UPDATE! Jenna Black's NIKKI GLASS/DESCENDANTS SERIES

UPDATE!

I have just updated a previous post for Jenna Black with a review of the first novella and the third novel in her NIKKI GLASS/DESCENDANTS SERIES:  "Pros and Cons" and Rogue Descendant.

Click on either the author's name or the book title above to go directly to the updated review.

Lindsey Piper: THE DRAGON KINGS SERIES

Author:  Lindsey Piper

Author's Other Identities:
    Carrie Lofty—her real name
    Ellen Connor—in partnership with Ann Aguirre
    Katie Porter—in partnership with Lorelie Brown
Series:  THE DRAGON KINGS
Plot Type:  Soul Mate Romance (SMR)    
Ratings:  Violence—4; Sensuality—4; Humor—1 
Publisher and Titles:  Pocket
          "Silent Warrior" (prequel e-novella 5/2013)
          Caged Warrior (6/2013)
          Blood Warrior (7/2013)

          Hunted Warrior (4/2015) (FINAL) 

This post was revised and updated on 5/16/15 to include a review of Hunted Warrior, the third and FINAL novel in the series. That review appears first, followed by an overview of the world-building and reviews of the prequel novella and the first two novels.

            NOVEL 3: Hunted Warrior            

     The final novel in the series tells the dramatic love story of two characters we met in earlier books, Malnefoley (Mal) of Tigony and the Pet. Mal is the Honorable Giva (aka the Usurper), leader of all of the Dragon King Clans, but he has been an ineffective leader because he is so arrogant and has kept himself far removed from the real issues facing the Dragon Kings. Mal has been so immersed in Council politics that he has allowed the human cartels to decimate the ranks of low-level Dragon Kings, who scramble to subject themselves to slavery and to life-and-death gladiator fights simply to win a chance to conceive a healthy child. 

     The Pet is a beautiful young Dragon King woman who was sold into slavery to the Aster cartel when she was twelve years old and lived as Dr. Heath Aster's personal slave for 25 years until she was liberated when Dr. Aster's laboratories were destroyed in book 1. The sociopathic Dr. Aster dressed the Pet in a black latex cat suit and paraded her around on a leash. The rest of the Asters' enslaved Dragon Kings hated the Pet because they thought that she assisted Dr. Aster in his gruesome experiments. After the destruction of the labs, the Council believed that the Pet knew Dr. Aster's secret for solving the Dragon Kings' fertility problem, so Mal imprisoned her in the Tigony stronghold in the mountains of Greece for interrogation until she somehow escaped. As the story opens, Mal tracks her down in the middle of an ancient labyrinth on the island of Crete with the intention of recapturing her.

     We know from the first page that Mal and the Pet will fall into the usual lust-to-love relationship both because this is a paranormal romance and because the Pet has foreseen this in a vision. But before they reach their obligatory HEA, get ready for a rip-roaring adventure that takes them on a dangerous trip from Crete to Italy to London for a climactic showdown that brings back all of the major characters from previous books (including the loathsome Hellix from book 1—who finally gets his comeuppance) and resolves the outstanding issues. Early in the book, Mal decides that the Pet deserves a real name, so he names her Avyi. (You will have to read the book to find out what "Avyi" means in the Tigony language.)

     The love story is terrific—full of sharp personality contrasts, dark secrets and tragedies from the past, and enigmatic prophecies for the future. Mal is a cynical, jaded, pessimistic, haughty politician who hates himself for some horrific past deeds and who has lost his belief in the Great Dragon—the theological foundation of the Dragon Kings culture. Mal trusts no one and has lived his adult life suspecting every person he meets of being a potential trickster. He is definitely a cup-half-empty kind of guy who sees only chaos and bitter rivalry in the future of the Dragon King clans. At this point, he is so apathetic that he has done nothing to stop the human cartels from their gradual enslavement of the dwindling Dragon King population. Mal's gift from the Great Dragon is the ability to siphon off electrical energy from any source and absorb it into his body for various uses, particularly as a fiery weapon. 

     In direct contrast to Mal, Avyi always maintains hope and faith in a better future, even though her life of slavery has sometimes beaten down that hope. Avyi was gifted by the Great Dragon with second sight. She is a seer—a prophet who constantly visualizes future probabilities. Based on her prophecies, she believes in the power of the Dragon King clans to find their place in the world and to live in harmony. She follows her visions compulsively and insists that Mal follow along with her. As they travel, she lectures him on his arrogance and apathy and vows to prove to him that her prophesies for the future are true. Unfortunately, her visions include a fatal confrontation with the cartels that will claim the lives of many Dragon Kings. Will that come true, or is it just one of many probabilities? Piper spices up Mal and Avyi's blossoming relationship with frequent (and graphic) love scenes, beginning when they hardly know one another and ending with their inevitable vow of eternal love.

