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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
I was just so happy to have another IAD related book. I was intrigued by The Dacians from Lothaire's book and I was happy to get a better glimpse of their lives.
Stuff I liked:
- Trehan is HOT HOT HOT...and the smex is even hotter.
- The phantom that follows Bettina around. I can't wait to see how his life turns out...he better get a book.
- The whole tournament concept.
- The plot twist at the end.
- NIX!
I didn't like:
- The slow start.
- Morganna, I just didn't like her...
- The plot twist at the end.
So the ending is somewhat predictable but...there is a twist at the end that is different and I somewhat didn't expect it. I also hate that whole "push the relationship apart after the climax" thing that KC does. I've never been a fan of it.
One of my favorite parts were the lead up to the battles. I found my heart pounding, waiting to learn what would happen. When Trehan fights THE BIG NASTY I was almost as tore up as Bettina.
This is a decent book. I can't wait for more. One of the few book series that has been going on FOREVER that I still stick with.
Stuff I liked:
- Trehan is HOT HOT HOT...and the smex is even hotter.
- The phantom that follows Bettina around. I can't wait to see how his life turns out...he better get a book.
- The whole tournament concept.
- The plot twist at the end.
- NIX!
I didn't like:
- The slow start.
- Morganna, I just didn't like her...
- The plot twist at the end.
So the ending is somewhat predictable but...there is a twist at the end that is different and I somewhat didn't expect it. I also hate that whole "push the relationship apart after the climax" thing that KC does. I've never been a fan of it.
One of my favorite parts were the lead up to the battles. I found my heart pounding, waiting to learn what would happen. When Trehan fights THE BIG NASTY I was almost as tore up as Bettina.
This is a decent book. I can't wait for more. One of the few book series that has been going on FOREVER that I still stick with.
3.5/5 stars
Betting was annoying. Caspion was the worst character ever created. Trehan didn’t kill Caspion so I’m annoyed at him, too.
This could have been a better book, if it weren’t for the characters.
Betting was annoying. Caspion was the worst character ever created. Trehan didn’t kill Caspion so I’m annoyed at him, too.
This could have been a better book, if it weren’t for the characters.
I hate Bettina. She was a child. I think she was 22 or 24 I can't remember exactly but she acted younger. I guess I'm use to the females being centuries old but this one I just wanted to punch in the face. She was in love with her best friend. Who was a man whore to the extreme and he wasn't quiet about it. That's not 100% unusual i guess but when her best friend has ZERO interest in her as a female and has stated that fact multiple times and she's still desperately in love with him?? yeah no it just doesn't work for me. I know blah blah you can't just turn off feelings but the guy has never given any reason that he wanted her. Then she gets drunk and a male comes to her bed and she just assumes its her friend.. really? I just could not stand her and a bad character ruins a book. I wasn't overly fond of the story itself. A game to win the princess hand and a crown. Meh. Just not that exciting.
The one thing that I did like about this book was the progression of the relationship... parts of it annoyed me but I think in general I liked the pace and the way Trehan went about it. He was slowly seducing her and getting to know her. I liked him. He was sweet but incredible fierce and just an all around bad ass. He actually cared about her interest where even her BFF got distracted and stopped listening to her.
OH!!! The one thing I think I hated most about Bettina.. she chose concert tickets over the heads of the creatures that ruined her life? REEEEEEAAAAAALLLLLLYYYYYYYY????? Bullshit. That's just stupid. I would have fallen to my knees begging Trehan to marry me. She's a stupid cow.
2 stars is honestly generous...
The one thing that I did like about this book was the progression of the relationship... parts of it annoyed me but I think in general I liked the pace and the way Trehan went about it. He was slowly seducing her and getting to know her. I liked him. He was sweet but incredible fierce and just an all around bad ass. He actually cared about her interest where even her BFF got distracted and stopped listening to her.
OH!!! The one thing I think I hated most about Bettina.. she chose concert tickets over the heads of the creatures that ruined her life? REEEEEEAAAAAALLLLLLYYYYYYYY????? Bullshit. That's just stupid. I would have fallen to my knees begging Trehan to marry me. She's a stupid cow.
