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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
Second in the World of the Lupi romantic paranormal fantasy series set in San Diego and revolving around Detective Lily Yu and the prince of the Lupi, Rule Turner.
My Take
The opening was startling, starting off with demons. Not what I had expected. Although, I suppose if there are goddesses, avatars, and magic, there's no reason not to have demons, lol. And dragons and fae...
I thought Wilks' lupi world was fascinating. I certainly enjoy reading about this series' wolf culture and how they are perceived by most people as well as Lily's and Rule's interactions. Now Wilks has come up with a whole new culture, that of the demons in Dis and introducing dragons. And...ewww... Sure what happens in Dis makes sense and plays into our idea of a hell-like place...although Gan's explanation of the difference between us eating something and demons eating something...just...ewww...
The main series arc is the battle between the lupi's Lady and She. Both goddesses, She is a nutjob who wants to return to earth and take it over. The Lady is against it. This arc is played out against the mostly human Lily versus the captivating lupi prince. A minor arc is the controversial decision by Isen to mainstream the lupi, giving rise to all sorts of angers.
There is no lack of action in Mortal Danger. Kidnappings, rescues, murders, "cooperation" between law enforcement agencies, investigations, battles...oy, the battles!
Lots of prejudice and bigotry is addressed in World of the Lupi. Humans are so fearful of anything different, and the fact that the lupi are wolves, nonhumans, means they could be shot on sight. Of course, anyone with magic abilities is feared as well. Oy.
Wilks mostly uses third person dual protagonist point-of-view from Lily's and Rule's perspectives, but does include third person global subjective point-of-view so she can include the thoughts and actions of other characters. Yeah, I guess you could say the latter is the POV, but since the former perspectives are primary, I'm going with both.
And I'll tell ya...this series is a buy for me.
The Story
It's possession. A demon has taken over Lily Yu with the intent of taking her to Dis for Her to use. Only it all goes wrong when Gan, and the almost-possessed Lily, and Rule in his wolf form are all taken to Dis.
Yet Lily is still on earth.
The Characters
Special Agent Lily Yu, a touch sensitive, is no longer with the San Diego PD. She is Rule's Chosen and wears Ishtar's token.
The gorgeous Rule Turner, referred to as the Prince of the Lupi by the popular press, is a lupus and the Lu Nuncio (heir) for Nokolai. Toby is his only child.
Nokolai is...
...the name for this clan of lupi. Its Rho (alpha) is Isen Turner. The Rhej is a combination priestess, historian, and bard with memories that go back over 5,000 years. The Nokolai Rhej, Hannah, is an empath. Benedict is one of Isen's sons and in charge of security; Claire had been his Chosen long ago. Rule is a younger son. Dr Nettie Two Horses is a Harvard-educated physician as well as a trained shaman...and Benedict's daughter. Henry is Isen's houseman.
The incredibly gorgeous Cullen Seabourne, a stripper, is an obsessed sorcerer and wolf recently adopted into Nokolai. Max Smith is a gnome who owns Club Hell where Cullen works. Both are friends of Rule's.
Etorri is one of the lupi's oldest and most revered clans, although they did cast out Cullen. William Carr had been the Etorri Rho. Stephen Andros is the Lu Nuncio of Etorri and Cullen's cousin. Randall Frey is the Leidolf Lu Nuncio, a clan that is the enemy of Nokolai. The overly deliberate Ben Larson is with the Ansgar, the largest of the Scandinavian clans. Con McGuire is of Cynir; Ito Tsegaye of Mendoyo; Javiero Mendozo of Ybirra; Rikard Demeny of Szós; Jon Sebastian is the heir of Kerberos; and, Sean Masters of Kyffin.
Magical Crimes Division (MCD), FBI, ...
...tolerates "unusual" skills. Ruben Brooks, a precog, is the Unit's head. Special Agent (SA) Abel Karonski is a witch, a Wiccan, and a friend of Rule's. SA Cynna Weaver is a Finder, demon rider, and a Dizzy. And she used to "date" Rule. SA Baxter is with the local office. Dick "Big Dick" Hayes is the acting director.