     The primary vision that drives Avyi centers on a young female Dragon King named Cadmin. Avyi foresees that Cadmin will be the one who saves the Dragon Kings from extinction in the midst of a huge battle. As the story opens, Avyi is searching in the labyrinth for an unknown artifact that she must find, recognize, and give to Cadmin, and she refuses to be deterred by Mal's insistence that he will be dragging her back to his prison in Greece. Mal views Avyi's search as a flimsy excuse to avoid imprisonment, but he soon becomes intrigued with both the woman and her visions. Even through he is skeptical and wary, he agrees to accompany Avyi on her search. All during their travels, he sneers at her opinions and belittles her hopes and visions every chance he gets, always goading her to prove herself and then denying that proof. 

     The ending of the book answers a number of questions raised throughout the series. Why did the Pet (Avyi) assist Silence in the Prequel novella, and why did Silence trust her? What is relevance of the riddle of the chasm that is frequently mentioned throughout the series ("the chasm can be fixed"; "the chasm is still broken")? Will that broken chasm ever be fixed? What is the true significance of the golden idol that appears in the prequel and assumes more importance in book 1? What is the solution to the infertility crisis suffered by the Dragon Kings—the cure supposedly discovered by Dr. Aster? Is it possible for the Dragon Kings to overcome the Cartels without decimating their own population any further? Will the Clans ever stop fighting amongst themselves and come together as a unified race?

     Piper has outdone herself on this final chapter of the Dragon Kings story. The starring lovers are multi-faceted and interesting as they attempt to deal with the tragedies of their pasts and their contradictory views of the future. The plot twists and turns as they search for magical artifacts that will be instrumental in defeating the enemies of the Dragon Kings, including whoever is sending assassins after Mal all during their trip from Crete to London. We learn much more about the history and traditions of the Dragon Kings from the conversations between Mal and Avyi, from flashbacks to Mal's youth, and from Avyi's visions. Piper has crafted an elegantly calibrated conclusion to her series by weaving together elements that she introduced (but never fully explicated) in earlier books along with new revelations. Now, everything becomes clear, and it is obvious that Piper had this all planned out from the very beginning. This is a great finale, and I was enthralled from the very first page. 

     If you haven't read the first two DRAGON KINGS novels and the prequel novella, do yourself a favor and start at the beginning. I definitely do NOT recommend this book as a stand-alone because it is meant to tie together the series story lines that have been building, book by book, from the very beginning of the series. (For example, you could never fully appreciate Silence's gut-wrenching battle with Hellix if you haven't read "Silent Warrior.") Do yourself a favor by starting with the prequel novella and then going on to the novels. This is a terrific series—dark and dangerous, savage and seductive—and I highly recommend it. Click HERE and scroll down a bit to read an excerpt.

                       WORLD-BUILDING                       

     Although the lead characters in this series are called Dragon Kings, they do not shift into Dragon form. From the author's web site, here is a description of the origins of the Dragon Kings: "Millennia ago, the Great Dragon was born high in the Himalayan Mountains, gave birth to its children, and dove back into the fiery Chasm of its birth. In the years since, those children coalesced into the Five Clans and spread across the globe, influencing, aiding, and shaping human civilizations. The Clans have their own representations of the Dragon's physical traits and conduct different means of worshipping their maker." Centuries ago, the Dragon Kings were a powerful force in the world, but over time they have weakened, beaten back by hostile humans and decimated by their own reproductive problems.    

     The Dragon Kings are divided into the Five Clans, each with its own particular talent. The clans tend to be reclusive and hostile to one another, with little cross-breeding. The suggestion in the first book is that the Clans would be better served by more cross-clan breeding because Dragons with mixed genetic heritages appear to be much stronger than purebred Dragons. Here are the Dragon King clans:   

    >Tigony: The Tricksters, who prefer politics and manipulation over violence: Their talent lies their ability to pull electrical current from the air, amplify it, and use it as a devastating weapon.  

    >Sath: The Thieves, also called Keepers of Secrets: They gather and guard information about the history of the Dragon Kings, and they can temporarily steal powers from other Dragon Kings. They originated in Egypt. 

    >Garnis: The Lost Clan, a small Clan with just a few scattered members, and their talents include speed, stealth, and amped-up reflexes.  

    >Pendray: The Reapers or Berserkers, a Clan nearly as small as Garnia. They live in the mountains of Great Britain and Scandinavia and are always on the edge of frenzied violence.

    >Indranan: The Heartless, who are telepaths who can enter a person's or dragon's mind and delete and/or change memories. The Indranan are divided into Northern and Southern factions and have been engaged in a bloody civil war for three thousand years. (That war is the primary focus of book 2.) They are generally born as twins, with the stronger sibling usually killing the weaker one in order to absorb the weak one's powers.

