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Resenting the Hero Kindle Edition

by Moira J. Moore (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 190 ratings
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In a realm beset by natural disasters, only the magical abilities of the bonded Pairs—Source and Shield—make the land habitable and keep the citizenry safe. The ties that bind them are far beyond the relationships between lovers or kin—and last their entire lives…

Whether they like it or not.

Since she was a child, Dunleavy Mallorough has been nurturing her talents as a Shield, preparing for her day of bonding. Unfortunately, fate decrees Lee’s partner to be the legendary, handsome, and unbearably self-assured Lord Shintaro Karish. Sure, he cuts a fine figure with his aristocratic airs and undeniable courage. But Karish’s popularity and notoriety—in bed and out—make him the last Source Lee ever wanted to be stuck with.

The duo is assigned to High Scape, a city so besieged by disaster that seven bonded pairs are needed to combat it. But when an inexplicable force strikes down every other Source and Shield, Lee and Karish must put aside their differences in order to defeat something even more unnatural than their reluctant affections for each other…

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  1. Book 1 of 7
    Hero
  2. Print length
    308 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    Ace
  6. Publication date
    February 28, 2006
  7. Reading age
    18 years and up
  8. File size
    507 KB
  9. Page Flip
    Enabled
  10. Word Wise
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  11. Enhanced typesetting
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  12. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Moira J. Moore is a Canadian author whose works include Resenting the Hero, The Hero Strikes Back, Heroes Adrift, Heroes at Risk, Heroes Return, Heroes at Odds, Heroes’ Reward. She studied at Carleton University and Queen’s College. When not writing fantasy and adventure fiction, she practices law. 

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B001LRLJV0
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ace; Reissue edition (February 28, 2006)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ February 28, 2006
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 507 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 308 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars 190 ratings

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Moira J. Moore

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Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
190 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Megan Richards
4.0 out of 5 stars Recommended for fantasy lovers that like character development with a pinch of intrigue added on.
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2020
Verified Purchase
"I was chained to a legend. An infamous legend. Stories of drunkenness, whoring, and general recklessness filled my head. Oh. My. God. I must have been evil in a former life."

In a realm beset by natural disasters, only the magical abilities of the bonded Pairs—Source and Shield—make the land habitable and keep the citizenry safe. The ties that bind them are far beyond the relationships between lovers or kin—and last their entire lives…whether they like it or not.

Dunleavy Mallorough has been nurturing her talents as a Shield for years, preparing for her day of bonding. Unfortunately, fate decrees Lee’s partner to be the legendary, handsome, and unbearably self-assured Lord Shintaro Karish. However, Karish’s popularity and notoriety—in bed and out—make him the last Source Lee ever wanted to be stuck with.

The duo is assigned to High Scape, a city so besieged by disaster that seven bonded pairs are needed to combat it. But when an inexplicable force strikes down every other Source and Shield, Lee and Karish must put aside their differences in order to defeat something even more unnatural than their reluctant affections for each other…

"He’d asked me why I hadn’t told him I was brilliant. I’d said I’d assumed it was obvious."

I'll admit I judged this based on the cover...I was expecting a completely over-the-top dramatic comedy (not that there is anything wrong with that...I just have to be in the mood). I was delightfully surprised that, while it does have good humor, the novel takes itself seriously with the well-crafted plot.

Dunleavy is the epitome of hard-study, academia. She takes her role seriously, puts forth 110%, and doesn't allow anything to distract her from what she feels is her duty. She's proud to be a Shield and considers herself a damn fine one (which she is). While she could do to loosen up a bit, she's definitely paired well with Karish.

"I would die with this man. He’d catch some sexual disease, or some enraged spouse would kill him, and the bond would drag me down with him. He was that sort, the sort that shone too bright and burned out fast."

Karish is more than the pretty boy player we first think him to be. He uses his station and his reputation to hide the intelligence underneath but he's just as hardworking and deserving of praise as Dunleavy.

Their dynamic starts out with Dunleavy making it readily apparent that she doesn't trust Karish to pull his weight. Alternatively, Karish doesn't know how to bridge Dunleavy's icy disdain and grows evermore frustrated that he's accused of being a sleuth despite evidence to the contrary. As they work together, trust forms slowly but...complications...get in the way.

"I was quite prepared to seek out this enemy of Karish’s and dismember him, slowly, to thank him for the way he had disrupted my life."

The chunk where the pair was separated dragged a bit, mostly because I think their relationship and their interactions were really the major reason I loved this novel. Any minute their relationship wasn't developing I grew impatient to see them together again.

