Rating: 5 Stars

Publisher: Self Published

Genre:  Queer Fantasy/Spec-Fic

Length: 457 Pages

Reviewer: Kazza

Purchase At: amazon, Goodreads (**BOOK RELEASE JANUARY 16th, 2025)

Blurb:

This city of fools will be brought to order!

Deposed, her father presumed dead, her friends slaughtered and the cavern in chaos, Grace Harrington is on the run and entirely alone. The only ally she has left is the man she hates most in the world: Nathaniel Morgenstern, the assassin who murdered her mother and seduced her father.

Grace’s only hope of reclaiming the throne and saving her people is to seek the aid of Éamon Tadhg, the High Druid of Arajon. But she needs to survive the hostile streets of Iole City before she can even think about fleeing to the Violet Valley.

Nathaniel made a vow to Doran to protect Grace, but he could never have imagined how quickly and horrifically their lives would fall apart.

Grieving the dual losses of the man he loved and his new friend Tsa Lien, Nathaniel devotes himself to the service of the overthrown Lady Archon who despises him – even if it costs him everything he is.

Review:

I have sat on any review of this book for over a week because I’m overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of everything that happened in Valley of Secrets, book #4 in the Death’s Embrace series, and how to review it. There has been so much leading up to this book, and how H.L Moore can plot this series like she does is beyond my capacity. The patience and love of her characters shines through. 

Okay. In I go.

At the explosive end of Throne of Lies I was left wondering what had happened to some people I’d grown to love. It looked like they were dead. I wasn’t sure how they could survive and what I would do if that were true. Nathaniel is mourning Doran, his lover, and Tsa Lien, a women he knew so, so much about and loved her for all of it, which I’m here to tell you is a lot. You get Lien’s backstory in Valley of Secrets and you also get a piece of her culture’s folklore, superstition, and some supernatural elements… which blew me away. I cheered the Shadow Eater.  

Grace is with Nathaniel, hiding from what were once her guards when she was the the Dowager Archon of Arajon. Nathaniel promised Doran that he would take care of Grace and that’s what he intends on doing. Even though she doesn’t like him. Reagan Iovanius, the Archon and city’s military leader, staged a bloody coup and left a lot of people dead in the wake of her power hungry transgressions. She’s killed the elite, the poor, with particular emphasis on certain ethnicities within the districts of Iole City. Anyone who might have had connections to Nathaniel Morgenstern, Tsa Lien, Doran, and Grace have been targeted.

Grace and Nathaniel find people who look out for her. People who knew her father’s work in the Black Lung Gang. People who have been helped by Nathaniel. People who cannot stand what Iovanius is doing. Then there are some people who use whatever opportunity they can for themselves, hello Lady Leonora Darkwater. Inch by inch, Iovanius is getting closer to Grace but Grace’s side remains one step ahead, and with some skilled PR they start to gain momentum with the population of the Cavern, but it’s getting too dangerous. Grace needs to leave to visit the Violet Valley, the spiritual home of the Arajoni. She now needs the elder council and it’s leader on her side if she is ever to be the Archon again. Previously, the role was thrust upon her when her husband died, now she wants to make the nation better and she knows being the Archon is how she’ll bring about fiscal, industrial, and ecological change for her nation.  

Meanwhile, across town, Doran is trying to climb up the Sionann’s Falls cliffs where prisoners are held in awful cells. He has to heal after being stabbed when the coup occurred. I am here to tell you Doran needs to buy a lottery ticket because, as the high Druid eventually says a few times, he has the gods’ favour. Also lucky for him, he runs into an old frenemy who’s been sent to the cells and helps nurse a sick Doran. In his eventual escape, Doran finds Gertrude, his daughter’s grandmother. Together they have no clue whether their family or friends are dead or alive.

He had to believe Nathaniel was alive. He had to. Because if Nathaniel was alive, then Grace was alive, and that meant he could do this. 

The first break comes when they hear one of the city’s semi-regular broadcasts of a reward to anyone who knows Grace Harrington’s whereabouts. As Iovanius is getting more and more desperate, more and more delusional, she now calls herself the Protector of the Nation, it thankfully doesn’t take too long for Doran to work his way to his daughter, Grace. Iovanius continues to shoot her ‘reign’ in the foot by starving, brutalising, and freezing “her” citizens, along with offering rewards for Grace, because more and more citizens, some of her guards as well, are less and less happy with her rule.  

With assistance, knowledgeable people, and some luck, Grace finds her way to the Violet Valley to seek the help of Éamon Tadhg, the High Druid of Arajon. He is the powerful spiritual leader of the Arajoni. Éamon hadn’t recognised Grace’s rule and in the year she sat as the Archon, she didn’t go to the Valley. It’s hard to leave the throne when there are vipers hissing at your heels. Now is a desperate and long over due time for a pilgrimage. Without their support she may never be able to go back to Iole City. She will never be recognised as the true Archon she wants to be. She also fears that Iovanius will destroy the inhabitants of the Valley and, as she spends time there, in a spiritual and magical place, she doesn’t want that. Her father, Doran, is descended from an ancient lineage of the Valley. He speaks Ancient Arajoni, albeit somewhat poorly, and he knows enough about the Violet Valley to help Grace. So he accompanies her, as well as Lady Leonora Darkwater who has strong ties to the Valley and speaks their language flawlessly. However, Leonora, while making all the right pleadings, is the biggest snake of all. Her ability to persuasively mindfuck people is of value to get Grace out of the city and into the Valley. She certainly knows how to cajole and make herself appear useful. Just like Doran, I didn’t want her there. A poison chalice.

“The Valley has declared for Grace,” he taunted. “You betrayed the Draoidhean. What do you think will happen to you when the warriors reach the end of the city?”
“I said shut up!”
“You’re running out of options, Leonora.”

Valley of Secrets is well named for reasons I won’t go into other than the death of her envoy (Throne of Lies) to the Valley in regards to the Hydro Electric Scheme needs investigation. Her future lies in the hands of the council, primarily Éamon Tadhg’s support. The Scheme, the uniting of the Arajoni are important – for the cavern dwellers and for the future of the Valley.     

Nate’s addiction to Embrace and his role as an assassin of the Nameless is an overarching thread throughout the series, and while more hopeful by the end of this book, it still overshadows the more peaceful-ish ending of Valley of Secrets. Lien’s venture(s) is only just getting started. The Warden’s involvement helps bring about the best outcome for the main players revolting against Iovanius this time, along with the Valley rising up, but they also sit on the edge of being a problem, along with the Sanctum, also the Nameless, and the Silent Sisters. People who have been banished may also come back. There is plenty more to work with for the author.

Grace grew a lot by the middle of this book onwards. I was glad. I was far from a fan of hers previously. She’s young but she has good ideas looking to the future. Doran has always been my favourite and he didn’t disappoint once again. Nathaniel is warm but quite enigmatic, I like that, but he is loyal to those he loves. His background will be moved to the foreground I imagine going forward. Lien has always exuded a quiet power but in this book she was something else and I was here for it.      

The best book in the series, Valley of Secrets offers intrigue, action, politics, brutality, the supernatural, culture, spirituality, religious themes, and relationships. We mostly review gay romance or MM on this blog but this series is not that. It’s queer fiction with diverse queer rep, including a number of relationship dynamics. Mostly though, this is a fantasy/spec-fic world and series. You do have to have read this series in order from the very beginning to be able to know what’s what and who’s who. The Death’s Embrace series continues to keep me on my toes. Without meaning to assume, I love the homage the author pays her own (spiritual) background throughout the book as well. 5 Stars!