Friday, August 8, 2008

Dark Warrior Unleashed by Alexis Morgan

August seems to be the month for books. So far I've been reading a lot. Yay! Now, on to the book!


Back Blurb-He's on a mission to annihilate the enemy.

A Talion enforcer, Ranulf Thorsen has served his people for a thousand years, delivering the eye-for-an-eye justice by which his kinsmen live. Weary of teh centuries-long fight, the fierce warrior with icy blue eyes has secluded himself on a mountain far from the chaos of the modern world below. Now he's been summoned to face the most dangerous battle of his life--and the fate of his people is on the line.

But when he meets the beautiful woman he has sworn to defend...

Ranulf and his bitter rival, fellow Talion Sandor Kearn, must find the rogue Kyth who set a violent fire in a nightclub. The near-deadly blaze's unlikely heroine, Kerry Logan, is also a Kyth, possessing the ancient Nordic people's unique ability to manipulate human energy. She just doesn't know it yet.

...who will protec his heart?

Kerry finds more than comfort in her warrior's embrace, and Ranulf hungers to both defend and claim the petite powerhouse for his own. But with time ticking aay and their lives on the line, will Kerry believe the wild tale he's telling her, and master her powers...before it's too late?


Hmm...I'm still not sure what I think of this book. It had it's good points and it's bad. Some of it was even downright ridiculous. Let me see if I can break it down for you. And there might be some slight spoilers, but probably not. Everything in this book is laid right out in the open. Even if you were the dumbest person alive, you'd still be able to follow this story. It's very much connect the dots. *sigh*

Where to begin? I thought the story opened up well. Kerry is at a dance club blowing off steam. See, she gets overwhelmed by people 99% of the time, but every now and then she has to be around them or she starts to feel rundown. She loves to dance, so going to a club is the perfect solution. While dancing, a fire breaks out, she saves a bunch of people, sees the bad guy, reports him, is rushed away and that's when the book falls apart.

The hero. First of all...a redhead? Can anyone think of the last time there was a redheaded hero? Anyone? Yeah, me neither. Mr. Thorsen is your average hulking Alpha-type hero. He grunts, mutters, etc. He's your typical hero. Falls for the heroine, loses his super-Alpha powers and basically makes an idiot of himself. I hate it when Alpha heroes are basically neutered.

The heroine. Kerry was actually quite a bit of fun. She's spunky and funny and doesn't take any crap from any of them. She accepts things WAY too quickly though. And these powers that all of sudden manifested? Has no problems using those either.

The sex. Pretty blah. Coitus interruptus. Tab A into Slot B. Not much sensuality. Boring.

The villain? Introduced BY NAME in Chapter 2. Absolutely no mystery, suspense, nothing. We know who he is immediately. Completely took away from what could have been a great cat/mouse scenario. And what a putz. Honestly.

The story itself. The story had a lot of potential. I can see what Ms. Morgan was trying to accomplish, but I think it got lost in the translation. For one thing, the Kyth, the Talions, even the Grand Dame are introduced but never fully fleshed out or explained. The Kyth live off of human emotions. Okay. Why? Never delved into. Kind of makes them seem like vampires, but not. Confused.

Kerry has the same powers as the Dame. Now she's taking over. Say what? And so easily? I'm sorry, but if I was all of a sudden given these major powers and never having had any training, it'd take me a whole lot longer than a day or two to figure out how to use them.

The ending was way too simple. The defeat of the villain was a bit ridiculous. Too fast, nowhere near enough action and it just fell flat.

Why are Ranulf and Sandor such bitter rivals? Sandor doesn't trust Ranulf. Um, okay. Why not? Why are they rivals? Etc. etc. etc. Just because we're told they're rivals doesn't mean that they are. Show us!

I think that's my biggest complaint about this whole story. There's a lot of telling, but very little showing. By the end of the book I was just bored with it all. I finished it, but it was very difficult.

All in all, I wasn't horribly impressed. I don't think I'll be reading Ms. Morgan in the future. I'm sure a lot of others will love her stuff, but it's just not for me.


My Rating: D+

1 comment:

Tracy said...

I liked her Paladin series but this one just doesn't look appealing to me...now I'm kind of glad I didn't pick it up. Thanks Bridget. :)