Captive by Lisa Kumar

Captive by Lisa Kumar

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


What can I say?



This is not my usual cup of tea. For one, it's a short story. Secondly, it's an adult fantasy romance. For three, it's about elves.



And it's very, very good. I'd take a refill of this new tea, please!



I would like to add that this is definitely an adult short story and probably wouldn't recommend it for young readers. However, once said readers are of a more mature age, I would definitely advise giving CAPTIVE a shot.



I like to think that I know Ms. Kumar fairly well. She's in my group Goodwriters for Goodreads and has always been kind, VERY creative, and from what I've read thus far and CAPTIVE has proved quite tremendously, a tremendous writer. I absolutely loved her use of vocabulary in this short story. Her use of description was also just lovely. I have no doubt in my mind as to her ability to control language.



As for the characters, I thought they were also very well written. Emma was a well-rounded woman held captive by an arrogant, yet complex Elvin Lord. Why wouldn't you want to read about these people? Cian (Emma's captor), proves to be a tough mystery for Emma to solve. One minute she detects a tenderness to him that she can't help, but be drawn to and the next he's ordering her around and referring to her as his 'human pet'. The plot was simply captivating! Pun intended, but nonetheless true!



So why not give it the whole five stars? Because it's a short story. I felt like CAPTIVE was more of a preview, like it simply couldn't be this short! It's a full-fledged story cut down to the most important and intense scenes. I would've really loved seeing those inbetween scenes! I wanted to make this journey with Emma from the very first step. Basically, in all my greedy appetite I'm saying I want more. I want a novel! It's simply too good to condense.



However, if there cannot be more then I will finish the review and give CAPTIVE four stars. It's a beautiful story about love and trust. The fantastical element of Elves gives it something unique (I would really love to learn more about Kumar's fair folk in general) and there seems to be so many good opportunities to expand. Ameon for example. The wilderness for another. The whole prospect of the story that lies behind this short story just generates so much anxious excitement in me!



So, anyone who hasn't read this yet, please do so. And then help me enlist an army to petition for more of Emma and Cian! Absolutely lovely and quite fresh!



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