Belador Series: Alterant

I am done for the time being with Ms Kenyon's stuff. The whole "broaden your horizons" thing will start today. And not a minute too soon to be perfectly honest.

I was seriously looking forward to book two in the Belador Series. The first one was fan-freaking-tastic. But I was a teeny tiny bit let down by Alterant. I'm not entirely sure why. 

There was a lot going on in Alterant and not much that got resolved. There are still a whole bunch of things that the reader hasn't been told about. I know it's supposed to make you want to keep reading but I found myself getting frustrated. It was like, "C'mon! Give me something!" It would have been good to have had a smidgen more information than what we got...

Also, I would have liked ot have seen more interaction between Evalle, Quinn and Tzader. These three are thick as thieves and their hanging out was kinda missed during Alterant.

But it wasn't all bad. I really liked that Evalle was starting to open up to Storm. I absolutely love Evalle's little gargoyle, Feenix. So damn cute.

So in addition to the unanswered questions from Blood Trinity, I have a few more: 

Where the heck did Storm go? 

What's going to happen to Quinn?

What is Macha's agenda? Has she got some plan or is she just being a bitch?

Will we ever find out where Sen's gripe with Evalle stems from?

Will Isak finally work out that Evalle is an Alterant?

So many questions...

The third installment of the Belador Series, The Curse, will be coming out in the States two weeks from today. Those of you lucky enough to live in the US of A can get your copy then.

Belador Series: Blood Trinity

I know, I know. I really need to expand my reading list and look at other authors. And I'm working on it. It's just that I love her books so much! So let me just tell you about another book by Sherrilyn Kenyon that I'm reading. She's collaborated with another author, Dianna Love. Does that count in my efforts of widening my reading circle?

Anyhow, the Belador series is about a race of warriors called, surprise, Beladors. They fight to protect humanity from demons and other creepy-crawlies. Among the "creepy-crawlies" are Alterants. They are Beladors but with a little bit of a twist. Much like Bruce Banner, if they get angry enough or feel really threatened, they turn into monsters. Most of the Alterants have been locked up. Many of the Beladors work for VIPER, the agency that sort of coordinates their save-the-world efforts. 

The story starts with us finding three Beladors in a cave. They are Vladimir Quinn, Tzader Burke and Evalle Kincaid. They have each been betrayed by a Belador pretending to be in trouble. 

Evallle is my kind of heroine. Like most of Kenyon's characters, Evalle has plenty of baggage. The only people she trusts are Quinn and Tzader. But she is tough and will kick your butt six ways to Sunday if you mess with her. None of this "come rescue me you big, strong man" stuff for Evalle. She can handle herself. 

Evalle is a member of VIPER, despite being an Alterant. However, there isn't a whole lot of trust and some of the other VIPER agents treat her pretty badly. Sen is the biggest culprit. No one knows a whole lot about him other than the fact that he's a bad ass. Sen is totally gunning for Evalle and he brings in Storm to be her partner, hoping that the new guy will catch Evalle in a lie.

Can I just go off on a tangent here and say that Storm is smoking hot?! The second he came on the scene, my first thought was "yummy".

Also yummy was Isak. He did do a little swooping and saving when Evalle found herself cornered by a big hungry demon. He's in charge of a little military type organisation which hunts and kills demons. 

There looks to be the beginnings of a love triangle here. It's pretty obvious that Evalle will play a leading role in it but I won't mention the guys. I don't want to give away too much.

There are a couple of burning questions...

What is Sen's problem? Will we find out anything more about our lead characters' pasts? Where do Alterants come from? Can we please skip the love triangle and have a HEA that doesn't involve an awesome character having his heart stomped on?

I swear I will move away from Ms Kenyon's stuff as soon as I've read Alterant, the second book in the series. 

Chronicles of Nick: Infamous

Infamous is the third book in the Chronicles of Nick series. I really liked this book. It's a little darker than the previous two. Nick has to get used to the idea that his future self is a teeny tiny bit loco. There's a cyber bully who's posting horrible things about their class mates on the internet. Nick and his mom fight a lot. Nick gets beaten to a bloody pulp twice and gets accused of raping a classmate.  

So, some serious stuff.

But it's not all bad. 

Nick and Kody are going steady, although she's not exactly forthcoming about who she is and why she's there. But she seems to make Nick ridiculously happy, which is nice. Nick and Caleb seem to have gotten over their antagonism towards each other. This is not to say that they've stopped with the sarcasm. That still flows thick and fast. Nick is also becoming more adept at using his powers thanks to his lessons with Grim. It's so sweet how Nick goes out of his way to please his mother even when it tends to backfire and bite him in the butt. 

We meet some new characters in this book. My favourites were Bane and Adarian. Bane is one of the Four Horsemen (Pestilence) and Adarian is Nick's dad. What a scary dude. I really don't like this Adarian but I think I feel sorry for him. We also learn what happens when Nick loses consciousness (hint: it's not good).

