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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
There were parts of this book that deserved 5 stars but then there were a few parts in the middle where the pacing threw me off. Overall, very very well done. Several interesting secondary characters were introduced and I'm excited to read the next book in this series!
Had to put it down a few times (too involved). A very enjoyable read. Will definitely read more of this series.
This was such a great read. I’m the kind of girl who can read everything, as long as I like the story I don’t care if it’s PNR or contemporary or whatever… But I must say that I have my preferences. This kind of book is what I like the most.
Vengeance Born was really well written and the romance was not mushy. There was a real story behind it all and everything fell right into place.
The heroine, Annika, a Na’Chi (half-Na’Reish [demons]/half-human), did it for me. Ironically, she was strong and weak at the same time. She knew what she wanted, she had a strong will and a temper but she was also very insecure. All her life she was beaten, hated and told that she was an abomination, it’s kinda hard to erase 25 years of that. At times, she seemed so young it was hard to remember that she was, in fact, a grown woman. I don’t mean by that that Annika was immature but she was just fragile… But, like I said, she also showed a lot of strength and determination.
Kalan, our hero, a Light Blade (human warriors), was also a great character. He was strong and loyal to his people. Obviously, at the beginning, he was wary of Annika even mean to her. But as he learned to know her he went beyond his prejudices toward her kind (even though she was just half-Na’Reish) and he started to respect her, to care about her.
Their relationship was truly beautiful, it wasn’t easy and it took some time but at the end they were strong together. Their love was potent. The plot was good, the war between the Light Blade and the Na’Reish, Annika’s arrival to humans territory, which was not easy, the conflicts within the Light Blade’s Council and also the side story of Varian and his people. I’ve actually just read Alliance Forged (Varian and Kymora’s story) and I loved it even more than this one!
Vengeance Born was really well written and the romance was not mushy. There was a real story behind it all and everything fell right into place.
The heroine, Annika, a Na’Chi (half-Na’Reish [demons]/half-human), did it for me. Ironically, she was strong and weak at the same time. She knew what she wanted, she had a strong will and a temper but she was also very insecure. All her life she was beaten, hated and told that she was an abomination, it’s kinda hard to erase 25 years of that. At times, she seemed so young it was hard to remember that she was, in fact, a grown woman. I don’t mean by that that Annika was immature but she was just fragile… But, like I said, she also showed a lot of strength and determination.
Kalan, our hero, a Light Blade (human warriors), was also a great character. He was strong and loyal to his people. Obviously, at the beginning, he was wary of Annika even mean to her. But as he learned to know her he went beyond his prejudices toward her kind (even though she was just half-Na’Reish) and he started to respect her, to care about her.
Their relationship was truly beautiful, it wasn’t easy and it took some time but at the end they were strong together. Their love was potent. The plot was good, the war between the Light Blade and the Na’Reish, Annika’s arrival to humans territory, which was not easy, the conflicts within the Light Blade’s Council and also the side story of Varian and his people. I’ve actually just read Alliance Forged (Varian and Kymora’s story) and I loved it even more than this one!
Vengeance Born
3 Stars
Imprisoned by the Na'Reish king, Kalan, a light blade warrior, has little chance of survival until aid comes from an unexpected place - Annika, the king's half-blood daughter. Determined to escape her harsh upbringing and find refuge in the human world, Annika releases Kalan and the two set out on a perilous journey toward freedom with only each other to rely on.
While the world building is interesting and compelling, the characters and situations are contrived and unrealistic.
Kalan is a prejudiced jackass and a hypocrite to boot. He condemns Annika for keeping her parentage hidden when he has secrets of his own, and his rapid transition from distrustful enemy to besotted lover is not believable.
Annika's characterization is a contradictory mess. On the one hand, she is strong enough to survive brutal physical torment and social ostracism with her spirit intact, but once she encounters Kalan is constantly hurt, ashamed and undermined by his harsh words and attitude. Where did her spine go?
Given that this is a debut novel, it is necessary to mention the writing. Although the plot and the romance move along at a good pace, there is too much repetition of characters internal dialogue and emotions.
Finally, there is also excessive focus on religious beliefs. The female deity controls all aspects of the human characters' lives either by dictating their actions or confirm/rejecting their choices and decisions. This is supposedly fantasy not Christian or inspirational fiction.
All in all, not a bad read but the plotting is weak and the secondary characters are not appealing enough to continue with the series.
3 Stars
Imprisoned by the Na'Reish king, Kalan, a light blade warrior, has little chance of survival until aid comes from an unexpected place - Annika, the king's half-blood daughter. Determined to escape her harsh upbringing and find refuge in the human world, Annika releases Kalan and the two set out on a perilous journey toward freedom with only each other to rely on.
