By: Lauren Dane
Published By: Berkley
Released: Available Now
Details: Paperback from Library, 295 Pages
RATING: 3.75 SEYMEON STARS!
Blurb : Goodreads
The life of Lark Jaansen, hunter in Clan Gennessee, has been shaped by violence and unrest—and it defines her future. Well-trained and resilient, she’s met her militaristic match in Simon Leviathan, a warrior not of this world. Locked in mutual admiration, and a desire so hot it burns, Lark and Simon have something else in common: they love the dark, and as a shadow is cast over their world, they’re each coming into their own.
A mysterious war has been waged among the Others. As witches and humans turn against each other, as faes retreat in fear, and as vampires rise, Lark and Simon discover that an unseen force is behind it. A single, hungry entity older than recorded history has returned to gorge on the magick of his victims. He is the Magister, nothing less than the end of time. Finding him is Lark and Simon’s first hope. Surviving him is their last.
BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:
I like the world that Lauren Dane has me in with her Witches, Lycians, Shifters and Others, and her very , very alpha males.
My thoughts on this instalment in her Bound By Magick series. I felt at times Lark was too Alpha female. Meriel still showed her girlie ways with Nell in Heart of Darkness, but we also got why Dominic chose her, why they chose each other.
Lark is very well matched to Simon’s character, but she just felt too alpha female. She is a real ball buster. I did love that they were friends to start with and then Simon started to notice more of Lark’s quirky dress sense, etc and started to totally dig it.
I love his Lycian name is Seymeon. Humma , humma.
I’ve been trying to get my words right for this review of how I felt about Lark’s character taking over and Meriel and Dom who are the leaders of Clan Owen seemed to be taking their instructions from Lark. She felt like she was the one with the overall say. I got confused by her take charge role when Nell never had that position. Lark was supposed to be covering Nell’s position due to her pregnancy. I didn’t get Nell being this leader type role from Heart of Darkness. I identified with Nell as a Hunter and her leader role in that respect, but Lark's role felt more than that.
Anyway that is how it came across to me and it felt like Meriel and Dom had their roles taken from them a bit.
Simon is a very rawrrrr character and I loved his family over in the Veil. I loved him in Heart of Darkness and you get much more of the smexi totally ALPHA male in this read. You can almost hear him growling from the pages.
Or maybe that was me...hehe.
Sometimes I felt like there was too much dialogue and it wasn’t interesting dialogue in this instalment.
“I love that you carry handkerchiefs. It’s so old-school guy. But it makes me nervous to use them because they’re so snowy white and I know my eyeliner and mascara are going to ruin them.”
“I’ve got fifty of them. It’s not like I can’t spare one to dry your tears.”
“You need to understand I don’t cry all the time. Lately I have, I know. But I don’t normally.”
“I’ll excuse it this one time.”
“Okay, so yes, it’s silly of me and all. But still.”
He stood and pulled her up into a hug. “I’ve come to take you to dinner before we head out on patrol.”
“We?” She stepped back and looked him up and down. “You’re dressed like a commando and you still have handkerchiefs. We’re an odd couple, Simon. Just know that.”
“I may have to admit that I like the bright pink in your hair. That’s a start isn’t it?”
“Are those Gucci pants?”
“No.” They were Dolce & Gabbana, but she didn’t need to know that.
I would have liked more action rather than hearing how totally awesome Lark was from Simon. I got a bit yawny in those parts when they were both thinking about each other so much in their heads. I also lost a bit when Simon was leading the pages and when Lark was. It was this pov takeover that came and went.
The Magister is an interesting villain. It’s not a villain that can be explained easily. It is what it is. But it is also all powerful. There is no rest for the hard working, so all hands on deck to save them from this villain that is life threatening, but nobody totally understands it. It is too old. It has the Fae ducking for cover and they are old.
“It’s not something you can wrap your mind around. The Magister is chaos. Older than even I can imagine and I’m far, far older than you are. It doesn’t care about money or weaponry. You can’t reason with it. It has a purpose, but we may never fully understand it. I just know it cleanses. Burns holy clarity with no regard to good or evil or anything like that. It’s not here to work through an ancient vengeance or revenge.”
The mage villains are still causing havoc and death among the Others and witches. I am looking forward to where Lauren will take me in this series.
Sometimes I felt like there was too much dialogue and it wasn’t interesting dialogue in this instalment.
“I love that you carry handkerchiefs. It’s so old-school guy. But it makes me nervous to use them because they’re so snowy white and I know my eyeliner and mascara are going to ruin them.”
“I’ve got fifty of them. It’s not like I can’t spare one to dry your tears.”
“You need to understand I don’t cry all the time. Lately I have, I know. But I don’t normally.”
“I’ll excuse it this one time.”
“Okay, so yes, it’s silly of me and all. But still.”
He stood and pulled her up into a hug. “I’ve come to take you to dinner before we head out on patrol.”
“We?” She stepped back and looked him up and down. “You’re dressed like a commando and you still have handkerchiefs. We’re an odd couple, Simon. Just know that.”
“I may have to admit that I like the bright pink in your hair. That’s a start isn’t it?”
“Are those Gucci pants?”
“No.” They were Dolce & Gabbana, but she didn’t need to know that.
I would have liked more action rather than hearing how totally awesome Lark was from Simon. I got a bit yawny in those parts when they were both thinking about each other so much in their heads. I also lost a bit when Simon was leading the pages and when Lark was. It was this pov takeover that came and went.
The Magister is an interesting villain. It’s not a villain that can be explained easily. It is what it is. But it is also all powerful. There is no rest for the hard working, so all hands on deck to save them from this villain that is life threatening, but nobody totally understands it. It is too old. It has the Fae ducking for cover and they are old.
“It’s not something you can wrap your mind around. The Magister is chaos. Older than even I can imagine and I’m far, far older than you are. It doesn’t care about money or weaponry. You can’t reason with it. It has a purpose, but we may never fully understand it. I just know it cleanses. Burns holy clarity with no regard to good or evil or anything like that. It’s not here to work through an ancient vengeance or revenge.”
The mage villains are still causing havoc and death among the Others and witches. I am looking forward to where Lauren will take me in this series.
Michelle
Not familiar with this series though I have heard of LDane. I'm always up to reading alpha males & the covers are divine!
ReplyDeleteBraine