rainanightingale writer / book blogger

Raina Nightingale has been writing high fantasy since she could read well enough to write her stories with the words she knew (the same time that she started devouring any fiction she could touch).

https://enthralledbylove.com

Stories

Promise of Fire by Raina Nightingale

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A HOPELESS FIGHT. A HORROR WORSE THAN DEATH. WERE-DRAGONS BORN FROM THE PROMISE OF FIRE. The last stand of the Dragonrider-mages is over. The people they fought to protect have been slain and enslaved, and their own numbers have been culled in accident and battle. Every death has added to the power of the Wizard-King, and their doom seems inevitable. But a glimmer of hope has fanned the gloom into a flame, and despair is fuel for the fire. All seems lost, but the human Laisly and the dragon Caldera have slain a death-bound dragon, and suddenly their way is clear. They may all be slain and enslaved, but they must journey into the heart of Eltaes, homeland of the Wizard-King, and give all they have to kill him. It is their last chance. Is the triumph over fear victory enough?

Scars of Fire by Raina Nightingale

BEFORE SHE CAN FACE THE NIGHTMARE AND SURVIVE, CAMILLA MUST FACE HER OWN FLAWS. Camilla’s goals are simple. Get her brother safe. Rescue her Mom. Destroy the Wizard-King. Even though everyone thinks the last two are impossible, she and Radiance know they can do it. She has already used the power of the Heartfire to do the impossible: free a dragon from undead slavery to the Nightmare. But doing so has changed her, in ways visible and invisible, and some of those changes terrify her. What does it mean to be herself when she is part of the Heartfire? So when Nelexi, a dragon god whose power comes from the Heartfire, appears in her life, all Camilla wants is to get away from her. But her desperate flight from the things she can’t face yet places her brother in danger and brings about an unexpected tragedy, forcing her to confront the ways in which she has violated her own values – or succumb to the Nightmare. Her own guilt could destroy her.

Gryphon's Escape: An Areaer Novella by Raina Nightingale

Sisel is a Gryphon of the Valor Hall, bonded to the Valor Knight Meir. She does not understand human society or why Meir and she have to do most of what they do, but she loves Meir and she accepts that humans are different. She does not need to understand them. Just as even Meir does not understand her. Until Sisel is asked to pluck information out of the mind of an uncooperative tortured prisoner. She does not understand what she is being asked to do, but when she touches the prisoner's feelings, she knows that, whatever else is going on, this is insane. Beyond even normal human insanity.

The Gifts of Faeri by Raina Nightingale

When Faeri is asked to use her magical song to assist in a birth that is not going quite right, she realizes that her power is greater and far more dangerous than she thought. And when shortly later a Nightmare creature appears, using its touch to taint her song-enchanted gifts, that newly-discovered danger escalates to nightmarish proportions. She thought she was helping people. But what if every one of her gifts is a liability, a way for the Nightmare to dig its touch, unsuspected, into people's souls? But when a rare Nightmare creature almost consumes Faeri's soul, her dragon friend Chrysanthemum saves her with her fire, and Faeri wonders if there's any way dragonfire can guard her enchantments against the Nightmare, or if the damage already done is irreparable and she should never sing again.

Heart of Fire by Raina Nightingale

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A SLAVE DETERMINED TO RIDE A DRAGON. A CHILD CHOSEN TO RIDE THE OBSIDIAN GUARDIAN. Camilla has always been told that humans are inferior. They cannot use magic. If they bond to dragons, they will doom the creatures to extinction. She has never believed a word of it. She has always known that she can use magic, and she suspects it is the elves who harm the dragons by keeping them to themselves. Now, she is presented with the opportunity of a lifetime: a dragon’s clutch is hatching and while she will earn the wrath of her captors if she is caught, she has the chance to see a dragon hatch and perhaps even to Recognize. Kario’s people have feared dragons since time immemorial. When an unrealistically huge black dragon flies in while she is hunting, she is certain she will die. Instead, her life is changed when Nelexi, Obsidian Guardian of Areaer, chooses her as her final rider. Kario takes the name Flameheart, but she is soon homesick and afraid that she is insufficient to be the partner of a god.