Homicide Detective Thomas "T.J." James of the San Diego PD is a friend of Lily's. Detective Leung of the Temecula PD is incompetent.
Victims include Kimberly Ann Curtis who was found by coworker Mike Sanderson and Cynthia Porter.
Dis is...
...otherwise known as Hell. Gan is a full demon obsessed with sex, of either sex, who can cross unsummoned. S/he also ate old Mevroax.
Xitil the Most Feared, a.k.a. Earth Mover, is a prince of hell who rules this region of Hell. Hrrol is one of Xitil's Claws — they may be slow but their reflexes are swift. The hirug is another type of demon. Akhanetton is one of the regions in Hell. Ymu is life energy and sustains demons. Assig is the pattern, the memories and thinking, of a demon.
The dragons are trapped in Dis. The leaders of the dragons are the Singers. Sam is a black dragon and a Great Singer.
The Most Reverend Patrick Harlowe had led the Church of the Redeemed, a.k.a. the Azá, in Tempting Danger, 1. He serves Her, the enemy of the Lady, and wields the powerful staff of Gelsuid. Raul and Felix are members of the Dozens, a new gang in San Diego. Helen had been the evil telepath in Tempting Danger.
Lily's Family
Madame Li Lei Yu is Grandmother, who can shift into a tiger. Older sister Susan, a doctor, is getting married. Beth is a younger sister. Edward and Julia Yu are Lily's parents. Second cousin Freddie Chang likes to manage Lily. The eighty-two-year-old Nancy Chen, the great-aunt of the groom, likes to dance...and grope. Uncle Chen can be a mean drunk. Aunt Mequi Leung is Lily's mother's sister. Shannon.
The Lady, a.k.a. Ishtar??, is a goddess who created the lupi that they might battle her enemy. A Chosen is specially selected by the Lady for a particular lupus and considered the highest honor for the clan. Dizzies were a quasi-religious group based on African shamanistic practices. Jiri Asmahani is Cynna's old teacher. Sally "Nurse Ponytail" hasn't a clue what to do. Lorene was a seatmate of Cullen's on the way back from New Orleans. Ni'Aureni Aeith is a lord of Faerie.
The Cover and Title
The cover is dark in its black and blue! A bright royal blue tinges the entire cover with a close-up of Rule Turner's face. The title is in red and is set at the halfway point. The rest of the text is in white with an info blurb below the title and the author's name below that.
The title is the Mortal Danger facing Lily Yu and Rule in Dis.
My Take
The opening was startling, starting off with demons. Not what I had expected. Although, I suppose if there are goddesses, avatars, and magic, there's no reason not to have demons, lol. And dragons and fae...
I thought Wilks' lupi world was fascinating. I certainly enjoy reading about this series' wolf culture and how they are perceived by most people as well as Lily's and Rule's interactions. Now Wilks has come up with a whole new culture, that of the demons in Dis and introducing dragons. And...ewww... Sure what happens in Dis makes sense and plays into our idea of a hell-like place...although Gan's explanation of the difference between us eating something and demons eating something...just...ewww...
The main series arc is the battle between the lupi's Lady and She. Both goddesses, She is a nutjob who wants to return to earth and take it over. The Lady is against it. This arc is played out against the mostly human Lily versus the captivating lupi prince. A minor arc is the controversial decision by Isen to mainstream the lupi, giving rise to all sorts of angers.
There is no lack of action in Mortal Danger. Kidnappings, rescues, murders, "cooperation" between law enforcement agencies, investigations, battles...oy, the battles!
Lots of prejudice and bigotry is addressed in World of the Lupi. Humans are so fearful of anything different, and the fact that the lupi are wolves, nonhumans, means they could be shot on sight. Of course, anyone with magic abilities is feared as well. Oy.
Wilks mostly uses third person dual protagonist point-of-view from Lily's and Rule's perspectives, but does include third person global subjective point-of-view so she can include the thoughts and actions of other characters. Yeah, I guess you could say the latter is the POV, but since the former perspectives are primary, I'm going with both.
