Born of Ice

Jan 112010

Devyn Kell joined the League to save lives as a doctor and help those whose lives were being torn apart by conflict.  He didn’t bank on the League being one of the corrupt oppressors involved in the war and in one moment, throws his career and nearly his life away to save an innocent child.  Hunted by both the League and an old enemy with a family grudge, he becomes a runner to bring supplies, medicines and aid to those in need.  Alix Garran is a slave offered her freedom and the lives of her mother and sister if she can bring in the notorious rebel.  When an opening is made in Devyn’s crew, she’s forced to apply for the engineering role and find evidence that will convict Devyn and his crew.  If she can’t find it, she’ll have to fabricate it and time is ticking.  Not expecting to find a cause she can believe in, or people she can trust, Alix finds herself horribly torn between her family, and a man she can finally respect.

I expected this book to follow along the same timeline as Born of Night and Born of Fire and was surprised to find it was about their now grown up children.  Devyn is the son of Syn and Shahara and some of the major cast of characters are offpsring from Nykyrian and Kiara, his crew and friends.  I thought that was a great idea!  Sometimes you get to see what happens after a book is finished, not often you get to see what happens nearly a generation later.  I thought the character of Devyn was nicely written as a blend of his parents temperaments but not a mirror of either.  Alix is a character that brought out a lot of sympathy from me and at times I empathised a lot with.  Her life has never been her own, enslaved along with her mother and sister to her own father.  It was a nice switcharound that it was the female lead character in this book that had the traumatic life instead of the male, although saying that, Devyn has his own issues too.  I liked that the parents were kept out of the book as much as possible and when they appeared or ‘interfered’ it was called for in the story rather than being in it just for the sake of it.  This isn’t as much of an action book as the first two but when it happened it was explosive and fierce and highlighted Devyn’s nature of preferring to heal than harm.  That’s not to say he’s not willing to fight and happens to be very good at it.  Alix is just gutsy, even as self-effacing as she is, having had enough of being her father’s punching bag.  Two brilliant leading characters who you can admire and love.  There is more humour in this book also, maybe due to the larger cast but their banter is very funny and there are a couple of scenes that made me laugh out loud.  Luckily I was reading at home!

A very engaging, exciting and passionate book that I highly recommend you read!  I do hope there are more coming in this series.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Book Information

Born of Fire

Jan 092010

C.I. Syn the deadly, predatory and notorious filch has been accused of an horrific rape and murder.  The warrant out for his capture is picked up by Seax Shahara Dagan, desperate for money to pay for her sister’s medical bills.  Had she not been in such need, not even she would have gone after the son of one of the worst criminals in history.  Branded by his father’s sins and a universal assumption that the son would follow in his evil footsteps, Shahara goes in fully prepared to meet a monster.  What she finds though is what she least expects, an honourable man trying to escape a past that continually haunts him.

After finishing Born of Night, I was eager to get right into the escapades of Nykyrian’s best friend but it took a while for me to get a copy.  I thought I might have to re-read the first book to get back into the setting but only a few pages in, I was well into the story.  I love how Sherrilyn Kenyon can write so astutely from another’s viewpoint in a different book.  Born of Night was Nykyrian’s story in which Syn featured quite a lot and while I liked him, he was a grumpy soul with obvious issues from his past.  In this book, seeing life from his point of view told me so much more.  As I  learned his history and how he’d been treated just because of who his father was, my heart just went out to him.  Shahara’s struggle to keep her family together and their ability to get themselves into trouble, expecting her to bail them out all the time was well written too and her love tinged with exasperation and weariness were very tangible.  I loved these two characters together, right from their first encounter, there were sparks flying.  As the story progressed and perceptions changed for them both, I just fell in love with them more and knowing what was likely to happen at the end, made it all the more heartbreaking.  Everything fit so well together, the pace of the book, the action, drama and love scenes and at no point did I feel any of it was gratuitous.  The only negative thing I can find to say is she re-uses one or two phrases which can get annoying but it’s a minor thing and those phrases do carry a lot of weight.

As an added note, these books are not just Dark-Hunters re-created in space but their own unique stories, completely separate from the rest of Sherrilyn’s work and even if you aren’t a sci-fi fan, if you enjoy her books, definately read these!

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Book Information

Born of Ice – book trailer and info

Nov 182009

St. Martin’s Press have released the following information about Sherrilyn Kenyon’s 3rd book in the League series,

New from St. Martin’s Press is #1 New York Times bestselling author, Sherrilyn Kenyon’s 3-book series, ‘The League’!  With over 19 million books in print, Sherrilyn Kenyon is renowned the world over as “the reigning queen of the paranormal genre that she pioneered long before the world had heard of Twilight.”  The third book from ‘The League’ series, ‘Born of Ice’, will be available December 1st, 2009.

As with the previous book, Born of Fire, they’ve published a movie-like trailer, which you can watch below or check it out here on YouTube.