     The Clans are ruled by the Council of the Five Clans, which has managed to maintain an uneasy peace among the Dragon Kings for thousands of years. The Council is made up of two Senators from each clan and is headed by the Honorable Giva. As the series opens, the Giva is Malnefoley, a Tigony who is a cousin of the heroine of book 1. Each pair of Senators includes one woman and one man. In a chauvinistic touch, women are "referred to as Wisdom for their sagacity and maternal patience, while the impetuous men were dubbed Youth for their spirit and eagerness to go to war." (p. 55)

     In this alternate world, there are three crime cartels. The Aster family cartel is the most powerful because it has discovered the most reliable means of Dragon King conception. The other two cartels are the Townsends of London and the Kawashimas of Hong Kong. The cartels make money from Cage matches—gladiator fights between highly trained Dragon Kings. Some Cage fighters are born into this world; others are enslaved for nonpayment of debts. Many are hard-core criminals who choose to enslave themselves to the cartels to avoid imprisonment or execution in the real world. Most fighters choose to participate in the hope that they will win a chance to conceive a child. The Dragon fighters are forced to wear power-damping collars unless they are in the ring. They live in underground cages under Medieval conditions, never seeing daylight. Dr. Heath Aster, son of Old Man Aster (leader of the Aster cartel), is a sociopath who revels in torturing captured Dragon Kings in his laboratory—performing gruesome surgeries on them by carving them up, breaking their limbs, and worse.  

     Added to the mix is a group of Dragon Kings who have separated from their Clans and are operating as an underground network of rebels. This group refuses to align with any Clan and has its own agenda. In book 1, they are instrumental in resolving the conflict.

    This is a pitiless, dark world, and the enslaved Dragon Kings have little hope of ever leaving it—except through death. In an interview, the author describes it as "violent and earthy." Although this is a paranormal romance series, don't expect much sweetness in the stories. Even the love stories are dark and oppressive. For an in-depth look at the series mythology, click HERE to go to a page on the author's web site entitled "The World of the Dragon Kings."      

     This series is profiled in the August 2013 issue of RT Book Reviews. Click HERE to read the article, which is displayed on the author's blog. Click HERE to read an RT Book Reviews interview with the author about her multiple identities.

                    PREQUEL E-NOVELLA: "Silent Warrior"                    

     This novella sketches in the framework of the world-building as it tells the love story of Hark and Silence (aka Orla), both of Clan Sath. The two meet as opponents in a fight staged in a bar in Hong Kong. Silence is a collared Dragon King who has been sent by the Aster Cartel to Hong Kong to track down and capture an Indranan Dragon King, and Hark is a free Dragon King who is fighting to earn money to pay off his debts. When a Pendray Dragon King attempts to take their winnings from them, they team up to defeat him, thus beginning their inevitable fall into lust, love, and mating.

     The love story is the focus of the plot, but the author also scatters some explanatory information about the series mythology that will be helpful to the reader of the introductory novel. Chief among these bits of information is an explanation of the story behind the dragon-shaped idol that becomes a key plot element in Caged Warrior. We also learn Hark and Silence's backstories, which explain their eccentric personality traits—Hark's incessant snarky chatter and Silence's muteness. Here, Hark muses about their differences: "Basically, despite the fact they'd been born to the same clan, they were entirely opposite. Manic to quiet. Blue eyes to black." One last connection to the plot of Caged Warrior is Silence's message from the Soothsayer that tells her that she has to wait for the living gold before the chasm can be fixed. Click HERE and scroll down a bit to read an excerpt.

                    BOOK 1:  Caged Warrior                     

     The very first scene plops the reader down in one of the Asters' subterranean cages, where a bound woman has just been dragged in and dumped naked on the filthy floor. That woman's human name is Audrey MacLaren, but her Dragon King name is Nynn of Clan Tigony. She was living as a human in New York City when the Asters' thugs invaded her home, murdered her human husband, and kidnapped her and her son, Jack. Jack and Audrey were first placed in Dr. Heath Aster's infamous laboratory, where both underwent a series of horrific experiments and where Audrey was repeatedly assaulted sexually by the guards. Eventually, her rage built to the point that she released her explosive Dragon King powers and blew up the laboratory, after which she was sent to the Cages. She has no memory of that event, and as the story opens, she believes that she has no Dragon powers. In the story, Audrey is called by her human name during the first part of the book, but after she accepts her Dragon heritage, she is called Nynn.

