Review: The Time Weaver by Shana Abe

The Time Weaver
Author: Shana Abe
Publication: Bantam (June 1, 2010)

Description: From the highly acclaimed author of The Treasure Keeper and Queen of Dragons comes this mesmerizing new novel of the drákon, a supersensual race of shapeshifters whose world exists side by side with our own. In The Time Weaver, a young drákon woman discovers she possesses a unique gift, one that brings her closer to her destined love—at the cost of their very lives. 
  
Honor Carlisle may have been born into the drákon clan but she’s always felt like a stranger to her kin. It’s an intuition that proves true when she receives a mysterious letter—a letter sent by her future self. Honor learns she is a Time Weaver: a creature with the extraordinary ability to transport herself into the past or future. 

But the letter contains a dire warning. If Honor remains in her home at Darkfrith, she is certain to be killed. Fleeing for sanctuary among old friends in Spain, she practices her Weaving and unknowingly draws closer to an even more immediate danger. For on one of her Weaves into the future, Honor encounters the very man she should most avoid: the prince of a rival tribe of drákon. 

Drawn to Prince Alexandru of Zaharen, Honor is unable to resist the temptation of Weaving to him again and again across time. As they surrender to a desire that brings the present and future ever closer, they realize they are true soulmates. But they also risk fulfilling a terrible prophecy—for their union is destined to wreak havoc. Now Honor and Sandu must place their trust—and their lives—in each other’s hands, and their faith in a magical love that could restore order to the drákon universe—or destroy it forever.


My Thoughts: This was a difficult book to read. The emotions were so strong and the future looked so grim for the main characters. Honor's ability to shift herself around in time and Lia's ability to see the future caused changes in the future and they both tried to manipulate things to get the futures they wanted.

One difference from the description to note though is that Honor didn't leave home to join old friends.
She was kidnapped and taken to live with Lia and Zane. Because she had sent herself letters from the future, she knew that going with Zane was the best thing to do. Lia had dreamed that kidnapping her was the best choice for Honor's future.

Honor visits, in her time traveling, Sandu who is also Prince Alexandru of the Zaharen. Honor's people at Darkfirth and Sandu's are the only two know groups of drakon and they are at war. That doesn't stop Honor and Sandu from falling in love.

I liked the story but it was not an easy book to read. Chapters shifting from viewpoint character to viewpoint character - primarily Honor, Lia and Sandu - and shifts from the present to the future to the past made it necessary to concentrate while reading. The lyrical language made the concentration worthwhile.

I recommend this book to older YAs and adults who want to read a lyrical story of dragons and time travel and are intrigued by a complex fantasy.

Favorite Quote:

I should have been afraid. I was afraid nearly all the time, afraid of my parents, afraid of my species, afraid of myself. I was afraid of the dark, and of mirrors, and of the Council, of the strange smiles of the village boys and the casual cruelty of the village girls. I definitely should have been afraid of this notorious thief who was going to do who knew what with me.
Yet, I was not.

Challenges: Paranormal Reading Challenge, RYOB Reading Challenge