Author: Jenna Black
Ratings: V5; S2-3; H2
This blog entry was revised and updated on 8/15/12 to include a review of the second book in the series, Deadly Descendant. That review comes first, followed by an overview of the series world-building and the previously posted review of book 1:
WORLD-BUILDING
In this very interesting world, which is set in the Washington, D.C., area, two rival groups of immortals vie for power. Both groups call themselves Liberi Deorum, which is Latin for "children of the gods" because their ancestors were the gods of various cultures. One group—the Olympians—believe that they are the master race of the Liberi because they accept only descendants of the Greek gods, whom they believe are far superior to the rest of the theistic panoply. The other Liberi group accepts descendants of the gods of any culture.
Each Liberi is marked with a holographic glyph, usually on the hand, which represents the appropriate ancestral god or goddess and can be seen only by another Liberi. Each Liberi also has a unique magical power that corresponds to his or her godly ancestor. The good guys are led by Anderson Kane, an immortal with mysterious powers, and in the first two books, the haughty Olympians are led by the evil Konstantin. In essence, Anderson's group believes that the Liberi should use their supernatural powers to help make the world a better place, while the Olympians believe that they should spend their time purifying the ranks of the Liberi, which to them means purging all non-Greek Liberi.
BOOK 2: Deadly Descendant
As the second book opens, Nikki is beginning to settle in at Anderson's mansion—the headquarters for his group of Liberi good guys, but she still feels like an outsider. In the first chapter, the Olympian oracle pays a visit the mansion to reveal a vision about a serial killer who is using a pack of dogs (rabid jackals, as it turns out) as a weapon to kill humans. The oracle senses that this is a supernatural murderer and asks for Anderson's help in tracking him down—or more specifically, Nikki's help, because of the superior tracking skills that come from Nikki's ancestor, Artemis. As Nikki investigates the case, she is assisted by Jamaal, who spent book 1 trying to kill her because she killed his best friend. As they work together, their relationship warms up—sometimes to a fiery degree. During one attempt to catch the killer, Nikki gets bitten by the jackals and goes through a horrendous life/death/life experience.
In the meantime back at the mansion, Emma (Anderson's wife) is causing lots of problems. Even though Nikki rescued Emma from her 10-year imprisonment by Konstantin, Emma hates Nikki and accuses her of trying to take Anderson away from her. Emma also fights constantly with her husband about his hesitancy about going after Konstantin for what he and his Olympians did to Emma. The situation between Emma and Nikki gets so bad that Nikki contemplates leaving Anderson's group for good. Emma's character reminds me of Rayseline in Seanan McGuire's OCTOBER DAYE series. Both characters are kidnapped by an enemy, held for a long period of time, and return as jealous and malevolent harridans who do their best to undermine their husbands.
The two story lines—savage jackals and spiteful wife—are interwoven and are both tied up at the conclusion of the book after the requisite climactic showdown between Nikki and the killer. By the end, Nikki's love life is still a question mark, but now there are now two possible contenders: Jamaal and Anderson. Actually, this book frequently reads more like a paranormal romance than an urban fantasy as it places Nikki into frequent emotionally intimate scenes with both romantic contenders. The action plot isn't quite as strong as the one in book 1, and it sometimes seems rushed and secondary to the romance.
In general, though, this is a solid follow-up to book 1, and it (thankfully) adds some clarification to the mythology. Regarding the question of just who is immortal: The Liberi are immortal (not the descendants), which means that the Liberi do not age and they can heal from most wounds and illnesses, but they can be killed if enough violence is used against them. A descendant who kills a Liberi receives the dead Liberi's seed of immortality. The magical talents of the newly created Liberi are those that come from his or her ancestral god or goddess, not those of the dead Liberi who was the source of the seed. Click HERE to read an excerpt from chapter 1 on amazon.com.
In the meantime back at the mansion, Emma (Anderson's wife) is causing lots of problems. Even though Nikki rescued Emma from her 10-year imprisonment by Konstantin, Emma hates Nikki and accuses her of trying to take Anderson away from her. Emma also fights constantly with her husband about his hesitancy about going after Konstantin for what he and his Olympians did to Emma. The situation between Emma and Nikki gets so bad that Nikki contemplates leaving Anderson's group for good. Emma's character reminds me of Rayseline in Seanan McGuire's OCTOBER DAYE series. Both characters are kidnapped by an enemy, held for a long period of time, and return as jealous and malevolent harridans who do their best to undermine their husbands.
The two story lines—savage jackals and spiteful wife—are interwoven and are both tied up at the conclusion of the book after the requisite climactic showdown between Nikki and the killer. By the end, Nikki's love life is still a question mark, but now there are now two possible contenders: Jamaal and Anderson. Actually, this book frequently reads more like a paranormal romance than an urban fantasy as it places Nikki into frequent emotionally intimate scenes with both romantic contenders. The action plot isn't quite as strong as the one in book 1, and it sometimes seems rushed and secondary to the romance.
