With this latest installment in the IAD series, Kresley Cole introduces a lot of new characters and in doing so breathes new life and a kind of freshnWith this latest installment in the IAD series, Kresley Cole introduces a lot of new characters and in doing so breathes new life and a kind of freshness into it. She’s back on top with this one making it one of the better ones of the 11 out there.
The story starts out with witch Carrow Graie, the diehard party girl, who’s been captured by a group of humans known as The Order whose objective is to capture and study/experiment on Immortals. They are a creepy lot these guys and gals. Carrow is being held in a kind of prison along with other immortals but is told that she can be freed along with the little girl Ruby she plans on adopting (her mom recently died because The Order killed her but don’t worry the Ruby story doesn’t get too much in the way of the romance if you’re not a fan of kids in romance) if she can bring back the impossible to trap vampire/demon (aka vemon –I loved that—lol!) Malkom Slaine who lives in a nightmarishly desolate desert called Oblivion. She agrees to hightail it on over to hell so she can save Ruby. As luck would have it she’s Malkom’s fated mate and so he’s drawn to her like a beggar to a feast. She gets him to trust her but at the same time she starts to fall for him. Carrow finds herself at a crossroads: save Ruby but screw over Malkom or spend her life with the one man who truly loves her and bye-bye Ruby? Not so easy. As the story continues there are lots of ups and down, twists and turns practically up to the end.
I love how Cole starts her books with a few lines from the h/h that are usually diametrically opposed to each other which really wets your whistle. Malkom is one poor slob. My god the hell this guy’s been through over the centuries, it’ll just make you cry buckets. He’s so alone, he’s been slammed left right and center by everyone he’s ever let in so of course he’s as mean as a rabid dog if you cross his path. Once he realizes that Carrow is his mate he does everything he can to protect her from harm and tries so hard to please her. In many ways he reminded me of JR Ward’s Z from the BDB so you can be sure to have your heart torn to bits by the time this story is over.
At the turning point of the story Carrow’s betrayal really packs a punch. Malkom’s inability to trust her after was very well-done. You really feel how hard it is for him being that he’s been kicked in the head one time too many. Cole did a fabulous job of conveying hurt and love as well as some very hot steam between these two. There are some parts where Carrow is trying desperately to get back into his good graces but he’s a stone wall and refuses to let her in so all her childhood fears of loneliness and abandonment resurface and it’s just misery for everyone. This book really pulls at the heart strings.
Some things I didn’t really like was the amount of time spent on the island where The Order is. It started to drag almost like the author didn’t really know what to do with all the characters anymore. I also didn’t like the House of Witches whose inhabitants speak too much like something out of a Gena Showlater novel which is fine if you like Showalter but not for me. It was nice to see some of the old characters make an appearance which give you that nice reconnecting with a good series feel.
So it takes you up and down the emotional roller coaster with a few loop-de-loops in between and it tells a good action packed story with a strong alpha hero and smart holds-her-own heroine. A bit sappy at the end but 4 ½ stars nonetheless. ...more
Finally Cole puts out something decent again in her IAD series! It’s been a while and for me anyway the last few stories have been mediocre at best. IFinally Cole puts out something decent again in her IAD series! It’s been a while and for me anyway the last few stories have been mediocre at best. If you like heroes with accents –and she did a fabulous job with Bowen and Cade’s stories— then you’ll love Garreth. You can’t hear his sexy Scottish brogue as much as you could Bowen’s I thought but she still does an excellent job and very few authors manage to do that well.
So there are two great main characters: Lucia the world’s best archer Valkyrie and Garreth the lady’s man Lykae. She’s sworn a vow of chastity and he’s into doing just the opposite; together they make for a fantastic pair ;-) Garreth gradually wins her over and it’s that slow character development that sucks the reader in. You feel them push and pull at each other especially with Garreth’s determination to get her (he chases her to the ends of the earth forever practically) but no matter how much he wants Lucia he respects that he can’t have her sexually as hard as it is for him –and she certainly doesn’t help matters at times. That of course doesn’t stop them from testing the limits but you certainly feel their “frustration”. The steam is very “vivid” and mighty good 8-) The tension building throughout the novel and when the h/h finally give in (because you know they will) will no doubt leave you trying to catch your breath ;-) It’s also a really good love story.