I can't wait to see where this Pair takes us...especially when they're now considered a possible threat to the very organization that trained them.

Recommended for fantasy lovers that like character development with a pinch of intrigue added on.
2 people found this helpful
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Star map junkie
5.0 out of 5 stars Delightful series. Have the paperbacks and just bought the ebooks.
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2022
Verified Purchase
I'm writing this review because I was surprised at the low number of reviewers. This series came out years ago and I suspect it hasn't been discovered since it came out in Kindle.

This is a delightful series. Nice worldbuilding. Some people can sense and control nature (floods, earthquakes, storms, etc) similar to NK Jemison's series. However, these people's bodies become overwhelmed by controlling so a second group of talented people shield them, monitoring BP, etc. The romance is there but is not the primary focus. Each book has a different problem /mystery. It's not sword and sorcery, elves, vampires, etc. It is a story about immigrants from earth having to adapt to an alien world over the generations.

I gave it 5 stars because I bought the paperbacks when they were first published, reread them a few years later and just bought the Kindle versions because I'm getting rid of my paperbacks and want to read them again. This is a well-written, well-edited book of interesting people in an interesting world. The author has a sly sense of humor--her unreliable narrative in book one is a good example.
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M. S. Butch
3.0 out of 5 stars just OK
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2010
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I understand why so many readers loved "Resenting the Hero." It's a pleasant read and heroine Lee (short for "Dunleavy") is a likeable protagonist with just a few minor faults to make her "human." It's easy to keep reading and enjoy the ride. There are, however, a few issues with the story, which is why I am giving it only 3 start. First and foremost, the magic system, and the basics of the magic wielders "sources" and "shields," are incompletely explained, and didn't make a lot of sense to me. It seemed as though Ms. Moore was mostly interested in the story itself and didn't spend enough time working on the some of the important underpinnings. Once I was into the story about 100 pages, I knew that "shields" needed to be guarded from music because it could make them crazy (huh?) but on the other hand, they studied a form of "dancing" (to music, or at least drums) something like balance beam gymnastics. I knew that a "source" would likely die if he or she did the sourcing without a shield (but not why, really) , that spontaneous bonding of sources and shields was highly dangerous (but not why), and that bonded sources and shields should not have sex. This latter point I suspect was added to create a conflict that will eventually be resolved in favor of the two leads ignoring the rule.

Next, the idea of removing children from the real world to a boarding school where they are thoroughly locked up from the real world until adulthood doesn't seem very likely or smart -- how will they learn what they need to know when they are released?

Without a coherent explanation of all of the above, the story lost a lot of its punch. Once the rules aren't solid, the reasons for things happening as they do don't seem adequate. And then when the leads show that they have powers that are out of the ordinary, it doesn't seem as surprising as it should, since I didn't understand what they should be able to do in the first place.

Despite all of the above, I enjoyed Lee enough to read the next book in the series, and hope that some of the holes are filled.

finally, on the hideous cover (another reader called it "cringeworthy" and I agree) I don't understand why Ace always has such awful covers. I have been reading Ace paperbacks for a long time and they always have covers that the editors should have tossed into the trash. I one-color cover with the book's title would be better than what they usually use.
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Helen Hancox
5.0 out of 5 stars Much better than the title suggests
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2007
Verified Purchase
The title of this book was a little offputting, as was the cover art, but it was actually a very enjoyable read. It's rare to start a fantasy that seems to have such an original plot and whose characters are quite unformed and young but who grow up rapidly during the events of the book.

The heroine, Dunleavy Mallorough, is a Shield. This is someone with a supernatural ability to help those people who are Sources and who are able to direct the weather and reduce natural disasters on the planet on which they live. However Shields and Sources bond to each other as a once-in-a-lifetime bond and to ensure that Shields don't bond to the wrong people they are kept entirely separate their entire youth. Dunleavy has been at the Shield academy since she was four years old and as the book starts she is twenty one years old and about to attend a bonding ceremony where she might, if she's lucky, find the Source with whom she will bond. This bonding is by no means all good, however; once bonded if one of the pair dies then the other also dies. Lee is also unsure about being bonded to several of the possibilities; there are some good men and women who are sources, and there are two in the line-up that she would like, but there are also some bad ones - Creol who has a reputation as a rapist and generally unpleasant man and Lord Shintaro Karish whose womanising ways and general notoriety overcome his physical appeal and charm to Lee.

Of course Lee ends up stuck with Shintaro and they get sent almost immediately to the town of High Scape, a town that needs a great deal of Source and Shield Pairs to keep it safe. But almost as soon as they arrive they discover something dangerous in the offing which kills several of the Pairs. Lee and Karish's lack of harmony in their pairing doesn't help, especially when Karish is attacked and then abducted. Can Lee do anything to find him? She is so young and their pairing is so untested, can they make any difference against the evil that she begins to sense.