2 stars is honestly generous...
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I liked that both characters were clever and creative. It was obvious what a good match they were.
Caspian, that wastrel. I hope he redeems himself in his book.
Caspian, that wastrel. I hope he redeems himself in his book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore
This is the first book of the series that I have given three stars. It was good but the others in the series are way better.
It’s crazy how I can re-read a book and hardly remember anything that was in it. I’m re-reading the Immortals After Dark series and, for the most part, I remember the main plot of each book and I know what happens in future books so I sometimes have an advantage over someone who is reading the book for the first time but I barely remembered the contents of this book. I mean, I vaguely remember the characters and some of the events but most of it was like reading it for the first time. Maybe It was because, while this book was good, there are others in the series that stuck out in my mind more.
We, the reader, briefly met Trehan Daciano in the last book of the series, Lothaire. He is one of the five cousins who had claim to the throne of Dacia but they had decided to give it to Lothaire to break a curse that Lothaire’s mother had put on the Dacian family thousands of years before that said they would fight each other until Lothaire was rightly put on the throne. This book’s timeline runs concurrently with Lothaire as do a lot of the other books in the series.
In the last book, we knew that something was up with Trehan. Lothaire suspected he had a Bride but didn’t know why he didn’t have his Bride with him so while I was reading this book, I kept wondering when the two books would meet up to the point where Trehan was unhappy and living back in Dacia.
Trehan is the tracker and assassin for Dacia which is a hidden kingdom from the rest of the world. Sometimes, Dacians will invite outsiders into the kingdom but once you are there, you can never leave. Leave it to me to start singing “Hotel California’ when I read this. His younger cousin had invited a Death Demon named Caspion into the kingdom but Caspion left back to his own kingdom of Rune. Now, it is Trehan’s job to track down Caspion and kill him.
Trehan uses a scrying crystal which he has hanging from his neck to find people. He just needs picture their face and he can trace to them or close to them. When he traces to Rune, he gets distracted for some reason by a lantern up in one of the spires of the castle. Trehan never gets distracted. He’s calm, cool and never lets emotions rule him.
Bettina is half Death Demon and half Sorceress and the princess of Rune. Her parents died when she was a small child and her godfather, Raum, rules the country until she is married which is soon. Raum and her godmother, the queen of the Sorceri, have decided to marry her off by hosting a huge tournament that anyone from the Lore can enter. Anyone includes disgusting creatures such as Cerrunos who have snake bodies, Puss Demons who have to wear rubber boots to catch their leaking puss and one huge froglike creature named Goürlav whose blood creates dangerous creatures called night terrors. Each drop of his blood creates one of these nightmarish creatures. Bettina decides that she will prevent the tournament by seducing her best friend Caspion who she has been in love with since forever. If she is no longer a virgin, the tournament cannot start but once the tournament does start and the creatures sign the contract in blood, it will be too late because she would be stoned to death if she lost her virginity.
She tells Caspion what she is planning but he wants nothing to do with it. Almost every species of demons has a fated mate and they wait hundreds of years to meet their fated mate so if Caspion devirginized Bettina, he would have to marry her and he would always wonder about his fated mate. He also tells her that the Prince of Shadows, the Dacian assassin, would kill him soon anyway because he had left Dacia and no one escapes the assassin.
Caspion is a notorious womanizer and humps just about any female he can yet he has no interest in Bettina because he thinks of her as a sister. It hurts her feelings but she tells him she will leave her lantern on just in case he changes his mind.
Trehan’s curiosity got the better of him so he traced up to the spire and watched Bettina while she slept. His heart started beating, something it hadn’t done in a thousand years. When a vampire reaches immortality, his heart stops beating and all his sexual desires and functions cease until he finds his Bride. He had found his Bride. The lantern went out but he could still see her with his vampire eyesight. Bettina woke up and knew someone was in the room and thought it was Cas. She was drunk from drinking with him earlier and her eyesight was little better than a human’s so she started making out with Trehan.
Trehan thought she could see him and she must know she was his bride so he was elated that she was making out with him but just before he was about to have sex with her, he found out that she thought he was someone else…his target.
