The Time Weaver by Shana Abé

Title: The Time Weaver
Author: Shana Abé
Genre: Historical Paranormal Romance/Fantasy
Publisher: Bantam Books

What would you risk and sacrifice to have a chance at love that will stand the test of time? Would you risk your family? Yourself? Even war? Sometimes, however, fate is unchangeable, no matter how hard you try to circumvent some of the outcomes. Or is it? This is the story of the Time Weaver-- A rare drákon who chases time itself to have the one she wants.

~*~Synopsis~*~

From the highly acclaimed author of The Treasure Keeper and Queen of Dragons comes this mesmerizing new novel of the drákon, a supersensual race of shapeshifters whose world exists side by side with our own. In The Time Weaver, a young drákon woman discovers she possesses a unique gift, one that brings her closer to her destined love—at the cost of their very lives.
  
Honor Carlisle may have been born into the drákon clan but she’s always felt like a stranger to her kin. It’s an intuition that proves true when she receives a mysterious letter—a letter sent by her future self. Honor learns she is a Time Weaver: a creature with the extraordinary ability to transport herself into the past or future. 

But the letter contains a dire warning. If Honor remains in her home at Darkfrith, she is certain to be killed. Fleeing for sanctuary among old friends in Spain, she practices her Weaving and unknowingly draws closer to an even more immediate danger. For on one of her Weaves into the future, Honor encounters the very man she should most avoid: the prince of a rival tribe of drákon. 

Drawn to Prince Alexandru of Zaharen, Honor is unable to resist the temptation of Weaving to him again and again across time. As they surrender to a desire that brings the present and future ever closer, they realize they are true soulmates. But they also risk fulfilling a terrible prophecy—for their union is destined to wreak havoc. Now Honor and Sandu must place their trust—and their lives—in each other’s hands, and their faith in a magical love that could restore order to the drákon universe—or destroy it forever.

~*~Review~*~

The Time Weaver, the fifth book of the drákon series by Shana Abé, held me captive in this amazing, historical fantasy world, right from the very first sentence:

 "Imagine a place empty of souls."

It was from here on, that I felt as though I was part of an audience gathered around a fire-pit, listening to the tale of a storyteller. And, what a tale it was! 

The story begins in late eighteenth-century England, with a very young Honor, reading a series of letters wrote to her by her older self in the near future. They warn of her events that she will partake in, that will ultimately lead to war between her tribe the English Darkfrith, and their 'cousins', the Zaharen of the Carpathian Alps. But, Honor finds it hard to listen to her own advice, especially once she has met, Prince Alexandru of the Zaharen, the Alpha of a tribe unlike her own. Here the drákon do not strive to conform to the human ways and are known to be more pre-Darkfrith in their feudal society practices.

While the futuristic letters, as well as Honor's time weaving, do shed some foreshadowing light on the future, Abe did a spectacular job at making you wonder if the heroine could, in fact, change the outcomes of events to come. In one of the first set of letters Honor receives from herself, she writes:

"...I want to change the future, but it's like pushing a boulder up a mountain. I never win. What I will in retrospect never matters. The future simply rolls right over me, no matter what."

Honor does, however, continuously try to change her future through letters and Weaving. For this is the ultimate love story. A once fearful young girl, envious of the other drákons who are more dragon than herself, grows up to become more sure of something than she's ever known or felt. She was meant to be with the Alpha prince of Zaharen Yce. From this she gathers her strength and will to overcome obstacles and barriers of time to be with him. Despite the deaths of her loved ones and a whole tribe, she sees in her future. She knows it is with him that she can embrace her gift and her future, be herself, and be loved.

The love that is found and developed between Honor and Sandu, seems real, unhurried (they think about and wait for each other over the course of years), and definitely something worth fighting for. And, the intimate moments between them are very yummy, without them being graphically over-the-top.

While most books follow a very linear progression of events, The Time Weaver bends the norms, transporting the reader back and forth through time, just as the heroine, Honor, does. Prior to reading this book, I had found a couple of reader reviews that found this confusing and, therefore, turned off by the style. I, on the other hand, found it metaphoric to the overall theme, and a refreshing approach to such a traditional way of telling a story. In fact, in hindsight, I couldn't imagine the story being read within the context of a traditional style.

Abé's ability to create spectacularly, vivid imagery of the times and places make you feel as though it is you jumping through time and falling in love with the one person you should not. I was so caught up in this mesmerizing adventure, I was barely aware that I was reading alternating person views of omniscient third-person and first-person narrator. The writing just seemed to flow flawlessly and effortlessly.

~*~Final Thoughts~*~

Both the drákon series, and Shana Abé, were completely new to me when I purchased this novel, and I'm pleased that I took the risk on something 'new'. While the book is the fifth in the series, it can be read as a stand alone. 

It was captivating, enchanting, and romantic -- all the things that I simply love! It has been a long time since I found a book that I literally walked around the house with until it was complete! If there were any missing or confusing components to it, I didn't catch them.

I highly recommend this book to those readers who want a little bit of everything rolled up in to one great novel. Mystery, adventure, historical settings, paranormal beings, and steamy romance!