Epoch of the Promise: Wings of Healing by Raina Nightingale

Six years ago, a desperate mother asked Lynn to take care of her baby. The solitary huntress never expected it to be so long-term, but now her loyalty is to Ameriasel. When Lynn bonds to a dragon, she realizes that she and Ameriasel have to escape from the Servants of the Dragonqueen. But the Servants pursue them relentlessly, believing that Ameriasel is their god’s chosen Priestess. Along with Lauray, a lame woman whose spirit and beliefs rouse confused feelings in Lynn, she and Ameriasel flee into the southern jungles, where only Ameriasel’s awakening gift for speaking to animals keeps them safe. But Ameriasel’s gift does more than keep them safe. When she bonds to a family of the dangerous wusren and helps a lonely moon dragon form a bond with Lauray that could help both of them to heal, Ameriasel attracts the attention of a lost tribe that believes she might be the one to fulfill an ancient prophecy. Epoch of the Promise: Wings of Healing is a cosy comfort read X dealing with trauma fantasy. “Though there is no destiny and there is no fate, sometimes the spirits can give us glimpses of what may come, or even of what will come …”

Epoch of the Promise: Vision's Light by Raina Nightingale

The Empire of Hasseleighton stretches ominous wings across Camil, forcing everyone to choose between allegiance or death. Arendellie’s life is torn apart, as her friends choose fanaticism over living in peace. So when she is given the opportunity to be presented to the Prince’s court as a potential bride, Arendellie takes it, hoping to forget her lost friends and the choices they made in the game of court. But how can she hide from a conflict that is everywhere and a choice that has been forced on everyone? Or from the light that streams through the cracks of her shattered world? The choice was never forced on Azshbir. He left the safe seclusion of the mountains to bring a message of hope to the world. But when he is imprisoned on a charge of supporting the Empire’s conquests, Azshbir wishes he had died long ago so he would not leave a pregnant wife to struggle on her own. Can the vision of his hope shine through the darkness of his despair?

Epoch of the Promise: Dawn Unseen by Raina Nightingale

All the dragon Camri knows is that life is dying. In a bid for immortality, she sets out on a rampage of torment and conquest. When Cassian and her play-mates explored a cave, they woke a tormented dragon, twisted with unnatural powers. Now Cassian is bonded to Camri as a rider is bonded to a dragon, even while Camri destroys all she knows and loves. There is nothing she can do except try to appease Camri, but sometimes Camri’s atrocities are so horrible they drive Cassian to a defiance she always regrets. Punished by the death and torture of the people and dragons she loves, Cassian wishes to die, but is kept alive by Camri’s magic. When no kingdom or wizard has been able to stand against Camri, can Cassian see the Promise of relief when it stares her in the face? Or will she commit the greatest of her bonded dragon’s atrocities by her own hand? “When twilight gloom has turned to darkest night, watch for your hope, the long-awaited Promise, for it is in the darkest and coldest of night that the Morning Star rises.”

Return of the Dragonriders (DragonBirth, DragonWing, DragonSword) by Raina Nightingale

The dragons are extinct. None have been seen in a lifetime, and it is all to the good of the world that the soul-devouring demons are no more. In a small village in the foothills, a devout girl named Silmavalien and her agnostic fiance, Noren, find two mysterious objects. When an albino dragon hatches in her room and Silmavalien's soul is bonded to the dragon's in a song of fire, her world is changed forever. Everything she has been taught is a lie, and everyone she knows is to be feared. Before she can marry Noren, she flees into the wilderness, where the challenge of winter in the mountains almost proves her and Minth's end. Noren fears for Silmavalien's disappearance. When his object hatches the dragon Elninya, just outside the gates of the Oracle's city, Noren finds his answers, but questions why Silmavalien would not trust him. He half-heartedly tries to find her, while struggling to hide his identity and his growing dragon in kingdoms where to be discovered is to be burned alive. But his fear could turn him into the monster he fears. No matter how far they run, neither Silmavalien nor Noren can escape the Nightmare that seeks to devour their souls and slay their dragons. But if they accept it, the Gift of the Volcano, born in fire and darkness, will be enough to win their battle. Includes an exclusive short story and over 40 illustrations.

