Morrigan's Cross

Author: Nora Roberts
Published: August 29, 2006
Category: Romance/Fantasy
Series: Circle of Six Trilogy #1
Rating: 5/10

I had really high hopes for this trilogy, because it seemed like a plan that couldn't fail.

Nora Roberts + ragtag team of destiny that includes a reluctant good guy vampire + magic + epic battle against vampires and demons.

What could go wrong? Perhaps it was an issue of trying to pack too much into one book. In lieu of my summary, here's the back cover copy:

In the last days of high summer, with lightning striking blue in a black sky, the sorcerer stood on a high cliff overlooking the raging sea…

Belting out his grief into the storm, Hoyt Mac Cionaoith rails against the evil that has torn his twin brother from their family’s embrace. Her name is Lilith. Existing for thousands of years, she has lured countless men to an immortal doom with her soul-stealing kiss. But now, this woman known as vampire will stop at nothing until she rules this world—and those beyond it…

Hoyt is no match for the dark siren. But his powers come from the goddess Morrigan, and it is through her that he will get his chance at vengeance. At Morrigan’s charge, he must gather five others to form a ring of power strong enough to overcome Lilith. A circle of six: himself, the witch, the warrior, the scholar, the one of many forms, and the one he’s lost. And it is in this circle, hundreds of years in the future, where Hoyt will learn how strong his spirit—and his heart—have become…

Morrigan's Cross sort of focuses on Hoyt and Glenna, the witch who comes from nearly a thousand years in future from Hoyt's time. I say "sort of focuses" because they are the romance for the book, but they don't get a lot of screentime. The background characters are too active for the couple to be really prominent. I understand why the background characters aren't as supplementary they should be; there's a lot of detail and information to present. Roberts is setting up for an epic battle and gathering different fantasy novel elements: magic, sword fighting, vampires, demons, time travel, dimensional travel, a goddess, etc.

The romance of Hoyt and Glenna was also lacking. All of a sudden they're in love when there was very little dialogue or flirtation between them. I didn't have a problem with them getting married though. It's that whole wartime marriage thing, and it was important to the group to have some lightness and goodness in the midst of training and daunting task ahead of them. Hoyt was also pretty boring for a hero; Glenna was the more likeable of the couple. Maybe I'll chalk it up to Hoyt's original time period.

The book was good for exposition and character introduction, but not great as a romance. I'm hoping that the next book, Dance of the Gods, is better, and reviews on Amazon seem to support that.