In general, though, this is a solid follow-up to book 1, and it (thankfully) adds some clarification to the mythology. Regarding the question of just who is immortal: The Liberi are immortal (not the descendants), which means that the Liberi do not age and they can heal from most wounds and illnesses, but they can be killed if enough violence is used against them. A descendant who kills a Liberi receives the dead Liberi's seed of immortality. The magical talents of the newly created Liberi are those that come from his or her ancestral god or goddess, not those of the dead Liberi who was the source of the seed. Click HERE to read an excerpt from chapter 1 on amazon.com.
WORLD-BUILDING
Each Liberi is marked with a holographic glyph, usually on the hand, which represents the appropriate ancestral god or goddess and can be seen only by another Liberi. Each Liberi also has a unique magical power that corresponds to his or her godly ancestor. The good guys are led by Anderson Kane, an immortal with mysterious powers, and in the first two books, the haughty Olympians are led by the evil Konstantin. In essence, Anderson's group believes that the Liberi should use their supernatural powers to help make the world a better place, while the Olympians believe that they should spend their time purifying the ranks of the Liberi, which to them means purging all non-Greek Liberi.
Here is a brief explanation of the history of the Descendants, as explained to our heroine: "A long time ago, when the ancient gods were still around, they had children with mortals. Before the gods left Earth, they gave each of their children a seed from the Tree of Life. This seed made them immortal, and the Liberi thought they were gods themselves as a result. The only limitation they had—as far as they knew—was that they couldn't make their own children immortal....What the first Liberi didn't know until too late was that anyone with even a drop of divine blood—in other words, all their children and descendants—could steal their immortality by killing them." (Dark Descendant, p. 41) In other words, if a mortal descendant of the gods steals a seed by killing a Liberi, he or she will achieve immorality by becoming a Liberi.
Both the Olympians and Anderson's Liberi are always on the lookout for descendants and unallied Liberi. The Olympians try to coerce the Greek Liberi into joining them, and they generally kill the non-Greek Liberi, whom they believe are weak and worthless. Anderson's group tries to save all descendants and Liberi, creating fake personal records to hide them from the Olympians.
Both the Olympians and Anderson's Liberi are always on the lookout for descendants and unallied Liberi. The Olympians try to coerce the Greek Liberi into joining them, and they generally kill the non-Greek Liberi, whom they believe are weak and worthless. Anderson's group tries to save all descendants and Liberi, creating fake personal records to hide them from the Olympians.
BOOK 1: Dark Descendant
Into this world stumbles our heroine, Nikki Glass, who is a talented private detective with excellent tracking skills. As the story opens, Nikki is in the middle of a case in which her client (Emmitt) wants her help in saving his girlfriend from a religious cult—or at least that is the story he tells her. One dark and stormy night, Emmitt asks Nikki to meet him at the cult's residence, and she uneasily does so, only to fall into a terrible trap that changes her life forever. Nikki finds herself in the middle of a small group of crazies who claim to be descended from gods and goddesses and who blame her for Emmitt's death. After they brutally beat her up, they throw her in a prison cell, accusing her of being an Olympian spy. Eventually, some of them soften towards Nikki, but by this time she wants no part of them, even after they tell her all about the descendants and the Liberi and tell her that she is one of them (a descendant of Artemis) and is now immortal. Oh...and they claim that they are the good guys. Right! Nikki's too smart to believe that!
After escaping from the Anderson's Liberi, Nikki is soon approached by a strange and unpleasant man who threatens that if she doesn't join the Olympians, they will harm her sister. What's a girl to do? Both sides want her superior tracking skills, and both sides are violent, rude, and cruel, but Nikki knows that she can't keep her sister safe by herself. The rest of the plot involves Nikki's first task for the group she chooses: finding the wife of the group's leader, who has been imprisoned for ten years by the opposition.
This first book is filled with lots of expositional material. We learn all about the characters we'll be seeing in future books, and we learn the history of both groups. We also look back at Nikki's very sad childhood, in which she was abandoned by her mother and then dumped into a series of foster homes. Finally, Nikki was adopted by the wealthy Glass family and considers Steph Glass as her true sister. Just one discordant note here: Why does Nikki call her adoptive parents Mr. Glass and Mrs. Glass? That seems a bit formal, doesn't it?
Many of the characters (on both sides) are truly unpleasant. They have lots of power, and they're not shy about using it, particularly on people they don't trust. Even after Nikki saves the day, so to speak, in the climax of the story, they still don't trust her completely. But then again, she doesn't fully trust them either.
I love the fresh and inventive world that Black has built here, though some parts are a bit confusing. The whole business about who is immortal and who isn't is not always made clear. And also, how can Anderson's Liberi be considered the good guys since they are immortal (meaning that they took someone else's immortality by killing them)? What's "good" about that? One last nitpick about continuity: At first, Nikki's glyph is on her forehead (p. 39), but then it's on her hand (p. 41). Which is it? Even with those complaints, I did enjoy Dark Descendant and am looking forward to the next book. I believe that I spotted the very beginnings of an attraction between Nikki and her primary nemesis, at least I hope so, because that would be an extremely interesting relationship. Click HERE to read chapter 1.
Jenna Black also writes the MORGAN KINGSLEY series (5 books, UF) and the GUARDIANS OF THE NIGHT series (4 books, SMR), as well as the FAERIEWALKER series for young adults.
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