While the world building is interesting and compelling, the characters and situations are contrived and unrealistic.
Kalan is a prejudiced jackass and a hypocrite to boot. He condemns Annika for keeping her parentage hidden when he has secrets of his own, and his rapid transition from distrustful enemy to besotted lover is not believable.
Annika's characterization is a contradictory mess. On the one hand, she is strong enough to survive brutal physical torment and social ostracism with her spirit intact, but once she encounters Kalan is constantly hurt, ashamed and undermined by his harsh words and attitude. Where did her spine go?
Given that this is a debut novel, it is necessary to mention the writing. Although the plot and the romance move along at a good pace, there is too much repetition of characters internal dialogue and emotions.
Finally, there is also excessive focus on religious beliefs. The female deity controls all aspects of the human characters' lives either by dictating their actions or confirm/rejecting their choices and decisions. This is supposedly fantasy not Christian or inspirational fiction.
All in all, not a bad read but the plotting is weak and the secondary characters are not appealing enough to continue with the series.
I like the romance and the characters and all but the plot..a little. :)
This cover is so pretty.
I find it hard to picture her just because she doesn't come across to me as being human looking but she does. I just always picture Demons as looking horrifying not pretty.
I liked this story, I was a little bored at the beginning but I soon fell in love with the story as being a fantasy novel and not a fantasy romance novel. Although I love romance in my books I actually thought it wasn't needed in this book. Theres a few chapters that OK if you ship the couple you'll like it but it doesn't add to the story at all...
I find it hard to picture her just because she doesn't come across to me as being human looking but she does. I just always picture Demons as looking horrifying not pretty.
I liked this story, I was a little bored at the beginning but I soon fell in love with the story as being a fantasy novel and not a fantasy romance novel. Although I love romance in my books I actually thought it wasn't needed in this book. Theres a few chapters that OK if you ship the couple you'll like it but it doesn't add to the story at all...
I think this is the kind of book where you either fling yourself into it headfirst and wholeheartedly and love the ride, or you try to read it with the cynical eye that much fantasy seems to currently expect and you find five million flaws and you hate it. I was looking for an escape and so I took the former route, and I really enjoyed the ride, but I can see where criticisms would pile up.
Annika is the half-breed daughter of the king of demons; Kalan is the leader of the Light Blades, warriors sworn to defend humanity from same. There are many reasons why they shouldn't be together, and many why they should, and I liked the way those things were woven together. Demons in this cosmology are required to drink blood to sustain themselves, more often as they spend more energy. Annika has trained herself to feed from animals due to a traumatic experience in her past, which is very unusual for a demon. There's a long-running war between demons and humans, and this is the backdrop against which the story is set.
There's a criticism to be leveled that Annika is a Mary Sue - she's beautiful, kind, and wildly gifted with her magic powers. There's a good in-universe explanation for the magic powers, and anyway, I think that dismissing a character out of hand for being Awesome is a shitty way to go about things. I like reading about cool awesome people! She's not flawless or inexplicably helpless in order for Plot To Happen; she fights for what she wants. I liked her quite a bit.
I did see the twist coming about a mile off, but that's because the hints to it were placed well and narrative structure is my jam, which means it was done well.
I'm currently on a book-buying moratorium until I work through more of my to-read list, but I'll definitely keep an eye out for later books in this series.
Annika is the half-breed daughter of the king of demons; Kalan is the leader of the Light Blades, warriors sworn to defend humanity from same. There are many reasons why they shouldn't be together, and many why they should, and I liked the way those things were woven together. Demons in this cosmology are required to drink blood to sustain themselves, more often as they spend more energy. Annika has trained herself to feed from animals due to a traumatic experience in her past, which is very unusual for a demon. There's a long-running war between demons and humans, and this is the backdrop against which the story is set.
There's a criticism to be leveled that Annika is a Mary Sue - she's beautiful, kind, and wildly gifted with her magic powers. There's a good in-universe explanation for the magic powers, and anyway, I think that dismissing a character out of hand for being Awesome is a shitty way to go about things. I like reading about cool awesome people! She's not flawless or inexplicably helpless in order for Plot To Happen; she fights for what she wants. I liked her quite a bit.
I did see the twist coming about a mile off, but that's because the hints to it were placed well and narrative structure is my jam, which means it was done well.
I'm currently on a book-buying moratorium until I work through more of my to-read list, but I'll definitely keep an eye out for later books in this series.
The world Kylie Griffin created is just fascinating!