Kindred of the Sea by Raina Nightingale

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Two common soldiers, caught in a war they did not sign up for. Corostomir and Aderan joined the Army to protect their people against pirates. Now they are called to attack Elethri, home of the sorcerous elves and new haunt of the nightmare – but when they march into the forest and wake from their dreams unharmed, they can't escape the suggestion that the story they've been told might not be so true. They would rather not die for a war they don't believe in. That leaves only one option: find a way to desert that won't get them killed, just as surely as pushing the elves too far will. This cozy fantasy is a tale of platonic love and adventure that will take you to new worlds and magical beings, including the dolphins in the seas of Alaer.

Sorceress of the Dryads by Raina Nightingale

The magic of the dryads does not come at a price, but it binds the Singer to the Pact of the forests. To keep her nature or be corrupted. When the corrupted elven prince, Anakrim, takes the throne in the aftermath of the deaths of King Orenduil and Queen Alaria and promises the elven people the return of their long-lost magic, the forests of Elethri begin to languish… The dryads and Tara-lin must join their magic as never before to bring his menace to an end in a way consistent with their natures and the healing of the forests. In the midst of the upheaval, Tara-lin finds herself in a position of influence she never wanted. With the help of the dryads, she must find and stay true to her song and try to lead the elves to discover and nurture their individual magic.

DragonSword by Raina Nightingale

When the Obsidian Guardian rises and the Dragon-sword shines again, so will hope to defeat the Nightmare… Dragonrider Noren has narrowly escaped being burned at the stake. Reunited at last, he and Silmavalien flee northwards. Joined by Onyxalis, a black dragon who believes himself to be the destined Avenger of the Dragons, they must battle their way through the hordes of the Nightmare Lord to the Volcano of Ellen Island. There Onyxalis may receive the power he needs as the Obsidian Guardian, and there the re-forging of the Dragon-sword will be begun. With the Gift of the Volcano, they will finally have the power to fight the battle before them and even the mightiest of the Nightmare Legion.

DragonWing by Raina Nightingale

An ancient war to which the fates of nations are nothing is waged around them. Whether they ignore it or not, their souls are at stake, and their choices will shape their fate. After nearly starving underground, Silmavalien has found a safe place for herself and her dragons to grow in peace. The weather is temperate, and the dragons are finally able to hunt for themselves. But the nightmare is coming for her, and the battle against fear is not one she’s sure she even wants to win. Far away, Noren’s dragon has hatched, and he finally knows why Silmavalien left him, but he can’t understand why she did not trust him. Still, he tries to find her and struggles to hide Elninya, his growing dragon, from those who would kill her. But his fear could turn him into the monster he fears, and his real enemy isn’t the humans who would burn him alive if they knew about Elninya.

Children of the Dryads by Raina Nightingale

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When her human father, Eldor, a member of an organization of elite warriors dedicated to protecting the Valor Alliance, is called on a mission she does not think he can survive, Tara-lin violates his orders and follows him… She is a half-elf, born with the long-lost ancestral magic of the elves. With her is Alis, a human girl desperate to avoid a marriage forced on her by her father, a colleague of Eldor, but terrified that gods Tara-lin does not believe exist will cast her into the netherhells for her disobedience. Ahead of them is Eldor’s terrifying destination – Nightshade Castle, haunt of madness and black magic.

DragonBirth by Raina Nightingale

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In a world where dragons are considered demons and Dragonriders are hunted and killed as witches . . . Silmavalien is a devout young woman from a small mountain village. Her engaged, Noren, is teaching her the bow and her life goals are limited to marrying him – as soon as he completes his Manhood Hunt – and having a family. But then she meets a dragon hatchling and discovers a love she could never have dreamed, but one that rips her entire world apart. The gods she has worshiped, everything she has ever been taught or believed, is a monstrous lie, and she's not sure what to believe now. Can she dare to trust Noren with her new secret, even if he is the only person she's ever heard voice doubts about whether the stories are true? If she, or the hatchling Minth, are discovered, both will be burned alive. How can she survive and care for Minth in a wild hostile world – one that is even stranger than she thought?

Reviews

Guardian by A.J. Calvin

Worldbuilding: Aided the story
Plot: Mostly clear
Characters: Some more thought out than others

Storytelling: Balanced
Immersion: Satisfying, fulfilling experience
Emotional Response: Engaging

Thought Provoking: New ideas came up
Cover: Adequately represents the story