And I'll tell ya...this series is a buy for me.
The Story
It's possession. A demon has taken over Lily Yu with the intent of taking her to Dis for Her to use. Only it all goes wrong when Gan, and the almost-possessed Lily, and Rule in his wolf form are all taken to Dis.
Yet Lily is still on earth.
The Characters
Special Agent Lily Yu, a touch sensitive, is no longer with the San Diego PD. She is Rule's Chosen and wears Ishtar's token.
The gorgeous Rule Turner, referred to as the Prince of the Lupi by the popular press, is a lupus and the Lu Nuncio (heir) for Nokolai. Toby is his only child.
Nokolai is...
...the name for this clan of lupi. Its Rho (alpha) is Isen Turner. The Rhej is a combination priestess, historian, and bard with memories that go back over 5,000 years. The Nokolai Rhej, Hannah, is an empath. Benedict is one of Isen's sons and in charge of security; Claire had been his Chosen long ago. Rule is a younger son. Dr Nettie Two Horses is a Harvard-educated physician as well as a trained shaman...and Benedict's daughter. Henry is Isen's houseman.
The incredibly gorgeous Cullen Seabourne, a stripper, is an obsessed sorcerer and wolf recently adopted into Nokolai. Max Smith is a gnome who owns Club Hell where Cullen works. Both are friends of Rule's.
Etorri is one of the lupi's oldest and most revered clans, although they did cast out Cullen. William Carr had been the Etorri Rho. Stephen Andros is the Lu Nuncio of Etorri and Cullen's cousin. Randall Frey is the Leidolf Lu Nuncio, a clan that is the enemy of Nokolai. The overly deliberate Ben Larson is with the Ansgar, the largest of the Scandinavian clans. Con McGuire is of Cynir; Ito Tsegaye of Mendoyo; Javiero Mendozo of Ybirra; Rikard Demeny of Szós; Jon Sebastian is the heir of Kerberos; and, Sean Masters of Kyffin.
Magical Crimes Division (MCD), FBI, ...
...tolerates "unusual" skills. Ruben Brooks, a precog, is the Unit's head. Special Agent (SA) Abel Karonski is a witch, a Wiccan, and a friend of Rule's. SA Cynna Weaver is a Finder, demon rider, and a Dizzy. And she used to "date" Rule. SA Baxter is with the local office. Dick "Big Dick" Hayes is the acting director.
Homicide Detective Thomas "T.J." James of the San Diego PD is a friend of Lily's. Detective Leung of the Temecula PD is incompetent.
Victims include Kimberly Ann Curtis who was found by coworker Mike Sanderson and Cynthia Porter.
Dis is...
...otherwise known as Hell. Gan is a full demon obsessed with sex, of either sex, who can cross unsummoned. S/he also ate old Mevroax.
Xitil the Most Feared, a.k.a. Earth Mover, is a prince of hell who rules this region of Hell. Hrrol is one of Xitil's Claws — they may be slow but their reflexes are swift. The hirug is another type of demon. Akhanetton is one of the regions in Hell. Ymu is life energy and sustains demons. Assig is the pattern, the memories and thinking, of a demon.
The dragons are trapped in Dis. The leaders of the dragons are the Singers. Sam is a black dragon and a Great Singer.
The Most Reverend Patrick Harlowe had led the Church of the Redeemed, a.k.a. the Azá, in Tempting Danger, 1. He serves Her, the enemy of the Lady, and wields the powerful staff of Gelsuid. Raul and Felix are members of the Dozens, a new gang in San Diego. Helen had been the evil telepath in Tempting Danger.
Lily's Family
Madame Li Lei Yu is Grandmother, who can shift into a tiger. Older sister Susan, a doctor, is getting married. Beth is a younger sister. Edward and Julia Yu are Lily's parents. Second cousin Freddie Chang likes to manage Lily. The eighty-two-year-old Nancy Chen, the great-aunt of the groom, likes to dance...and grope. Uncle Chen can be a mean drunk. Aunt Mequi Leung is Lily's mother's sister. Shannon.