The book has Cole’s trademark biting humor (Regin and her texting is a riot!) and banter, very nasty (icky even) villain and lots of strange-o Loreans. Nice to see the return of a lot of former characters and for once Nïx didn’t get on my nerves with her weirdness. She was hilarious! Mari was somewhat annoying but I haven’t really liked her cutthroat business tactics since her book. You should probably read the first three full-length books in the series before this one if you’re not one for spoilers and it helps to know who these past characters are but you won’t necessarily be lost if you don’t.
The book didn’t make a 5 star read for me because towards the end of the novel it was getting a little too “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” which detracted from the romance. I also didn’t enjoy the abrupt ending with Garreth and Lucia or the cliffhanger epilogue –that kind of stuff just bugs me because it’s unfulfilling and you’re left hanging. It’s still a good book and I really hope that her next one is along the same lines or better and that she doesn’t go back to the more blah stories like Conrad’s or Murdoch’s. This is up there with the other good ones that make you feel like you have to slow down when you’re reading because you suddenly realize that you’re almost done and the book is just too good to actually end :) ...more
Ya gotta love book crack and nothing feeds a habit better than a good series, that’s JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood. Good or bad you keep coming bYa gotta love book crack and nothing feeds a habit better than a good series, that’s JR Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood. Good or bad you keep coming back for more and you’re always itching for that next fix as soon as you’re done. With this latest installment, Ward seems to have got her groove back when it comes to the romance and bringing together a really good nearly filler free novel. 4 ½ big bright shiny stars here people :D
Gone is the endless info on the Lessers, the minimal romance in favor of a UF vibe and lack of an appearance from the Brothers whose stories have already been told. The Lessers are now back on the sidelines in terms of their world and organization (and thank god for that because who cares already), the romance is nearly as good as books two to five (some very spicy sex scenes throughout) and some of the Brothers actually have a role to play and aren’t just a passing one-liner mention. This story has got meat with an ending that gives closure instead of a flailing mess of “what the?!”
The writing is very good despite the sometimes aggravating sub-stories that make you barely want to skim if not skip those parts altogether so you can get back to the good stuff and the good stuff is the romance between JM and Xhex as well as the secondary romance between Blay and Qhuinn. I laughed, cried and a whole bunch of other stuff in between. It’s really impressive what Ward was able to do with Xhex. From butch-like robot who wasn’t all that personable or likeable she turned into someone with feeling that the reader could root for. And then there’s JM :) The protectiveness he had for Xhex was some of the best around. The explosive rage he felt when anyone tried to hurt her was similar to Rhage and his beast –some fantastic writing there. There’s also the emotional poignancy of the book. More than once I had tears in my eyes or tightening in my chest (if it wasn’t both at the same time) especially when Lash the s.o.b held Xhex hostage. Ward has this knack for turning impossible situations into amazing story telling. Here you are reading saying “no way she’ll never get out” but a small window opens and everything changes.
I really liked that Ward had Xhex help herself without making JM lose his role as protector and there were times where you couldn’t help but sigh and sigh and sigh some more over what he does for her –god can Ward ever write :D
The story between Blay and Qhuinn was a perfect example of top-notch tension building and lots of things left unsaid but soooo very much understood. An exemplary exercise in reader frustration –but the good kind because like all good book crack the author has to leave some parts up in the air to keep you turning those pages and dying to know what happens next. Without giving anything away, their story was on par and sometimes better than the main characters’. God I cried there! No spoilers though ;)
Another exceptionally well-written character was Lash. He’s awesome! What a creepo bit of utter scuz that guy was. He was horrid, disgustingly gross and just plain wacked. His obsession with Xhex was psychotic. There’s fair bit of eye-popping “ew” actually throughout the book making you feel like you can really picture the story. There are also some new characters introduced or revisted (Tohr, Lassiter, Payne) which will likely keep the series going for a good while still.
So this is some book crack at its finest and I can already feel the shakes coming on wishing for the next one to be released –hopefully not in hardcover again! Dammit that book’s heavy ;) ...more