Once, we Drus were as the Dryads: eternally in our roots, one forever with the forest. But we were not content. We longed for form, to set us apart from the trees. So the Dryads gave us the bodies of men, and trapped our spirits in mortal flesh…
Holly Hillwalker has never dealt well with the curse of the Drus. He hates his humanity, and never more than now, when the magic of the forest is failing and it’s up to him to save his people. Tristan Grueder, part-owner of the local sawmill is coming back to town, and a cloud of blood and death follows in his wake. Holly will do everything he can to stop him.
Tristan has no idea of the hatred the forest holds for him and his family. They’re just trees. And his sister’s business is in trouble. He’s going to help her get their company on solid financial ground again and then he’s leaving. Tennga, Georgia has never felt like home to him, and there’s nothing that could ever convince him to put down roots there. Until he meets Holly Hillwalker.
It’s a bad time for a lonely man to find his soulmate. It’s a terrible time for a would-be King of Trees to fall for a human. And if there’s one thing the enchanted forest won’t tolerate, it’s a human and Drus in love. The forest issues an ultimatum.
He who is to be king must bring the man here to the sacred spring to die…
Author: R. Lee Fryar
Release Date: March 15, 2024
ISBN:
Cover Artist: Elizabeth Jeannel
Genre:Â Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Word Count: 125,000
Sex Content: Moderate (18+)
Robby P –
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fall in love with a tree?
That’s the crux of R Lee Fryar’s Tree Gods, a swooning, sylvan romance with environmentalist overtones and a dash of faerie politics. Returning to his childhood home in Tennga, Georgia for the first time in years, Tristan Grueder has no intention of entering a generations-spanning conflict between the strange Hillwalker clan and the flailing Grueder family sawmill. He definitely doesn’t expect to fall in love with Holly Hillwalker, who, unbeknownst to Tristan, is a tree spirit in human form.
What unfolds is a somber tale full of passionate longing, forbidden trysts, and the ever-present pull between duty and desire. The love affair between Tristan and Holly treads that delicate line of being earnest and complicated, without becoming cumbersome or laden with misunderstandings. As someone who does not often pursue romantasy reads, there was also enough external conflict to keep me interested, and Fryar’s lush, moody prose keeps the pages turning.
Fryar also treats the people of this small town with an affectionate hand. It would be easy to paint the humans as tree-killing monsters (which the book does, to some extent) and the absolute villains of the tale, but the story’s main antagonist comes from a more nuanced place.
All in all, I was satisfied with my venture into this urban fantasy. Tree Gods is a queer romance that will scratch the genre itch for those who are not looking for epic quests or world-savings stakes, but something a bit more grounded and personal.