     Nynn's trainer is Leto of the Garnis, who has spent his entire life in the Asters' cages. Leto is the Asters' star gladiator, having won all of his fights. Old Man Aster tells Leto that if he trains Nynn well enough that she lives through three fights, he will provide medical care for Leto's sister, who has been comatose for decades. Leto knows no other life than the cages, and he is treated like a trusty, with privileges that others do not have. As the book begins, Leto is loyal to the Asters and believes all of their promises. He is determined to whip his new neophyte (or as he calls her, "lab filth") into shape, and he's not going to be gentle about it.

     The story follows Nynn and Leto through the training process, as they get to know one another and share their life stories. The plot has a number of twists and turns as the Asters keep a tight control on their Dragon King slaves, constantly coming up with new tortures. This is a very dark and intense story, with a supporting cast of cold-hearted guards and hardhearted Dragon King gladiators. 

     Because this is first and foremost a paranormal romance series, we know from the beginning that Nynn and Leto will fall for one another, and eventually they do, although there are some brutal scenes between them before that happens. Leto's training methods are harsh, and at first he despises Nynn because she has renounced her Dragon King heritage. As the plot advances, Nynn must deal with the horrors of her childhood, which have been repressed up until now, and Leto must accept the fact that the Asters are not the honorable men he always thought they were. 

     Early in the book, there is a scene in which the Council of the Five Clans meets to discuss Nynn's situation. Just before she blew up the lab, she was able to help one of the Dragon Kings escape with a note to Malnefoley explaining her situation and begging for help. In this scene, the Council is considering whether to help her. That's the last we see of the Council as a whole, but keep that scene in mind because it does have a connection with a climactic scene at the end of the book.

     So far, this looks like it will be a solid series. The plot of this first book is filled with compelling, page-turning (and stomach-churningly violent) action, but it also has a few tender moments and several hot love scenes. If you are searching for something different from the usual cookie-cutter paranormal romances, with their lonely heroes, sassy heroines, and overload of sardonic dialogue, you'll probably enjoy this fresh and inventive series. Click HERE to and scroll down a bit to read an excerpt read the first five pages of Cage Warrior.

                    NOVEL 2: Blood Warrior                    

     The hero of the second novel is Tallis of Pendray (aka the Heretic), who is the outcast uncle of Nynn, heroine of book 1. Twenty years ago, Tallis began having sensuous vision dreams in which the Sun spoke to him, telling him that she had chosen him to make the world a better place for the Dragon Kings. The Sun taunts Tallis with promises of sexual favors as she orders him to murder (i.e., behead) a long string of Dragon Kings, all of whom were, supposedly, guilty of horrible sins. He was forced to turn his back on his family and has lived as a pariah ever since. Then, (in the first novel), the Sun lies to Tallis, asking him to put Nynn and her son into a situation that eventually separates them and threatens their lives. For the past few months, Tallis has been searching for the Sun in real life—in the daytime, not in dreams—so that he can take his revenge. Tallis has convinced himself that he has found his dream goddess in the form of Kavya of Indranan, a Dragon King who has formed a cult-like following based on her promise that she can reunite the Indranan. It helps Tallils' cause that Kavya's followers call her "the Sun."

     Just as Kavya calls together a meeting of the two opposing groups of Indranan, Tallis finds her and imprisons her in his tent, accusing her of being his long-time tormentor. Of course, Kavya doesn't know what he's talking about, but that matters not at all to Tallis. As Tallis harasses Kavya, her brother, Pashkah, shows up with his warriors and attacks the gathering, murdering the men and carrying off the women. Tallis, Kavya, and her bodyguard manage to escape just in the nick of time, but now Pashkah has a mental fix on Kavya and will be able to find her anywhere.

     To review the Indranan mythology: This Dragon King clan is called the Heartless because they can easily slip into the minds of others, reading their thoughts and memories and using excruciating psychic pain as a weapon. Indranan women always give birth to twins or triplets. When the children come into their psychic powers at adolescence, one sibling invariably kills the other(s) and absorbs their powers. Many families separate their children early in life, sending them long distances away, so that they won't be able to find one another. Pashkah has already killed one sister, and now he's after the other. With the absorption of Kavya's powers, Pashkah will become even more demented than he already is. His goal is to round up every set of Indranan siblings and force them into death fights. Then he plans to use the survivors as a powerful psychic army to take control of all of the clans of the Dragon Kings.

     The story follows Tallis and Kavya as they go on the run. Tallis soon realizes that Kavya isn't the Sun of his dreams, and they begin their lust/love relationship as they try to escape. Eventually, the requisite show-down scene arrives to provide resolution to the Pashkah problem and to the love affair.