I loved everything, from the perpetual war between the Na'Reish (demons) and the Light Blade warriors (humans), to the Na'Chi (half bloods), to the detail of the marks in the bodies of both Na'Reish and Na'Chi, to the fact that a Na'Chi's eyes change according to the emotions the person is feeling, to the existence of the Lady and much, much more.
However, I only gave this book 4 stars because of some aspects:
- Annika and Kalan's romantic relationship was a bit rushed - I am really glad that Kalan overcame his prejudice towards her quickly and could see she was a really great person, even though she was half demon, but in one moment he didn't trust her and thought about leaving her and in the next he already loved her. I would have liked things to go a bit more slowly.
- Lack of action - I was expecting the Na'Reish, especially Annika's father, to do everything to find her, in order to punish and kill her for having helped Kalan. That didn't happen. There was conflict with a certain Light Blade councilor, but that wasn't enough, in my opinion.
- The end was rushed - I have some questions who still needs answer. Like, how is Annika and Arek's relationship going to work out now that they both now the truth? That is important and we didn't have any answer.
But apart from all that, like I told you, the book is really good. Read it!
I loved everything, from the perpetual war between the Na'Reish (demons) and the Light Blade warriors (humans), to the Na'Chi (half bloods), to the detail of the marks in the bodies of both Na'Reish and Na'Chi, to the fact that a Na'Chi's eyes change according to the emotions the person is feeling, to the existence of the Lady and much, much more.
However, I only gave this book 4 stars because of some aspects:
- Annika and Kalan's romantic relationship was a bit rushed - I am really glad that Kalan overcame his prejudice towards her quickly and could see she was a really great person, even though she was half demon, but in one moment he didn't trust her and thought about leaving her and in the next he already loved her. I would have liked things to go a bit more slowly.
- Lack of action - I was expecting the Na'Reish, especially Annika's father, to do everything to find her, in order to punish and kill her for having helped Kalan. That didn't happen. There was conflict with a certain Light Blade councilor, but that wasn't enough, in my opinion.
- The end was rushed - I have some questions who still needs answer. Like, how is Annika and Arek's relationship going to work out now that they both now the truth? That is important and we didn't have any answer.
But apart from all that, like I told you, the book is really good. Read it!
4 stars!
Meet my Kalan:
Meet my Annika:
This book surprised me! I honestly didn't expect to like it as much as I did. Aren't those the best kind? When they surpass your expectations? I was hooked from the first word on the page. I loved Annika so much! She was such a fighter yet she had her weaknesses. She yearned for acceptance and love and her struggle was felt because of how it was written. I felt pangs of pain in my heart when she talked about what happened to her in the Na'Reish world and oh man...I'm so happy she had Kalan with her through it all! They were a beautiful couple. Kalan at first kind of got me mad but it was because of his hesitancy towards trusting Annika. And I can't blame him for that since he believed her to be a full out demon and didn't know the difference between a Na'Chi and a Na'Reish. They were perfect for each other!
Kalan was such a great male of worth. Even though he made his feelings known to Annika and his people, he waited for her. He wanted her to feel at home with him and believe in his love and his patience was amazing. I loved him for it.
Varian and Kymora!!! I need you guys right now..off to read them now...BYE!
Meet my Kalan:
Meet my Annika:
This book surprised me! I honestly didn't expect to like it as much as I did. Aren't those the best kind? When they surpass your expectations? I was hooked from the first word on the page. I loved Annika so much! She was such a fighter yet she had her weaknesses. She yearned for acceptance and love and her struggle was felt because of how it was written. I felt pangs of pain in my heart when she talked about what happened to her in the Na'Reish world and oh man...I'm so happy she had Kalan with her through it all! They were a beautiful couple. Kalan at first kind of got me mad but it was because of his hesitancy towards trusting Annika. And I can't blame him for that since he believed her to be a full out demon and didn't know the difference between a Na'Chi and a Na'Reish. They were perfect for each other!
Spoiler
When she was left alone with cute little Rissa and her growing hunger I swear I teared up. I couldn't handle her helplessness and her need to not feed from this girl because of what happened in her past. SHE IS SUCH A STRONG WOMAN!Kalan was such a great male of worth. Even though he made his feelings known to Annika and his people, he waited for her. He wanted her to feel at home with him and believe in his love and his patience was amazing. I loved him for it.
Varian and Kymora!!! I need you guys right now..off to read them now...BYE!
A unidentified prisoner captured in war and a healer and reject escape together. You can call the story predictable or you can say it meets all the necessary criteria for a romantic fantasy novel. Either way, I enjoyed it and will look for the next.