Advance Review: ‘Butterfly Swords’ (2010) by Jeannie Lin

Genre: Historical Romance

Setting: 758 AD China – Tang Dynasty

POV: 3rd Person

Sensuality: Hot

Violence: Mild

Format: Digital

Source: A digital ARC courtesy of Harlequin via NetGalley

My Grade: A-

Butterfly Swords is Jeannie Lin’s debut historical romance and it has already garnered some impressive buzz. I admit that I started this book with a certain amount of trepidation as my expectations were so high. I’m delighted to report that the book is amazing!

On the way to her arranged marriage to a neighbouring warlord, Ai Li discovers a plot against her family. Desperate to return home and warn her father, she arranges her escape disguised as a boy. Unfortunately, her plans go awry when her party is attacked by bandits. Ai Li is a trained warrior and puts up an excellent fight with the aid of her butterfly swords. However, she cannot defeat the bandits on her own, and is assisted at the last minute by a mysterious blue-eyed barbarian named Ryam.

Ryam belongs to a group of barbarian soldiers who are loyal to the dispossessed ruler of China and her Western husband. Ryam was injured in a battle and lost his way. His aim is to return to Gansu where his party is located. When he meets Ai Li, however, his plans change. He’s determined to escort her back to Changan and the safety of her family, even though this will bring him deeper into enemy territory.

Ai Li and Ryam’s journey is fraught with danger. Ai Li’s betrothed, Li Tao, sends his soldiers after them and they endure several narrow escapes before they finally reach Changan. As Ai Li soon discovers, the danger does not end there. She is shocked when her parents refuse to listen to her and insist she return to Li Tao and marry him. She realises that the values she was taught to uphold as a child no longer exist in this new Empire. With her grandmother’s help, she escapes Changan and follows Ryam in the direction of her childhood home and her youngest brother, the one member of her family she still trusts.

Butterfly Swords is a fast-paced romantic adventure set against the opulent background of Tang Dynasty China. The descriptions of the landscape are breathtaking, and the fight scenes are extremely well done.

Ai Li is a worthy heroine. She is a trained fighter, but she never forgets her inferior strength as a woman. She doesn’t rush into battle heedlessly. Ai Li struggles to reconcile her upbringing with what her family has become. She has been taught to obey her parents, but feels unable to do so in the circumstances in which she finds herself. This is not a decision she takes lightly.

Ryam is an unusual hero. As a white man in China, he is regarded as a barbarian. As a professional soldier, he feels unworthy of a woman like Ai Li, despite his strong attraction towards her. Nevertheless, they are destined to be together and Ryam is determined to do everything within his power to protect her.

When I finished Butterfly Swords, I immediately checked Jeannie Lin’s website to find out when her next book will be released. I was very pleased when I read the blurb of The Dragon and the Pearl and discovered who will be the hero and the heroine in the next book. However, I would recommend that readers who prefer to avoid spoilers don’t do so before they finish Butterfly Swords.

If you are a reader who longs for more variety in the settings of historical romances published today, Butterfly Swords is an excellent read.

Note: Butterfly Swords will be published by Harlequin Historical in October 2010. It is already available for purchase at the eHarlequin website. To tie in with the release of this book, Jeannie Lin wrote a novella for Harlequin Historical Undone called The Taming of Mei Lin. This novella can be purchased as an ebook.

Tagged as: A Minus Reviews, China, Harlequin Historicals, Historical Romance, Jeannie Lin, Tang Dynasty