The Lady, a.k.a. Ishtar??, is a goddess who created the lupi that they might battle her enemy. A Chosen is specially selected by the Lady for a particular lupus and considered the highest honor for the clan. Dizzies were a quasi-religious group based on African shamanistic practices. Jiri Asmahani is Cynna's old teacher. Sally "Nurse Ponytail" hasn't a clue what to do. Lorene was a seatmate of Cullen's on the way back from New Orleans. Ni'Aureni Aeith is a lord of Faerie.
The Cover and Title
The cover is dark in its black and blue! A bright royal blue tinges the entire cover with a close-up of Rule Turner's face. The title is in red and is set at the halfway point. The rest of the text is in white with an info blurb below the title and the author's name below that.
The title is the Mortal Danger facing Lily Yu and Rule in Dis.
Mystery, action, fantasy and love, what more could you ask for... great characters, and Wilks delivers them. Lily Yu now an FBI agent and her mate Rule Turner are still trying to figure out the whole mate-bond thing when a crazy preacher with a magical staff from the under-world starts causing all kind of mayhem. This brings our heroes Lilly , Rule and co. to a very dangerous place where they encounter many new beasties and (my favorite) DRAGONS !!!! Lily and rule are separated and yet not separated, this is heartbreaking. They are helped by pack members and magical friends to save themselves from a force bigger than either is ready for.
Oh, I loved this book. It had the right amount of all my favorite elements for a good story and keep me up reading most of the night.
Oh, I loved this book. It had the right amount of all my favorite elements for a good story and keep me up reading most of the night.
Awful. The first book was intriguing, but this one could have been written by a different author. It went so far off the rails that I was just astounded and finished this hot mess merely to see what other crazypants stuff the author pulled out and threw into the pages.
***3.5***
This one is tough for me to evaluate. First and foremost, let's just get this right out of the way: I liked the book. I feel attached to the characters, engaged in what happens with them. And hell, I have already started reading the 3rd in this series.
That said, there were some flaws.
First flaw: I am really not fond of Wilks' tendency to tell us about the action after the fact. This happened in the first book, and it is happening here too. What? Why did all that need to happen offscreen? It completely undercuts the dramatic tension to storytell that way. "Oh hey! We had this big fight yesterday, let me tell you what happened. Hooooo-boy, it was a scary one, let me tell ya!" Really? Really??!
But the biggest flaw, to me, was that the biggest events in the book were never explained. At the end, all of the characters and the author seemed to shrug, express bafflement over what happened to Lily, and then just moved on. I'm sorry, but Rule's belief that the Lady must have taken a hand isn't enough for me. What happened? What does it mean? What are the consequences? It can't just disappear into history. Having it, in the end, apparently mean nothing... well, just like the lack of being in the middle of the action (first flaw), it undercuts the drama of the story. Was it all pointless, or was this a major step for Lily and Rule, a trial, of sorts, that will build them into the people they need to be for some major conflict coming up?
There were a couple other major things tossed out at the end - - that also got no explanation. I can only hope that these things are handled later in the series...
This one is tough for me to evaluate. First and foremost, let's just get this right out of the way: I liked the book. I feel attached to the characters, engaged in what happens with them. And hell, I have already started reading the 3rd in this series.
That said, there were some flaws.
First flaw: I am really not fond of Wilks' tendency to tell us about the action after the fact. This happened in the first book, and it is happening here too.
Spoiler
When Lily and team go through the gate to rescue Rule, the chapter ends by telling us the characters have stepped out into the middle of a battlefield. Aiiieee! Great tension! We cut away for a chapter. Then we cut back to see if our team is okay, and... the fight is over. Lily tells us there was a scary moment there, when she and the demons just stared at each other, both caught by surprise, but then she snapped out of it and shot them. Then they ran across another pack of even bigger and scarier demons (!!), but were able to shoot their way through that too, so nothing to worry about.But the biggest flaw, to me, was that the biggest events in the book were never explained. At the end, all of the characters and the author seemed to shrug, express bafflement over what happened to Lily, and then just moved on. I'm sorry, but Rule's belief that the Lady must have taken a hand isn't enough for me. What happened? What does it mean? What are the consequences? It can't just disappear into history. Having it, in the end, apparently mean nothing... well, just like the lack of being in the middle of the action (first flaw), it undercuts the drama of the story. Was it all pointless, or was this a major step for Lily and Rule, a trial, of sorts, that will build them into the people they need to be for some major conflict coming up?