There were some moments in this book when the pacing was a little off but generally it was a very enjoyable read. There are some lovely touches, such as Lee's susceptibility to music, and there's a very, very small romance in the story, but most of the attention is on the lives of Lee as a Shield, the evil they work against, but also the evils of the Shield and Source training system. I enjoyed the story very much and have already ordered the follow-up which continues the stories of Lee and Karish.
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Client Kindle
4.0 out of 5 stars Unique and fun
Reviewed in Canada on March 8, 2021
Verified Purchase
This was an interesting fantasy. It's not as flashy as most of them(not a fighting/war/combat fantasy). I must say that the world is really unique and I really enjoy the dynamic between the characters. I'm looking forward to the trust between the 2 MC that will happen in the next book.
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clairefromwales
4.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly good
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2007
Verified Purchase
Now I'll admit that's not a very promising title for the review, but I really wasn't sure what to expect with this book. That awful cover had made me pass it over several times, but it stubbornly sat in my list of recommendations, I was between books, so I thought 'why not?' - and was very glad that I did.

The story is set in a world beset by extreme natural disasters, and where civilization can only be maintained with the help of specially talented individuals. The 'Sources' can channel the forces in a natural disaster and control them, but they can only do this with the protection of a 'Shield' guarding their minds. Each Source and Shield is 'paired' - an instantaneous, involuntary bond between two individuals, but with no guarantee they'll even like one another. The two talents come with certain idiosyncrasies - Sources are flighty, occasionally talk nonsense and not all that great at interacting with the world; Shields are stoical, dependable and organised, but can be driven into a frenzy by music. Their training keeps both, especially Shields, away from the real world until they are paired and there's plenty of situations where they don't know what to do.

Our heroes - Lee (a Shield) and Taro (a Source) are at once horribly mismatched, she's the sensible daughter of a merchant and he's the wildly heroic son of a leading aristocratic family, yet at the same time profoundly and deeply connected.

For most of this book, Lee judges Taro on his reputation and thoroughly disapproves of him but, unconsciously at first and then with more conviction she slowly recognises his worth.

It's a mark of the success of the author that I still liked Lee's character, but it was a fine line because she is so unperceptive at times. If the book wasn't written in the first person I'd probably have wanted to slap Lee!

The first person perspective is effective, but can be a challenge because Lee has so little understanding of what motivates the people around her. In a scene near the end, Taro helps her through a very difficult time by telling her about what he and others think of her, but she dimisses it all, not recongising its truth.

It's an interesting relationship between the two leads. It's clearly a love story and yet it isn't. It'll be interesting to see where the author takes them in later stories.

This book also introduces the political machinations of their world and Taro's unexpected powers open some questions about what the Triple S Guild that controls the destinies of all Sources and Shields is really up to.

It's an inventive concept, with engaging characters and an interesting world. Definitely worth a read.
30 people found this helpful
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T. B.
4.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous Fun :-)
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2007
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Just adding my voice to say what a lovely fantasy/romance this was :-)

Dunleavy is a Shield, born and trained to unite with a Source and become one half of a bonded Pair. Once bonded, the Shield's job is to protect the Source, who channels energy from the natural disasters that would otherwise decimate the world. The Shield's role isn't as glamorous as that of the Source, but Dunleavy has completed her training, and is prepared for her responsibilities. All she wants is a calm, steady and reliable Source so that she can do her job properly.

If only her Source hadn't turned out to be Lord Shintaro Karish...

Karish - 'the stallion' - is handsome, confident, and an unbelievably talented Source. So talented, in fact, that the newly-bonded pair have scarcely time to bicker over their first meal together, before they are ordered to High Scape, the biggest city on the continent, where natural disasters strike on a daily basis.

Dunleavy braces herself for the task ahead: shielding a Source like Karish is her idea of hell, but she's going to do her job properly if it kills her. Which makes it really annoying when, facing disasters left right and center, Karish seems to insist on being... nice.

This was a great light fantasy read, with a nice *touch* of romance. Wonderful lead characters and story, a lot of humour (though not outright comedy) and a nice warm fuzzy feeling at the end - swiftly followed by a desperate urge to read the sequel :-)
36 people found this helpful
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Harried Grandmother
2.0 out of 5 stars Still not sure about this Series
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 6, 2013
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After looking at all 3 books was still not sure if these were for me so again gave this one a miss
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