     Compared to novel 1, this one has a much simpler, less violent plot: run away from the bad guy and fall in love along the way. The complexity comes in the two lead characters, each of whom has suffered horrific tragedies but has managed to survive with mind intact (although sometimes I'm not so sure about Tallis, especially in the early chapters). Tallis "is a Pendray. He harbored a nasty beast down deep where most men stored ugly things. Fantasies about inflicting pain. Fantasies about rape and murder and theft and running away, because cowardice was just as ugly, just as worth of concealing. Those uncivil fantasies glimmered like a distant mirage—moments where the mind took a backseat to very old instinct." (p. 216) He must constantly fight to keep his Berserker side under control, but is not always successful. Meanwhile, Kavya must live with the fact that her brother wants to kill her and that the birth of her and her siblings caused their mother to go mad because of her fear that they would kill one another (which they did). So...lots of angst-filled interior monologues.

     This book provides in-depth coverage of the eccentricities of the Indranan and Pendray clans, just as the novella spotlighted the Sath, and book 1 focused on the Tigony and the Garnis. If you enjoy paranormal romance, this is a solid series with an inventive mythology and well-drawn characters. Click HERE and scroll down a bit to read an excerpt.

UPDATE! Keri Arthur's DARK ANGELS SERIES

UPDATE!

I have just updated a previous post for Keri Arthur with a review of Darkness Unmasked, the fifth novel in her DARK ANGELS SERIES.         

Click on the pink-link series title above to go directly to the updated review.

UPDATE! Nalini Singh's PSY-CHANGELING SERIES

UPDATE!

I have just updated a previous post for Nalini Singh with a review of the 12th novel in her PSY-CHANGELING SERIES:  Heart of Obsidian.

Click on the pink-link series title above to go directly to the updated review.

UPDATE! Jamie Quaid's SATURN'S DAUGHTER SERIES

UPDATE!

I have just updated a previous post for Jamie Quaid with a review of the second novel in her SATURN'S DAUGHTER SERIES: Damn Him to Hell.

Click on the series title above to go directly to the updated review.

Richelle Mead: AGE OF X SERIES

Author:  Richelle Mead
Series:  AGE OF X    
Plot Type:  Romantic, Futuristic, Dystopian Fantasy
Ratings:  Violence—4; Sensuality—4; Humor—2-3 
Publisher and Titles:  Dutton (Penguin Group)
          Gameboard of the Gods (6/2013)

          The Immortal Crown (5/2014)    

     This post was revised and updated on 6/23/14 to include a review of The Immortal Crown, the second novel in the series. That review appears first, followed by an overview of the world-building and a review of the first novel.       

             NOVEL 2:  The Immortal Crown             

    Gameboard of the Gods introduced the hero and heroine of this series: Justin March, the eloquent and persuasive religious investigator, and Mae Koskinen, the brave and lovely super soldier assigned to protect him. Their assignment has been to investigate reports of the supernatural and the return of the gods, both in the Republic of United North America (RUNA) and elsewhere in the world. In my review of Gameboard of the Gods, I wondered if Mead would put her lead lovers through the same degree of angst and heartbreak as Georgina and Seth in her GEORGINA KINCAID series. Well, the answer to that question is…yes, indeed. Mead put a major blockade in the way of Mae and Justin's relationship at the beginning of book 1, and she adds to their romantic turmoil in book 2. 

WARNING to those who have not read Gameboard of the Gods:    There are spoilers in this review.

    In the very first scene of The Immortal Crown, Mae and Justin are on an investigative mission in Nassau, where they find evidence that a war has begun among the gods. By this time, both have become convinced that the gods actually exist (based on their adventures in book 1), but they are now horrified to learn that the gods (and goddesses) are sending their human representatives (aka the elect) to kill the representatives of their rivals. The elect are "those humans marked as special who had the potential to be strong servants for the gods who were scrambling to regain power and footing in the world." (page 17) Since Mae and Justin are both elects and have been fighting off claims by two different gods, they wonder what impact this War of the Elect will have on their lives. They will soon find out.

     The primary plot finds Justin and Mae drawn into a diplomatic mission led by Senator Lucian Darling, a old friend of Justin's and a wannabe suitor for Mae. Lucian wants to become Consul, and he believes that if he can successfully pull off a successful trip to hostile Arcadia (formerly the Southeast United States), he will become a national hero and win the election easily. The trip will be somewhat dangerous because Arcadia is a strictly controlled theocracy that bears a number of similarities to some religion-run countries that exist in the real world today. The people of Arcadia worship only one god (Nehitimar), who apparently takes a dim view of the female gender. Arcadian women are viewed as the property of men and must keep themselves covered up at all times so that they will not tempt men with their wicked bodies. Men are allowed to have as many wives and concubines as they can afford, and their women have absolutely no civil rights. Although modern technology is available in Arcadia, most households do not have running water or electricity because the priests of Nehitimar believe that women need to be kept busy with menial activities (like carrying buckets of water from far-off wells, washing clothing by hand, and cooking all food from scratch on wood-burning stoves). Otherwise, the priests warn that the women might give in to their inherent sluttishness and tempt innocent men into committing evil acts. All over Arcadia, young girls are kidnapped, bought, and sold when they reach puberty. The portrayal of the treatment of the Arcadian women is stomach-churningly horrifying.

