Title: The Treasure
Author: Iris Johansen
Genre: historical romance
Format: mass market paperback
For: personal choice
Synopsis:(from book cover)
TWO UNLIKELY TREASURE HUNTERS...
Lady Selene Ware was nothing more than a harem slave when reformed assassin Kadar Ben Arnaud helped her escape to her native Scotland. But she still wasn't safe from the sheikh who claimed her as his property -- and who now forces her and Kadar on a quest to find the most powerful religious relic of all time.
ONE PERILOUS JOURNEY...
So begins a dangerous odyssey that leads Selene and Kadar to an encounter with the reclusive Tarik, who now possesses the treasure. The closer they come to discovering its secret, however, the closer they will come to losing each other -- and their lives.
THE STAKES COULDN'T BE HIGHER. . . .
The truth is far more explosive than the treasure hunters could ever have realized. Even as Selene grasps the key to this age-old mystery, Kadar is forced to step over the line separating the dark path from the light to save her from an unthinkable fate.
The Good: We return the land and times of Lion's Bride, as this is the story of Selene and Kadar. I was thrilled to see that they finally had their own story and book. It was a long time coming, too long.
The return of Vaden as something more than the shadowy figure who haunts Ware was good to see. We learned a bit more about Vaden's past and his current activities. I would love to see him get his own story (hopefully with a bit more polish than this book got).
The Bad: If you haven't read the first book (re-released just before the release of the hardcover edition of this book) you will be confused. There are assumptions made that you know the characters, their back story and the circumstances surrounding these two.
Very little is seen of the original storyline characters, as much of this story takes place outside of Scotland. You get a small glimpse of them and then they are only referred to for the rest of the story.
I was disappointed by the "romance" aspect of this story, as it doesn't seem to come about. We knew they loved each other (they said so) but much of their relationship just seems to "exist." They didn't grow as a couple or even much individually within the story to where you could feel this was a coming of age romance (or any other kind).
The "holy grail" aspect didn't play out very well for me either. Honestly, I can't tell you why, other than it really didn't work for me. It didn't seem to add to the romance of the story but rather try to steal the limelight.
Lastly, the tragedy of the loss of one of the characters was not wrenching at all. While not a main character, he was at least notable and it should have been more heartbreaking to have the death occur, it didn't feel that way to me at all. It came across as purely a plot element with a bit of "oh well, that's too bad."
Overall: I found this to be a bland book. I originally was very excited to see it, but felt let down by the time I got done.
I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who hasn't read the first, and I certainly wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who hasn't ever read this author - this isn't her best work.
If you have read Lion's Bride, you might want to read this as it continues the journey (somewhat), but otherwise skipping this one wouldn't hurt.
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