Hades' Daughter

In the ancient world, Crete is not the only land with a Labyrinth at its heart. Labyrinth magic protects Troy and the Greek city-states, as well. Then Theseus steals away Ariadne, Mistress of the Cretan Labyrinth, who for love of him betrayed her own father. But Theseus abandons Ariadne for her sister, and in revenge, Ariadne unweaves the magic of all the world's remaining Labyrinths, unleashing an age of catastrophe. The gods weaken, Atlantis sinks, and Troy falls. Then Brutus, the warrior king of lost Troy, is promised a new Troy and a new Labyrinth if he carries out the destructive will of a mysterious, beautiful figure who appears to him in visions. But is she the goddess Artemis, as she claims, or a vengeful woman who has abandoned both mortality and mercy?
Hades' Daughter is a dark, bloody epic of power, passion, and betrayal. The opening is bumpy--which is no surprise, for the early events range from Theseus's treachery to the fall of Troy and beyond. The prose and pacing become smoother as the saga focuses on Brutus and the princess Cornelia, whose father Brutus killed and whose city he destroyed. Brutus takes Cornelia as his wife with as horrible an act as possible, short of death. Nonetheless, a relationship grows between them. Unfortunately, given their extremely rocky start, it's never clear why Cornelia undergoes a change of heart, but this self-contained first novel of a new trilogy will appeal to some fans of high fantasy, historical fantasy, and those who enjoy Greek and British legends. --Cynthia Ward Book Description
Ancient Greece: A place where the gods hold mortal life cheap, mere playthings to amuse, delight, and abuse at their will.
But those puny mortals are not wholly devoid of power and at the core of their fabulous city-states lies the Labyrinth, where they can shape the powers of the heavens to their own design. When Theseus entered the Labyrinth and came away with the prize of freedom and his beloved Adrianne, Mistress of the Labyrinth, his future seemed assured... Until he abandoned her for the unforgivable sin of bearing him only a daughter, and the world seemed to change. From that day forward, all the Labyrinths in the ancient world started to decay. It slowly became clear that powerwas fading from the city-states.
Was it the natural decline that comes to all cultures or was it because the power of the Labyrinth had been corrupted by a woman spurned?
A hundred years pass--Troy has fallen and the Trojans are a scatteredand humbled people. The warrior Brutus is of the line of kings and gods. He wears the golden kingship bands of Troy proudly--but they are his only mementos of a former glory, for he is a man without a country and is left little else but pride and a memory of the latent power that he could wield if but given a chance. When he receives a god-sent vision of a distant shore where he can rebuild the ancient kingdom, he will move heaven and earth to reach his destiny.
Ever eastward he is drawn, to a lovely and mystical green land that offers him a haven--and a dream of power and conquest. Nothing will deter him... not even the entreaties of the young princess whom he took as his wife and bedded against her will. First her hatred--and now her love--torment and bind him. She is the only one who realizes the danger he is stepping into, and she will do anything to save him... and his son, whom she carries in her womb.
For in the mists of Albion there lies a woman of power--a woman who has used her siren call to cloud Brutus's mind and has her own reasons for luring the warrior to these lush shores....
She is the long-descended granddaughter of Adrianne, and she has in her heart a hatred that has been passed down for generations. Her plans for Brutus will enact a revenge that could destroy the gods themselves.
s20If Brutus makes the journey successfully, it will be the next step in the Game of the Labyrinth and might start a complicated contest of wills that could span centuries....
Download DescriptionSara Douglass returns with a brand new fantasy series: The Troy Game.