     Justin and Mae have their own personal reasons for going to Arcadia: Justin goes because Mae wants to go and because his Ravens tell him that the Arcadian religious leader poses a threat both to the RUNA and to Odin, the god who is trying to make Justin his priest. Mae wants to go because the goddess who is trying to claim her shows her a vision that her long-lost niece is in Arcadia and implies that Mae can rescue her. As the plot plays out, the motivations of the two protagonists form the two main story lines. Most of the time, Mae and Justin are together, but at the end, their adventures take them on separate—and very dangerous—paths.

     Meanwhile, back in Vancouver in the RUNA, Justin's ward, Tessa Cruz, is once again getting herself (and Justin and Lucian) into trouble as she begins an internship with an investigative reporter who is as sleazy as they come. Daphne Lang is digging for dirt on Lucian, and it's clear from the beginning that she plans to use Tessa as an unknowing informant. So far, Tessa's role in each book has been analogous to a cinder in your eye or a stone in your shoe: an unwelcome addition that causes inflammation and injury. Tessa is presented as a highly intelligent teenager, a provincial innocent who is dropped into a sophisticated society. In both books she manages to go off on her own and stumble into trouble without ever contemplating the consequences of her actions. At this point, when I see Tessa enter a scene, I can predict that she is going to do something very, very unwise that will endanger Justin and/or his friends in some manner. Beyond this TSTL role, Tessa's character has little dimension and has shown no real development.

     The themes of this book involve the horrors of religious fanaticism, domestic violence, and the abuse of women—particularly in the scenes that take place in Arcadia, and also in a dreadful scene in which Mae learns just how dangerous the supernatural can be on a very personal level. The overriding theme is the effect of religion on the thoughts and actions of believers. In that sense, Mae and Justin are in a quandary. Do they believe that gods exist? Yes, they do, based on solid evidence they have seen with their own eyes. Will they allow themselves to be claimed by a god or goddess? The conflicted beginnings of an answer to that question come in this book, which ends in a major cliff-hanger that is related to that very issue. Both Mae and Justin are continually forced to weigh the pros and cons of involvement with the gods. Is the divine power worth the price that must always be paid? Can they trust the gods to keep their promises? Are some gods and goddesses more trustworthy than others? More powerful?

     Both the action plot and the romance plot are fast-paced, suspenseful, and dramatic. Particularly fascinating is the reaction of the fiercely independent RUNA women warriors to the treatment of the Arcadian women, especially when they found themselves being forced into submissive roles that include food preparation and floor scrubbing. I found myself much more absorbed in this book than I was in the first—mostly because in the first book I was slowed down by the process of learning the mythology. Luckily for readers, this book has the glossary that the first one was missing, so you can quickly flip to the back and refresh your memory when Mead uses unfamiliar world-building terminology. Although I realize that Mae and Justin have a long, difficult romantic road ahead, I plan to be with them every frustrating step of the way. Also, I can't wait to see what the gods will do next, particularly the one who shows up at the end of this book—and NO, you shouldn't peek! Click HERE to read the first two chapters of The Immortal Crown. Just scroll down past the book blurb to find the excerpt.

             WORLD-BUILDING             

     I'm going to break one of my own rules here and provide a description of the world-building in the author's own words (from her web site). I'm doing this because the mythology is extremely complicated (I'm not sure that I completely comprehend it, even after reading the first book), and its details contribute heavily to the series story arc. Also, in order to fully understand what's going on, I highly recommended that you read (and perhaps print out) the author's AGE OF X glossary so that you can refer to it as you read. Click HERE to go to that glossary. Mead has written a number of blog posts about the world-building in this series. Click HERE to go to a page on her web site that includes all of those posts. Just keep scrolling down because this is a long, information-filled page. Here is the author's description of the mythology:

     "Gameboard of the Gods takes place 100 years in the future. Around our current day, religious extremists unleashed a virus called Mephistopheles (they saw it as a demon punishing the world) that took out half the world's population. Countries and infrastructure crumbled as a result, causing many places to descend into chaos and even regress. Different regions coped in different ways. Some weren't very effective at all and went totally Mad Max. This part of history is referred to as the Decline.

