving family. Seth Raincrest is a photographer whose self-involved nature has alienated even his closet friends. They have nothing in common—except that they suffer from retrograde amnesia. It’s as if they just appeared out of thin air thirteen years ago, and nothing has been able to restore their memories. Now that forgotten past has caught up to them with a vengeance. Cal and Seth’s lives are turned upside down as they are stalked by otherworldly beings who know their past identities, intent on killing them and anyone who gets in their way. In the balance hangs the life of a child who might someday restore a broken empire to peace and prosperity.” – except of jacket blurb
My Review -
Cal is a cop who despite not having a memory passed the last thirteen years has managed to create a beautiful life with a great job, loving wife and beautiful daughter. Seth has the same amnesiac problem, but unlike Cal, has never managed to put his life together: Seth works as an amateur pornographer who has no lasting relationships outside of that with his pet cat. Cal and Seth soon find themselves with common enemies—the magic-wielding, “we want to kill you” kind of enemies. Read more
Synopsis: Set in early medieval Ireland, where Druids and Christians mingle and the old ways still survive, there is an ancient forest impenetrable to outsiders with a mind of its own. Living in the heart of this forest is a cold, widowed ruler and his people. Sorcha is the seventh child and only daughter of Colum, Lord of Sevenwaters. She grows up happy, well-loved and protected by her six elder brothers, despite the distance of their father and the death of their mother. Running wild and undisciplined, the children are raised by the forest and in many ways oblivious to the encroaching events of the human world. But change comes to Sevenwaters–and nothing can ever be the same again. War with the Saxons and Britons threatens, and the peace of Sevenwaters is shattered when a Briton is captured by Colum and his warriors. Sorcha and her favourite brother Finbar disobey their father and secretly help the young Briton escape, but this act triggers Lord Colum to find a new wife who is not what she seems. Sorcha is the only one who can tell that their new step-mother is a manipulative sorceress with everyone under her spell. 