I know I keep saying this but I love Sherrilyn Kenyon. I love how she takes the ancient legends and gives them a modern twist. I am seriously addicted.

As a just so by the way, Ms Kenyon's new book Time Untime comes out today in the US. 

Go get it!

Chronicles of Nick: Invincible

Poor Nick...

This kid has had it really super rough. In the second book in the Chronicles of Nick series, our hero finds himself in a whole lot of trouble. He learns things about his new friends that make his head spin. Generally, Nick handles the various revelations quite well.

First, he finds out that Kyrian is a  Dark-Hunter after seeing his fangs. After a quick freak out, Kyrian explains to Nick that there was no way he would eat Nick (mentioned something about indigestion) and that Dark-Hunters exist to protect mankind. 

Cherise starts working for Sanctuary after getting fired from her old job. As it turns out, Sanctuary is owned by a family of shape shifters who turn into bears. 

Next, Nick finds himself on the wrong side of his new headmaster (Richard Head- I laughed my butt off when I read that) and the new football coach. The coach is not what he seems and isn't above blackmailing  Nick to get what he wants.

Nick gets divination lessons from the Grim Reaper (who is wicked funny). These lessons don't go too well and Nick tries Grim's patience like no one else has ever dared to.

During this book, Nick also finds out about his destiny (none too gently) and why it's so important that he learns to use his powers. All things considered, he takes the news that he's meant to destroy the world quite well. His crush, Kody, is revealed to be... well, we're not quite sure what Kody is. We just know that she's been sent to keep an eye on Nick and make sure he doesn't succumb to his darker side. 

Finally, Nick learns the truth about the mysterious Ambrose.

I'm not going to tell you about that because you really should read these books yourself. They are tons of fun! Nick's responses to his various trial are really funny. That boy is sharp!

I honestly love Sherrilyn Kenyon's stuff. She has become one of my favourite authors, after J.R Ward. You really should give this series a try. It's lots of fun and you're guaranteed a few laughs.

   

Born of Silence

Born of Silence is the fifth book in The League series. It's set waaaay in the future where people ride around in spaceships and don't live in different countries but on different planets. Not normally my thing but I really enjoy Sherrilyn Kenyon's stuff.

This book is about poor Darling Cruel (who is a guy) and his spectacularly awful life. Darling is the prince of the Caronese empire, who is forced to live with his abusive uncle until he comes of age (30). Darling does what he can to protect his widowed mother and younger siblings from his uncle's wrath, even going so far as to pretend he's gay to cover up for his mother's illicit affairs. 

Darling pretends to be this passive, effeminate guy when he is anything but. What people don't know about Darling is that he's a member of the Sentella, an organisation that opposes the League and it's brutal domination over the United Systems. Darling falls in love with Zarya, who is the leader of the Resistance. This situation is less than ideal because the Resistance is working to overthrow the Cruel family. So, like Shakespeare said, the course of true love never did run smooth.

This book was really funny in some parts. Maris, Darling's best friend, is side sidesplittingly funny. He was without a doubt my favourite character in this book. Plus we see some old favourites like Nykyrian, Hauk and his brother Fain, and Syn. But there were also some heart wrenching bits, like Darling's torture and his treatment at the hands of the aristocracy.

The League in reading order:

1. Born of Night

2. Born of Fire

3. Born of Ice

4. Born of Shadows

5. Born of Silence

Happy reading everybody!  

The Chronicles of Nick: Infinity

Aaaaaannnd I'm back! Sorry that I've been so scarce everybody but I'd kinda blown through my internet usage last month. The 'rents threatened my life and limbs if I made them pay any more money to Vodacom than they already are. 

Since I haven't been on the internet for what feels like forever, I caught up on my reading. I've read two books so far, both by Sherrilyn Kenyon. 

Infinity is the first book in the Chronicles of Nick series. I really like this series. It isn't out of this world brilliant but it is extremely entertaining. Infinity starts us off by introducing us to Nick Gautier (pronounced Go-shay). Those of you who have read the Dark Hunter series (another one of my favourite series) will recognise Nick and several other characters. The story is set in New Orleans, where Nick lives with his sweetheart of a mother. Nick is what some people would consider "trailer trash" and because of this, people aren't very nice to Nick or his mom.

Turns out Nick is a pretty big deal in the supernatural world. He has the potential to be a true hero or he could be the guy who ends the world. It all depends on the choices he makes. The Chronicles of Nick will be taking us through Nick's journey. Since the series is an offshoot of the Dark Hunter series, it would be fun if you read that too but you don't have to. It just fills in some of the gaps.

I found myself laughing quite a bit in this book and cringing at other times. Seriously, I hope Kenyon is just using her imagination (which is pretty twisted) when it comes to the mean, petty things the "villains" in her books get up to. I don't like to think that she's had personal experiences like that or has ever dealt with people that... bleugh.

As an aside, I'm really glad I went to high school here and not in the States. Not to cause any offense or anything but American high schools sound awful.