A Dawn of Onyx: The Sacred Stones

A Dawn of Onyx by Kate Golden begins in the small village of Abbington, in the Kingdom of Amber, located in the land of Evendell, with magical healer Arwen Valondale sadly musing about the fact that her brother, Ryder, and her boyfriend, Halden, were probably dead. It had been a year since she and her family had heard from them, which is no surprise since they are off fighting a losing war against the Kingdom of Onyx, which seemingly attacked the Kingdom of Amber without provocation. Later that evening, when Ryder bursts into their small home, injured and carrying a large satchel of stolen Onyx gold, the family decides to flee to the Kingdom of Garnet in the hopes of a better life, before the soldiers of Onyx catch up with Ryder. Naturally, nothing goes according to plan, and when Arwen returns to the home to grab her slowly dying mother's forgotten medicine, she is captured by a group of dangerous Onyx soldiers, one of whom is dying from his injuries. Long story short, Arwen saves his life using her magical abilities, but only in exchange for her taking Ryder's place for the stolen money as a healer for the Onyx Kingdom, with her family left untouched. It's a split-second decision that will change her life dramatically.

Arwen is taken to Shadowhold, an Onyx army base/castle surrounded by dark and dangerous woods, on the back of a sleek black dragon, no less, and she's thrown into a dungeon, where she meets a handsome and mysterious stranger that she can't seem to stop thinking about. She'll eventually find herself placed at the apothecary to begin her work, where she meets a cranky old man named Dagan and an effervescent young redhead named Mari. Mari works in the library and will become her good friend, while Dagan decides to teach her how to defend herself, based on the dangers in the castle.

Through an odd series of events, she comes to discover that the handsome stranger she found so attractive is actually King Kane Ravenwood, rumored to be a lascivious ladies man and also a sadistic butcher on the battlefield. How could she have given him a second thought? Or all of her thoughts, really. It seems she isn't the only one intrigued as she senses Kane is very interested in her as well.

Before she realizes it, he's requesting her presence at his side during feasts with major political players and she learns that everything isn't as she was told in Abbington about the war between the Onyx Kingdom and the Amber Kingdom. As Arwen finds herself falling for Kane, she and Mari also discover a possible cure for her mother's illness, since was never able to cure it with her own magic. It will mean sticking around Shadowhold for longer than she had intended to collect the needed ingredients, but it will be worth it for a chance to save her mother's life. However, a face from her past and a revelation about the man she is falling in love with could change it all.

A Dawn of Onyx is a good fantasy romance, or "romantasy", as it is dubbed. It has a nice blend of mystical characters such as Fae, dragons, chimera, giant flame-breathing salamanders and more, plus a pretty good story as well. The romance part is a bit much for my typical tastes, to be honest, because it was heavily-infused throughout the entire story, and I'm not much for those swoony romance type books, but I was still entertained by the overall story. Golden also writes some funny stuff, such as this train of thought - "I was furious with the man. So, so furious. But I also wanted to lick his neck. It was complicated." It often gave me a chuckle.

I will say that the book ended in a bluster of events that seemed a bit convenient, but did leave me interested in where the story will go. There's an excerpt from the forthcoming sequel, A Promise of Peridot to whet the reader's appetite. However, if you are a romatasy lover, you will probably be into this book. Like I said, I did enjoy it, even though it's not my typical type book.