Trehan decides to enter the competition which means he can never go back to his kingdom. Dacians have to stay in the mist and shadows and never reveal themselves. Trehan entered as the Prince of Shadows but did not reveal where he was from but he still gave up his home for a chance to win Bettina’s hand. All the other creatures were more interested in being king of Rune more than having Bettina as their wife.
Caspion entered the tournament at the last minute, having an unselfish moment…or maybe trying to live a little longer since all contestants are safe from anyone else during the tournament which means Trehan cannot kill him while entered in the tournament.
But neither Caspion nor Trehan have a chance against Goürlav who can’t be killed because one blood drop could cause a catastrophe. He is also super fast and super strong. The tournament will last for over a week but if Caspion or Trehan gets paired with Goürlav, they will be killed unless one of them figures out a way to kill him.
It was interesting to watch Bettina’s personality develop and get stronger as she became more confident. She had been attacked while she was in the mortal world at the beginning of the book by Vrekeners, creatures that hunt and kill Sorceri. They had taken her power from her and then beat and tortured her until every bone in her body was broken but just as they were going to kill her, she was summoned to Rune by her godfather which traces her automatically to the castle or wherever her summoning medallion is at. It took months to heal and she lived in fear that the Vrekeners would find her again. I liked how Trehan helped her with her fear.
There was also a couple of developing future stories going on in the background of this story. In a previous book, a Vrekener abducted another Sorceress named Melanthe. Both Bettina’s godmother, Morgana, and Melanthe’s sister were searching for her in this book. Also, a Lykae named Munro was seeking revenge against some evil warlocks for doing evil things to Lykae. I believe his story or his twin brother’s story is next.
So, I am off to read that book. See you when I come up for air next.
www.paranormalromanceslut.com
It’s crazy how I can re-read a book and hardly remember anything that was in it. I’m re-reading the Immortals After Dark series and, for the most part, I remember the main plot of each book and I know what happens in future books so I sometimes have an advantage over someone who is reading the book for the first time but I barely remembered the contents of this book. I mean, I vaguely remember the characters and some of the events but most of it was like reading it for the first time. Maybe It was because, while this book was good, there are others in the series that stuck out in my mind more.
We, the reader, briefly met Trehan Daciano in the last book of the series, Lothaire. He is one of the five cousins who had claim to the throne of Dacia but they had decided to give it to Lothaire to break a curse that Lothaire’s mother had put on the Dacian family thousands of years before that said they would fight each other until Lothaire was rightly put on the throne. This book’s timeline runs concurrently with Lothaire as do a lot of the other books in the series.
In the last book, we knew that something was up with Trehan. Lothaire suspected he had a Bride but didn’t know why he didn’t have his Bride with him so while I was reading this book, I kept wondering when the two books would meet up to the point where Trehan was unhappy and living back in Dacia.
Trehan is the tracker and assassin for Dacia which is a hidden kingdom from the rest of the world. Sometimes, Dacians will invite outsiders into the kingdom but once you are there, you can never leave. Leave it to me to start singing “Hotel California’ when I read this. His younger cousin had invited a Death Demon named Caspion into the kingdom but Caspion left back to his own kingdom of Rune. Now, it is Trehan’s job to track down Caspion and kill him.
Trehan uses a scrying crystal which he has hanging from his neck to find people. He just needs picture their face and he can trace to them or close to them. When he traces to Rune, he gets distracted for some reason by a lantern up in one of the spires of the castle. Trehan never gets distracted. He’s calm, cool and never lets emotions rule him.
Bettina is half Death Demon and half Sorceress and the princess of Rune. Her parents died when she was a small child and her godfather, Raum, rules the country until she is married which is soon. Raum and her godmother, the queen of the Sorceri, have decided to marry her off by hosting a huge tournament that anyone from the Lore can enter. Anyone includes disgusting creatures such as Cerrunos who have snake bodies, Puss Demons who have to wear rubber boots to catch their leaking puss and one huge froglike creature named Goürlav whose blood creates dangerous creatures called night terrors. Each drop of his blood creates one of these nightmarish creatures. Bettina decides that she will prevent the tournament by seducing her best friend Caspion who she has been in love with since forever. If she is no longer a virgin, the tournament cannot start but once the tournament does start and the creatures sign the contract in blood, it will be too late because she would be stoned to death if she lost her virginity.
