ethanleonow

The hunt for Lokan's killer and the search for his body continues in this second installment of Eve Silver's Otherkin series. This book picks up just days after the last one left off. Dagan, Alastor and Mal are no closer to figuring out who killed their brother. But they haven't given up. Alastor is following a lead when his path first crosses with Naphré. She is a Topworld Assassin who has turned her back on her heritage as a Daughter of Aset... the sworn enemies of Alastor's father, Sutekh, the Lord of Chaos. Things aren't going well for Naphré. Her mentor, Butcher, has betrayed her and taken a job to kill her. Naphré manages to turn the tables, but just as she buries his body, Alastor shows up. He knows Butcher could have information about who killed Lokan, so he harvests the man's soul to bring to his father for answers. But Butcher's soul belongs to another deity and she wants the soul that is due to her. There is an immediate awareness and attraction between Alastor and Naphré. Both characters are strong, but stoic. They have both known deep loss, but keep a tight reign on their emotions. Neither is looking for love, but they can't ignore what is growing between them. I liked these two much better than Dagan and Roxy. It's probably one of the reasons that I liked the book better, as a whole. Neither was reckless or full of bluster. Neither was obnoxious. But when push comes to shove, both can and do kick ass. The burn is a slower build between them, which is good. It feels like it takes forever to get to the consummation, but the payoff is good. Another plus for this installment is the fact that the world building is already in place. It makes the storytelling less cumbersome and the book moved much faster. There was a lot of action and intrigue surrounding all the different gods and factions. The ending was pretty abrupt, though. And while the state of our couple's relationship is resolved, there is virtually no movement in the mystery of Lokan's murder. Yep, it's another cliffhanger. That would really annoy me if I didn't already have the next book lined up to read. 4 stars.

2023-06-24 07:01