There were a couple other major things tossed out at the end -
Spoiler
the demon got a soul? the dragon was using Lily for some grand plan all along? the uber-demon ate a god?
So I definitely think this one will become one of my favorite urban-fantasy series, in the vein of the Mercy Thompson universe and Kate Daniels.
Lily is a great badass main character, and Rule is an incredible book-boyfriend. I think their relationship is so wonderful and healthy and gosh I wish more relationships in literature were portrayed this way; mutual respect and protectiveness, with no one being an ass about it, while also making mistakes and talking about them. I love the fact these two talk. Even when they do something the other is going to hate, they say "we're going to talk about it". They don't let things fester in and I really am in love with their relationship.
Also.. dragons.
Lily is a great badass main character, and Rule is an incredible book-boyfriend. I think their relationship is so wonderful and healthy and gosh I wish more relationships in literature were portrayed this way; mutual respect and protectiveness, with no one being an ass about it, while also making mistakes and talking about them. I love the fact these two talk. Even when they do something the other is going to hate, they say "we're going to talk about it". They don't let things fester in and I really am in love with their relationship.
Also.. dragons.
Love Ms Wilks
Sometimes you start a book that's so good you rush to the end then mourn the loss of the characters. That's the case here. I can't wait to start Blood Lines.
Sometimes you start a book that's so good you rush to the end then mourn the loss of the characters. That's the case here. I can't wait to start Blood Lines.
It's been awhile since I've read the first book in the series, but I liked going back to this world Eileen Wilks has created. It starts not too long after the first book left off and it deals with the repercussions of the events in the first book.
I like that Wilks has Lily and Rule working on their relationship rather than having both of them just fall deeply in love in the first book and that's it. It's nice to see them get to know one another better, and this book really solidifies their both wanting to work to be together despite their differences.
There was one thing that kind of bothered me though. The way the book was structured. It's set up in the beginning with one path in mind to find the staff and Harlowe who escaped at the end of Tempting Danger and then in the middle it changes paths completely and it flt very disjointed almost like we had to get used to a new book right away. There was no easing into it. The first part just ended abruptly and we are expected to change gears right away. I will admit the events the occured caused me to want to read as quickly as possible so I could get to the conclusion, but I would have rather had the original story drawn out better.
Besides that, I can't wait to continue this series. I understand that the main focus leaves Rule and Lily and goes towards Cynna and Cullen in the next couple of books. At first I was a little weary of that scenario, but after being introduced to Cynna in this book and reading the repartee between the two of them, I'm anxious to see where their storyline goes. Until Then!
I like that Wilks has Lily and Rule working on their relationship rather than having both of them just fall deeply in love in the first book and that's it. It's nice to see them get to know one another better, and this book really solidifies their both wanting to work to be together despite their differences.
There was one thing that kind of bothered me though. The way the book was structured. It's set up in the beginning with one path in mind to find the staff and Harlowe who escaped at the end of Tempting Danger and then in the middle it changes paths completely and it flt very disjointed almost like we had to get used to a new book right away. There was no easing into it. The first part just ended abruptly and we are expected to change gears right away. I will admit the events the occured caused me to want to read as quickly as possible so I could get to the conclusion, but I would have rather had the original story drawn out better.
Besides that, I can't wait to continue this series. I understand that the main focus leaves Rule and Lily and goes towards Cynna and Cullen in the next couple of books. At first I was a little weary of that scenario, but after being introduced to Cynna in this book and reading the repartee between the two of them, I'm anxious to see where their storyline goes. Until Then!
Just couldn't get into it. Bored me. Life's too short and my to-read shelf too full for me to struggle with it any longer.
didn't like it as much as the first one. A plus: the new characters.