Sebastian (Ephemera, #01)

From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Sweeping onto the scene with flair and grace, this latest page-turner from bestseller Bishop (_Dreams Made Flesh_) flutters its eyelashes at you like a shy country maid and then sinks its teeth in like a hungry succubus. The maid is Lynnea and the succubus is Sebastian, and their unlikely romance is at the heart of the impressively unclichéd battle between light and dark raging through the world called Ephemera, where the land changes in response to the deepest desires and fears of the inhabitants. When the Eater of the World came into being, the Guides of the Heart shattered Ephemera into myriad pieces, each shaped by the will of a Landscaper and linked to other pieces by Bridges; they also cornered the Eater in a Landscape unconnected to the rest of the world. Now a foolish student has set it free, and Sebastian must help his cousins, Glorianna and Lee, a Landscaper and a Bridge of unusual power and talents respectively, to trap or destroy it. Bishop's pure originality and lyrical prose bolster the occasionally uneven characterization, and the tender romances and friendships will delight fantasy readers tired of gore and lust. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist Welcome to Ephemera, full of thousands of magical landscapes interconnected by bridges that may or may not take a traveler where he wants to go, for here the destination is always determined by the heart's true desire. One such landscape is the Den, a town of perpetual twilight inhabited by creatures of the night because it shelters all things hidden, secret, and dark. Half-incubus Sebastian and his friend, Teaser, have lived in the Den for years, happily plying their trade to lonely women in the flesh and in their dreams. But something evil roams among humans, trolls, waterhorses, and other creatures, and the corpses of heinously murdered victims are found with alarming regularity. When that evil enters the Den wearing Teaser's and others' faces, Sebastian must perilously journey to Wizard City for help. There, another, more insidious evil awaits. With the help of cousin Glorianna Belladonna, Teaser, and his love, Lynnea, Sebastian will risk everything to save Ephemera. But will everything be enough? Erotic, fervently romantic, superbly entertaining, Sebastian satisfies. Paula Luedtke Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved The New York Times bestselling author of the Novels of the Others invites you enter the realm of Ephemera, a place that is ever-changing, caught between the Light and Dark forces of the heart... Long ago, Ephemera was split into a dizzying number of magical lands—connected only by bridges that may take you where you truly belong, rather than where you had intended to go. In one such land, where night reigns and demons dwell, the half-incubus Sebastian revels in dark delights. But in dreams she calls to him: a woman who wants only to be safe and loved—a woman he hungers for while knowing he may destroy her. And an even more devastating destiny awaits him, for an ancient evil is stirring—and Sebastian's realm may be the first to fall...“Erotic, fervently romantic, [and] superbly entertaining.”—Booklist In a world of shifting lands connected only by bridges, the magic of the Landscapers keeps Ephemera stable, until dark and seductive dreams lure Sebastian, a half-incubus, to search for the woman of his visions, and the evil Eater of the World escapes its prison, threatening all with destruction.