Very intersting story about a dimention and time jumping hero. I really enjoyed it. It was as if that story arc about Marco leaping into a differint timeline in Star vs the Forces of Evil only this fully explored the impact that could have on a person. Awesome with some really hot scenes too.

This book was so weird. Definitely felt kind of indie. The most difficult thing to grasp was the author's sense of time and distance - the world building could have used more work. That said, I did enjoy the characters and the mounts were a beautiful twist on a favourite creature of mine. I certainly felt for them. I think the way the author shied away from the love interest's past trauma was a huge fail - we never really learn what happened and I think it's a poor way to deal with a tough subject. That said, the gender politics were on point.

This coming-of-age story took a lot of world building. I believe it is successful in that, as well as in conveying a soulmate-level MM romance.

Alexander's journey in parallel worlds is epic. I can only imagine that the epic will continue in future volumes; they'll have to top this one, which won't be easy.

Five stars for fantasy, five for erotic romance, and five more for relevance to our own existential dilemmas.

So, this is a "Goldilocks" sort of book for me. The beginning wasn't right, didn't like the ending, but the middle of the book was "just right" or pretty darn near perfect.

Although this book is first in the Spiritlands series, apparently it dovetails with another book by the author because at the beginning there is a hint of information about the Harris-Wallace family and their powers - shapeshifting, horses that communicate via a form of telepathy, a brother who has left his war mount and home after breaking up with his fiance, etc. It just felt like being lost at sea at the start since you don't have enough details to get a sense of what has happened.

Alexander Harris-Wallace, the neglected middle child, turns 15 and starts getting in touch with his spirit being. He's a bullied child (with some perfectly horrible cousins) and at first he's pleased about his fawn-like being with its delicate hooves. But after being trapped by his cousins and almost killed, he dives off a cliff in his spirit form ... and wakes up in his human form in another world. He finds himself in the middle of the migration of horses travelling to the Crescent Shore to give birth. He bonds with the horses and runs with them to their destination, which turns out to be the shores of a high fantasy somewhat medieval world.

What follows is an EPIC story of love between Alexander and his general Benneton (the second son of the King and the leader of their army), learning to thrive in this new world, bonding with his war mounts, getting in touch with his spirit being which is now a majestic powerful black stag ... a rich full life of perhaps at least 15 years, until Alexander ends up back in his world ... again 15. yet with a lifetime of memories.

At this point, the book moves into a difficult period of trying to reconcile his lost past life, but the ending of the book brings about many exciting possibilities of a continuation of that earlier life and love .... but after introducing some vague continuing plot lines, the book comes to a close, as T.S. Eliot says "not with a bang, but a whimper." I look forward to the next book in this series, but feel that the end of THIS book didn't have enough concrete information to even tease the imagination as to what could happen next.

So, to recap - much confusion at the beginning, LOVED the middle of the book, loved the world building the author did, loved the M/M relationship, very reluctantly read the near ending with the total unexpected change-up, disliked the end which just seemed to toss in a bunch of stuff and left me hanging! 4 stars.

I really enjoyed this.
but
I was disappointed about how abruptly this book ended because I wanted more...
pretty good though

3 stars
This is a difficult book to review.

I enjoyed it. The reading went quick and there was never a point I felt it dulled or dragged too much. I liked the world building a fair bit, though parts of it were so little explained that at points I felt as though I had as little idea what was going on with some things as Alexander did. Oddly that did work, though there were parts I'd like to have seen elaborated on more just for my own curiosity's sake if nothing else.

I enjoyed the characters. Alexander was extremely sympathetic and I enjoyed reading him come into his own. And Bennonton was wonderful. I was so pleased when I finally met him. Their love was believable to me even if a bit of it happened at a distance, and I was rooting for them so very hard. The mounts were lovely too. I enjoyed them a great deal more than I expected.

So to sum up the positives I liked the characters and the world, both of the worlds, though my understanding of their connection feels somewhat incomplete. I understand there is a related book which I haven't read. Perhaps that explains some of it better. Or perhaps it doesn't entirely need explanation because I did enjoy the book well enough without it.

Now onto the things that kept this from being a four or five star read for me. Parts of the story felt glossed over a bit, told to me rather than letting me into them. Now given the span of years this books covers I do understand why that was so. The transitions were done as well as could be managed in that way, I think but for me that did sap some of my enjoyment. That may be more a matter of personal taste than anything. I felt the ending section was a bit weaker than parts of the previous, but again, I did still enjoy it.

The writing was lovely, the sex scenes were hot, the characters were loveable and believable to me. I'd read a sequel if one were offered and I would recommend this book to someone who likes fantasy and horses. So I'd definitely place it at a solid three stars.

The book is quite good but it's a bit confusing in the beginning. Maybe it's because I havn't read the other books of the related series but I had trouble following the story in the beginning. Also it took quite some time until the main character met his mate - I liked the migration part and understand it's important since Zan'Dar matured a lot in this time but nevertheless it took a bit long for my liking until the main characters of a romance book met.
However I liked the plot and the bond the characters shared.

This book is adorable, the characters are well written, the pacing of it felt a bit off to me but only in small parts - so really it's not an issue, I enjoyed the world's that they are both in and how it's empowering!

I really wanted to like this book. The plot points are all things I usually enjoy: weaker person transported to fantasy world where they become badass person and also wins the love of a super awesome person. But sadly the pacing is so bad this story doesn't hold up. Also there are plot decisions that just do not work at the end. Is the main character supposed to have been dead, is his love interest supposed to have traveled through a demon world and traveled from dead to alive? I just don't even know. What's up with the original world? Is it earth? And if it's earth what's up with the magical elements? I wanted this book to be good but it needed another few runs of edits to make it actually good.

3.5 stars

When fifteen year old Alexander falls through a gate into the spiritlands he begins a quest in which he finds love, finds himself and finds the meaning of home.

Alexander is generally ignored by his family. His older brothers outshine him. They are skilled horsemen and they are emotionally bound to their mounts (horselike creatures) and both of them have embraced their spirit animals.

Alexander dreams about the day that he will find a mount, a horse that will share his thoughts and his emotions, but it seems as if that will never happen. Alexander has reached maturity but instead of gifts and celebrations he is ignored and worse of all he is given chores to do that will keep him away from his part time job. He needs the money from that job to pay protection money to his cousins.

When his cousins find out that Alexander doesn't have money they beat him up and chase him and during the chase Alexander falls through a gate/fissure into the Spritlands. Here in this paralell world Alexander has adventures and is embroiled in politics and power. In this world he become Zan'Dar and he has a mount, special abilities and courage.

Alexander makes his way in this new world, growing as a person in the Spiritlands. Here he has a chance to be someone, but at home he is nothing. And then he meets Lord Bennenton the second son of the king, and his life changes because Ben is his, but before they can be together Ben must go on a two year military campaign. During that time Alexander becomes a warrior. He has his mounts and his healing powers and as he waits for Ben he tries to find a way home but without success. When Ben returns home the two men begin their life at court together but there is still much more ahead for both of them.

I really enjoyed reading this. It took me a bit of time to figure out the two worlds and how they relate to each other through the mounts and other creatures. This is a story about love, personal growth and adventure. It was an interesting story which held my attention. I preferred the first half of the book because the second half had some really long sex scenes which totally disrupted the pace of the story for me. I skimmed through those pages because I just wanted to get back to the different characters and their lives.

Alexander's adventures cause him to grow in love and the story is rich in imagination and drama. This is the first book in the series and it will be interesting to see how the series develops. I hope we get to see more of Ben and Alexander in future books.

Copy provided via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.