Rainbow Reviews

BOOK BLURB:
Edor and his new friends, former slaves Tywyll and Lys, are still making the most of the land. Every day the two norvigi bring changes, improving Edor's way of life. As is their way, Tywyll is growing stronger with the winter equinox, while Lys is growing weaker.

When Lys goes into his sleep, Edor finally gives into his attraction to his two friends with Tywyll, knowing Lys would give them his blessing if he were awake. When Lys finally wakes, the three men find their home in danger, and they must band together even closer to save their newfound happiness. Can they solve the mystery that their attackers leave behind, and stay safe at the same time?

BOOK REVIEW:
The ravaged but reawakening future world that Lee Benoit has created in Servant of the Seasons is vast, intricate, and intriguing. The first installment, Autumn, provided tiny clues to the things to come, and while Winter still provides far more questions than answer, the reader is shown bit by bit more and more of the finely woven pattern of this fascinating environment.

The story is still presented from the point of view of Edor, now called by Mèco his two strange companions. Most of the attention of the story is focused on these two strange lovers who in the passage of this story welcome Mèco into the closeness of their relationship. Even with this focus, the environment and plot are rich and engrossing, taking the characters through change, tragedy, and surprise.

While Autumn only touched on eroticism, this story delves fully into the physical affection and lust shared by its characters. My opinion is that the story would have been better served without the overt descriptions of the sexual activities, particularly because the writing is so excellent. Without the outright erotica the science fiction would be of award-winning quality; in the category of erotica, there is little enough of the story focused on the characters' sexual moments that they stand out awkwardly from the rest of the story.

Further frustrating the story's aspirations are a number of small typos and some contemporary colloquialisms that somehow survived the editing process.

However, it speaks very well of the story that despite these small failings, the overwhelming impression left after reading is still that this is some of the most beautiful and entrancing world and character building that one is likely to read in contemporary science fiction.

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