Red River: Vol. 7

by Chie Shinohara

Synopsis
Prince Kail, a young warrior and sorcerer and Yuri, a modern-day teen, where thrown together when evil Queen Nakia drew Yuri across time and space into the ancient Hittite Empire. When it is the season of the North Star, Prince Kail has the power to send Yuri home. But the evil queen's plan to murder them both -- and their growing feelings for one another -- keep getting in the way!

Nakia's evil sister, Nadia, schemes to help Kail's archenemy, the Prince of Darkness! As the North Star blazes in the sky, Kail and his forces struggle to reach Mittani in time to rescue Yuri from becoming one of the dark prince's courtesans. Will they arrive in time to send Yuri back to modern-day Japan?

Review
A lot happens in this volume. The Prince of Darkness arc gets wrapped up, and immediately we get thrown into another. My prediction was correct, the prince does get interrupted right when he's about to rape Yuri. But as far as the story goes, this arc get resolved rather quickly, meaning the end of the Mitanni empire.

Ok, about Yuri going home. It gets sabotaged. Ilbani, Kail's advisor, has decided that it would be better if Yuri would stay. He's probably right, but it's too bad that other people have to decide for the main characters. So now Yuri's stuck there for another year, oh darn. Should I go out on a limb and guess that Yuri's never going to go home? There's 28 books, I highly doubt they're about her and her life in Japan.

Later, when the characters are back in Hattusa, Yuri complains (to herself) that Kail is out of her reach, but how can she give him up after she has to stay with him for another year? Meanwhile, Kail gets the advice to love her and make her forget about her own country. It seems to me like the characters just need to talk to each other for five minutes, and their weird internal conflicts would get resolved. But no, we get interrupted by the next story arc.

Tutankhamen has died, so his wife needs a husband, and they've asked for one of the princes of the Hittite empire. A lot of fighting and conflicting happens over who to send, of course Nakia wants to send Kail (which I personally think would work against her, personally), her son Juda, who's a really nice boy considering his mother, wants to go, and so forth. After a chariot race to decide, it ends up being Zannanza who goes. So, being a good sport, he goes, and Yuri goes with him (why? Probably to witness the next events). Unfortunately, he is assassinated, and only Yuri is left alive. What most fascinating about all this, is that these events really did happen in history. I was about to praise the author for not pulling punches, except that if she wanted to follow history, Zannanza had to die.

Still, the story is a good read, and Hittite history is very interesting.

Final thought: I'll read the next book.