There’s more info and the chance to read an excerpt on Sherrilyn’s main website, or this link should take you straight to it.

The excerpt has really whetted my appetite and this little nugget made me laugh out loud :

Oh. My. God.

The one who’d spoken had to be a good six foot four in height. Built in perfect proportions, he was lean and ripped. Broad shoulders tapered down to narrow hips and what had to be the fi nest butt she’d ever seen in her life—she could bounce a credit off that.

Or break a tooth biting it…

Piatkus are the UK publishers, and they’re releasing it on the 3rd December over here.

I really can’t wait to get my hands on it!  Check out the preview of the second book Born of Fire and don’t forget to read my review of the one that started it all, Born of Night.  And if you want to know why you should read Sherrilyn Kenyon… this is why.

Born of Fire – trailers and previews!

Oct 282009

bornoffireSt. Martin’s Press (US) are gearing up to release the second book in Sherrilyn Kenyon’s The League series – titled Born of Fire.  I recently read, loved and reviewed the first book (Born of Night) and I really am very excited about the prospect of another chance to visit that world and meet a whole collection of new characters.

To support the release, St. Martin’s Press is offering people a chance to win a copy of the book (although it’s limited to US residents only), but if that includes you, then you can check out the competition here.

The book is out on November 3rd in the US, and November 5th in the UK (published by Piatkus, an imprint of Little Brown).  You can pre-order them both now on Amazon (US and UK versions).

There’s a bunch of additional promotional material coming along with the release.  You can check out an excerpt of Born of Fire on Sherrilyn’s official site.  I’ve read it and it’s exciting!  It has all of Sherrilyn’s hallmark writing, starting with a pair of adversaries and telling us their story!

On top of that there’s a promo video on YouTube which I’ve embedded below.  It’s pretty short, but it gives a good indication of the main characters and should immediately highlight the main difference between this series and Sherrilyn’s Dark Hunter series.

The League is not set on Earth and the technology is far more advanced, but judging by the excerpt and having loved Born of Night, it’s still classic Sherrilyn Kenyon.

From the press release:

New from St. Martin’s Press is #1 New York Times bestselling author, Sherrilyn Kenyon’s 3-book series, ‘The League’!  With over 19 million books in print, Sherrilyn Kenyon is renowned the world over as “the reigning queen of the paranormal genre that she pioneered long before the world had heard of Twilight.”  The second book from ‘The League’ series, ‘Born of Fire’, will be available November 3rd, 2009.

I’m itching to get my hands on this book after thoroughly enjoying the first one!

Here are the links if you want them all in one place!

Born of Night

Sep 302009

The League and their powerful and ruthless assassins rule the Ichidian Universe.  No one leaves, to retire is to die.

Command Assassin Nykyrian Quiakades is one of the League’s most feared and vicious assassins and is the only man who managed to stay alive for more than a few hours after refusing to fulfill a contract, an act of treason and punishable by death.   So he does the only thing he can,  he vanishes.

A dangerous predator of the highest order, he forms an organisation that would become a shield between the league and their contracts on innocents caught in the cross-fire of political gain.  With only 3 people in the entire universe he can remotely stand to be around, hunted by the League and several others who would also see him dead, he accepts a contract to protect a dancer, Kiara Zamir whose father’s political ambitions have made her a target.  As her life becomes more dangerous and attempts on her life more desperate, they have to go against everything they’ve been taught from a young age.  Trust no one or they will destroy you.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Born of Night.  Interesting premise, but a Sherrilyn Kenyon book set in space?  hmm.  She has become one of my favourite authors through her Dark-Hunter series, but would the things that make those books so absorbing, translate into a science-fiction setting.  The answer is yes.  Oh yes.

I started reading it this morning and I couldn’t put it down til I’d finished, I was utterly hooked.  I was interested to read from the Author’s note at the start that it had been published before, but a different version, with what I guess has a lot of the violence or sexual content removed or toned down.  I never managed to get hold of a copy and in all honesty am now glad I didn’t.  This book is the one she wanted to release, whole and not hiding away any of life’s darker side and I am so glad she was given the chance.

The setting was good, the universe she created is diverse and interesting but where it stands out (and I know I’ve said this before and I will say it again) are her amazing characters.  Nykyrian is larger than life and oh so hot, even when he is being the dangerous and vicious assassin he was trained to be.  Kiara is just lovable, her naivety endearing and after everything she goes through, still manages keeps that trait but gains more strength in who she is and what she wants.  The secondary characters of Syn, Hauk and Jayne are brilliant too and I know the next book centres on Syn and what happens with him towards the end.  It will make an interesting read but I’m not sure if he will quite match up to Nykyrian.  I will have to wait and see!

All in all, a fantastic read and if you like Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Dark-Hunter books, you need to read this, and don’t let the fact it’s technically science-fiction put you off.

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Book Information

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