She tells Caspion what she is planning but he wants nothing to do with it. Almost every species of demons has a fated mate and they wait hundreds of years to meet their fated mate so if Caspion devirginized Bettina, he would have to marry her and he would always wonder about his fated mate. He also tells her that the Prince of Shadows, the Dacian assassin, would kill him soon anyway because he had left Dacia and no one escapes the assassin.
Caspion is a notorious womanizer and humps just about any female he can yet he has no interest in Bettina because he thinks of her as a sister. It hurts her feelings but she tells him she will leave her lantern on just in case he changes his mind.
Trehan’s curiosity got the better of him so he traced up to the spire and watched Bettina while she slept. His heart started beating, something it hadn’t done in a thousand years. When a vampire reaches immortality, his heart stops beating and all his sexual desires and functions cease until he finds his Bride. He had found his Bride. The lantern went out but he could still see her with his vampire eyesight. Bettina woke up and knew someone was in the room and thought it was Cas. She was drunk from drinking with him earlier and her eyesight was little better than a human’s so she started making out with Trehan.
Trehan thought she could see him and she must know she was his bride so he was elated that she was making out with him but just before he was about to have sex with her, he found out that she thought he was someone else…his target.
Trehan decides to enter the competition which means he can never go back to his kingdom. Dacians have to stay in the mist and shadows and never reveal themselves. Trehan entered as the Prince of Shadows but did not reveal where he was from but he still gave up his home for a chance to win Bettina’s hand. All the other creatures were more interested in being king of Rune more than having Bettina as their wife.
Caspion entered the tournament at the last minute, having an unselfish moment…or maybe trying to live a little longer since all contestants are safe from anyone else during the tournament which means Trehan cannot kill him while entered in the tournament.
But neither Caspion nor Trehan have a chance against Goürlav who can’t be killed because one blood drop could cause a catastrophe. He is also super fast and super strong. The tournament will last for over a week but if Caspion or Trehan gets paired with Goürlav, they will be killed unless one of them figures out a way to kill him.
It was interesting to watch Bettina’s personality develop and get stronger as she became more confident. She had been attacked while she was in the mortal world at the beginning of the book by Vrekeners, creatures that hunt and kill Sorceri. They had taken her power from her and then beat and tortured her until every bone in her body was broken but just as they were going to kill her, she was summoned to Rune by her godfather which traces her automatically to the castle or wherever her summoning medallion is at. It took months to heal and she lived in fear that the Vrekeners would find her again. I liked how Trehan helped her with her fear.
There was also a couple of developing future stories going on in the background of this story. In a previous book, a Vrekener abducted another Sorceress named Melanthe. Both Bettina’s godmother, Morgana, and Melanthe’s sister were searching for her in this book. Also, a Lykae named Munro was seeking revenge against some evil warlocks for doing evil things to Lykae. I believe his story or his twin brother’s story is next.
So, I am off to read that book. See you when I come up for air next.
www.paranormalromanceslut.com
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I still love this series after taking a long break. The different lore characters are fun to get to know. I wish I could remember all of the stories from the other books better- I feel like the book is lesser because I can't remember. Again, I'm over the sex scenes
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
So so bad...just the worst. I read this for a bookclub, along with a YA by the same author. The YA was great, this book had really un-likeable characters, really graphic (disgusting, not sexy) sex, some pretty graphic violence, and very little redeeming quality whatsoever. The world-building was interesting, so I gave two stars, but I would never want to read anything like this again. And there's a ton of references to common bands, etc. that will really date this book, but also take away from the fantasy. It's also much longer than it should have been, with the last 60 pages or so having nothing to do with the story...it must be a set-up for the next book.
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
this would be a 5 star book for me if bettina didn’t frustrate me as much as she did- i just wanted her to realize how much trehan was doing for her and be more open about her feelings for him.