     "The majority of the former US and Canada banded together to create a new country called the Republic of [United] North America...usually referred to as the RUNA....Its capital is Vancouver....Noticing that those of mixed genetic backgrounds had greater resistance to the virus, the RUNA instituted a harsh policy where large parts of its population were forcibly swapped with those of another emerging country formed from parts of China and Russia [the EA—Eastern Alliance]. As the two countries began [cross] breeding heterogeneous populations with greater survival rates, they were able to better weather the virus until a vaccine was created.

     "Fast-forward a century later, to the book's setting. The RUNA's policies have made it the leading country in the world. It's regained the technology it lost in the Decline and has started to advance past where we are today. It's a bright, shiny country with compulsory education, efficient energy, birth control laws, a mighty military, smart phone-esque devices that mange every part of your life, public transportation everywhere, and all sorts of other good stuff. Citizens have small chips in their hands that facilitate what parts of the country they can move through. The RUNA has a very high opinion of itself and looks down on all other parts of the world—many of which are still totally a mess—which it calls "the provinces."

     "Genetic mixing is no longer mandatory, but those who still reproduce with 'genetically optimal' partners get stipends from the government. In addition to this, the RUNA has one other big policy that it used in its recovery. In its eyes, religion was responsible for the Decline. The RUNA sees religion as a source of unrest, creating separatist attitudes and irrational behaviors. Consequently, it has a very strong stance against religion and belief in the supernatural. Most religions were stamped out, though some remained—including many new ones that were revivals of older gods [and goddesses] from around the world. Those groups that are allowed to exist must be licensed and deemed not a threat. Any group that seems unstable or is growing too large is disbanded....This particular policy forms a large part of the book's plot."

     That "smart phone-esque" device that Mead mentions is called an "ego," and it is aptly named because each RUNA citizen relies on it for just about everything.  Here's how the series hero describes the ego's importance: "It governed a [person's] life. It made calls, provided unlimited access to the [media] stream, managed money, verified identity....Being without one for four years had been a huge adjustment....He'd grown up with people and information instantly accessible, and that lack had only increased his feeling of isolation in exile." The word "ego" derives from the Latin word for "I" and in its most literal definition means the self of an individual person. That's exactly what an ego is to the citizens of the RUNA. (Gameboard, p. 43)

     Although Mead includes a brief definition of the Mephistopheles virus in her glossary, a longer, more complete explanation appears on pages 85-86 of the hardback version of Gameboard of the Gods. It's too long to reproduce here, but I recommend that you read that paragraph first to provide some context for the story.  

     Besides Mead's well-known YA VAMPIRE ACADEMY series, she has written two adult urban fantasy series. Click HERE to read my review of the terrific GEORGIA KINCAID series. (Beware! it contains spoilers.) Click HERE to read my review of her DARK SWAN series. As I said in my DARK SWAN review, Mead is one of the best urban fantasy writers on the market today. She captures the angst of her leading characters perfectly without going overboard, and she makes sure that they all have flaws—no one is either all good or all bad—which makes for compelling reading.

             NOVEL 1:  Gameboard of the Gods             

     As in any series-launching novel, much of this book is dedicated to introducing Mead's complex world-building and initial characterization. The bits and pieces of the world-building are doled out very slowly, and in order to understand what's going on, the reader will either have to check Mead's web site (for background and definitions of terms) or just keep going until the various details emerge in the text of the story. This problematic method of world-building is a definite disappointment because it weakens the book. A novel needs to stand on its own, whether or not it is the initial book in a series, and I'm not sure that this one does. As a reviewer, I felt that I needed to read the book without the benefit of Mead's web-site support, and I have to admit that I was frustrated with her use of concepts and terms (including acronyms) that appeared without much context and without the benefit of any explanation. On the other hand, once I got into the story and once some of the details began to be revealed, I found myself drawn into the story and really caring about the characters.

     In the first two chapters, we meet Mae (the heroine) and Dr. Justin March (the hero), and in chapter 3 we watch them meet in a lustful night of passion, followed by a book-long, semi-hostile/semi-lustful stand-off. 

      Justin is a tall, dark, and handsome 35-year-old plebeian who is in exile in Panama, one of the provinces. In RUNA, Justin was a top-notch servitor (from the Latin, servitor veritatis: servant of the truth) who worked for the SCI (Division of Sect and Cult Investigation), but his RUNA citizenship was stripped for a reason that is unknown to the reader for much of the book. Justin's job was to investigate religious groups and decide whether to shut them down or to license them. In the language of the SCI, religions are called "fictitious entities" and only the harmless, powerless ones are allowed to survive. Justin is incredibly intelligent and is able to "read" people—easily figuring out what they're thinking and then using his charm to influence them. He is compulsively observant, and this drives him a bit crazy because his brain never stops monitoring his surroundings. As a result, Justin indulges in behavior guaranteed to sedate his mind: drinking, drugging, and womanizing. He's definitely a drug addict and an alcoholic, but as long as he can use one substance to overcome the effects of another, Justin believes (wrongly) that he has his life under control. One final, very important detail about Justin: He has the voices of a pair of invisible, intangible ravens in his head—wise-cracking, powerful, god-related ravens.

