Omnibus, two separate reviews:

Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light:

All of Tanya Huff's urban fantasy (this, the Keeper trilogy, the newer ones) feel like iterations on a single idea. I happen to like the idea, so I enjoy all of them pretty much in ascending order by date published. This is the earliest, so it's a little scattered, but the closeted bi dude is charming, the developmentally disabled woman is portrayed with great sympathy (and man, that's a sadly rare character type) and the good and evil guys are appropriately iconic. (I did particularly enjoy the angel's offhand "well, if you're a good person, you're drawn to good things, and of course that means you want my ass, that's totally normal and ok.")

The Fire's Stone:

The closeted thief, the alcoholic, bisexual playboy prince, the driven princess with daddy issues, and the macguffin to bring them all together. This was not exactly a profound book, but it was, typical of Tanya Huff, solidly crafted with believable characters and a great deal of fun. Obviously an early work, but I have no qualms recommending it as entertaining queer fluff. ( )

Finished Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light 10/19. Weird, but I like it. I've read it before - it's odd what I remembered. There were two bits I remembered perfectly - the beginning, with Alexander; and how Rebecca trapped herself (though not the details). But I'd completely forgotten Roland's adventures in the fairy tales land, nor did I remember that it was Leslie Fish's Winds Four Quarters (a song I'm quite familiar with) that was the solution. Very rich, and worth rereading - not immediately, but this is one I'll want to return to. I may own it already - need to check. No, apparently not. Fire's Stone - finished 10/24. This one I had _not_ read before. It's very odd - it is in many ways a classic quest, especially the complicated way three very disparate characters end up questing together. Though they all had problems with their fathers! I didn't like Aaron for quite a while - his stone walls repelled me. I knew, in general, what his problem was, but wasn't interested in him as a person until - I guess until that moment of rapport with Dar, just before they went out questing. And Chandra was _intensely_ annoying, because when she was behaving well she was very mature, but the rest of the time - when she was insisting that she was 'A Wizard of the Nine!' - I had to keep remembering that she was a teenager. The quest was neat - a serious problem, an odd collection of questers, a totally bass-akward way of solving matters and it worked! I knew, or at least strongly suspected, the real traitor before the reveal - the plausible reasons were just a little too reasonable. The climax was just a trifle unsatisfying, somehow - the shortcut home was too easy, and the chance they took to get it back in place was too unlikely. Aaron hasn't shown any magic eye for trajectory before. There are also quite a few really gory and horrific scenes in here. Still, overall it's a fun read and one I want to reread. ( )

This is an omnibus of two completely unrelated books. The first is Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light and is an interesting and involved urban fantasy story with Bards and innocents and magic being found in interesting places. It's a story of light against dark and keeping the balance.

The other is the story of the Fire's Stone. A group of disparate heroes go to find it, including the third son of the king, Darvish, known as a drunk and a wastrel, but a genius swordsman. His bethrothed, a princess but also a Wizard of the Nine, but doesn't want to marry Darvish. With Aaron they hunt the stone, trying to save their land.

You would need to take a break or change books before starting into the second as the first puts you into the Urban Fantasy mindset while the second is firmly into the high fantasy spectrum. They're both great stories. ( )

http://yoyogodreviews.blogspot.com/2007/01/of-darkness-light-and-fire-by-tanya.h... ( )