     Mae Koskinen (aka Maj Erja) is a patrician and a prætorian, one of the military's most elite soldiers. (In the Roman Empire, the prætorians made up the royal guard.) All prætorians have tiny implants that amp up their strength, stamina, healing, and...lust. Mae is unlike most prætorians in that she is a blond from a wealthy, aristocratic family, whereas most soldiers are dark-haired plebeians. Mae is a true soldier. She "completely supported the RUNA's stance against religion. People who got caught up in the groupthink of these superstitions were easy to lead into dangerous behaviors....The only thing Mae put her faith in was her country." (p. 124) So...Mae is a contradiction: born to be a cultured trophy wife but trained to be a cold-hearted killer who keeps her emotions hidden at all times. This drives Justin crazy because his life is spent reading people's emotions, and that just doesn't work with Mae.

     Mae's family is part of the Nordic caste.  In the RUNA, the castes are ethnic groups who were exempted from forced breeding because of their money and influence. They value their pure genetic heritage and generally keep their women busy reproducing more members of their caste, so it is rare for a patrician to become a member of the military. The plebeians, on the other hand, come from a mixed ethnic heritage. For the most part, each class tends to view the other with disdain.  

     The third most important character is Teresa (Tessa) Cruz, a teenage daughter of a Panamanian man who helped Justin in his early days of exile. When Justin gets his job back at SCI, he brings Tessa with him so that she can get a proper education that will help her find a better place in the world. Justin sees in Tessa some of the same characteristics that he sees in himself, and he's determined to keep her from wasting her life in the provinces. Tessa's primary purpose in this book is to provide an outsider's view of the RUNA culture. Unlike Justin and Mae, she is not blindly devoted to the RUNA, so she asks some uncomfortable questions.

     Now to the plot: Justin is brought back from exile because his particular expertise is needed in finding the ritualistic serial murderer who has killed several RUNA citizens—all with a silver dagger through the heart and without leaving a single clue, except for a mysterious security video that shows a black shadow that appears and disappears from the locked room in which the victim is stabbed. After a violent incident at the funeral of Mae's ex-boyfriend, Mae is temporarily stripped of her prætorian uniform and assigned as Justin's bodyguard. The first time they meet, Mae has to rescue Justin from some male relatives of one of his conquests. Neither realizes the other's true identity, and they immediately fall into bed together. The next day, they are in for a shock when they are introduced under formal circumstances. Justin's ravens have reminded him that he will have to complete a bargain with their god (of unknown identity) if he beds Mae again, so he spends the rest of the book trying not to do that, and she spends the rest of the book wondering why he's acting so strangely. Their relationship is complicated and is not resolved in this book.

     What is resolved is the murder mystery part of the plot as the two head out into the hinterlands to investigate the murders and get deeper and deeper into magical high jinks stirred up by various gods and goddesses. At one point, a key character says, "We're pieces on a gameboard...and some of us are more powerful than others." (p. 432) But who are these powerful beings? Are the gods and goddesses real, or are they just "fictional entities" as the state decrees. Of course, Mae doesn't believe in gods and goddesses at all (at least, not at first), and Justin is trying not to believe in them. Eventually, we have the requisite showdown scene, and after that the couple's situation gets even more complicated—but that's a story for the next book.   

     Overall, this is a well-plotted book with interesting, well-developed characters. As I said previously, the main problem is the world-building, which relies on outside references for clarity and detail. At the very least, the glossary should have been published as part of the book, and a prologue would have been helpful as well. Regardless of this weakness, however, I'm looking forward to the next entry in the series because I really want to follow the developing relationship between Justin and Mae. If Mead treats this couple the same way she treated poor Georgina and Seth in her GEORGINA KINCAID series, they (and we) have lots of twisted and tortured adventures ahead. 

     Click HERE to read chapter 1 and meet Mae. Click HERE to read chapter 2 and meet Justin. Click HERE to read chapter 3 and see their explosive and sensual first meeting. Click HERE to read an on-line interview with Richelle Mead about the series. And just for the fun of it, click HERE to go to a post on Nite Lite Book Reviews featuring a manicure that matches this book's swirly blue and white cover art.

UPDATE! Amanda Carlson's JESSICA McCLAIN SERIES

UPDATE!

I have just updated a previous post for Amanda Carlson with a review of the second novel in her JESSICA McCLAIN SERIES. Hot Blooded. 

Click on the series title above to go directly to the updated review.