2016/07/23

Born of Legend (The League #9)

Born of Legend (The League, #9)Born of Legend Summary:
Hunted. Hated. Betrayed. Dagger Ixur is on the run for his life. As one of the most recognizable members of his royal house, he has a bounty on his head that guarantees him no quarter from any friend or even family. But surrender isn’t in him. He will fight to the bitter end. A resolve that is sorely tested when he narrowly escapes a trap that leaves him severely wounded. With what he believes is his dying breath, he saves a boy born to an extinct race from a group out to enslave the kid for his legendary abilities.

Ushara Altaan has spent her entire life hating those born to nobility. After all, it was a royal house that drove her entire species into virtual extinction. As a rare Andarion Fyreblood, she is sworn to end the existence of any royal she finds. But when Dagger saves her son’s life, she is torn between her people and a debt that can never be repaid.

Yet worse than Dagger’s family that’s still out to end hers, are the League assassins after him who will stop at nothing to claim the lives of her Tavali family. The only hope she has to save them all is to put their future and her faith into the hands of the very enemy whose grandmother personally extinguished Ushara’s legendary lineage. But how can she ever trust Dagger when he is a disinherited outlaw whose real name is synonymous with betrayal?

Born of Legend Review:
This book took so long to review. It was good in the beginning, but the aftertaste is giving me second thoughts. I managed to read three series before I finished this review! Anyways, I hope you like it!

Born of Legend is another stellar addition to the League series! It is the story of Dagger, Jullien eton Anatole, and Ushara Altaan. Going into this, I was curious to see how Ms. Kenyon made Dagger into hero instead of the villain that he has been in the previous books. She did an amazing job and even with the 700+ page story, I was still craving more. When readers are left wanting more after reading 700+ pages, you know you've written a good book. Their story was heart breaking and beautiful, not at all taxing to read (just a wee bit of sarcasm there).

Ushara was a strong heroine. And she is one of the first League heroines, including Sumi, that I did not hate in the beginning because of their prejudices. Galane, from Born of Betrayal, I'm on the fence about. I came to love most of the heroines, except for Zarya who I can only like at most. But back to Ushara, she is someone who you can actually relate to. She may be a kick-ass Tavali fighter but she is someone who has been scarred by life because of the discrimination against. Because of this she is also incredibly protective of everyone she loves. All of this helps to connect with Ushara and see her struggles concerning her loved ones.

She is a great mother and very protective. The main reason is she comes from a species within the Andarions called the Fyrebloods. Like their names says, they can breathe fire, which is so far the best ability within the Andarion species. I wish we got to see more of Ushara kicking ass. We get to see a lot of Dagger doing that but not Ushara. She is supposed to be a really fierce fighter, instead we get to see her maternal side or her crying. Also, they get a lot of kids!! After their done, they beat out Nyk's number which is six. Anyways, going to Dagger now.

The sarcasm! The best part of Dagger, sorry to say. Kenyon gladly cut down on the sarcasm from Invision so that it is funny not eye-roll worthy. His sarcasm was paired perfectly with his angst (so much angst!) or torturous background. I'm pretty sure that Jullien has a special place in hell made for him with the constant shit he has to deal with. He was literally facing near death scenarios until the very end. It was very saddening but looking back, most of the heroes for The League faced the same problem. Syn, Nyk, Caillen, Fain. Lots of them obviously.

That was the biggest problem with Born of Legend. The constant near death scenarios got repetitive close to the end. This would constantly leave Jullien feeling worthless so he would leave and at any moment Ushara would tear up. This was also a problem in the Psy-Changeling universe. The constant repetition that kids must be protected and the intense love for their partner. And the constant crying by both partners in every chapter got repetitive. It got repetitive after a while. I'm not saying that they can't show their emotions, you would need it in such an emotional book. This was used to much and stopped being as powerful as before. On top of that Kenyon though about every possible torture used on people that she could out into this book. It took away from the actual story. I wish this would go back to the first two books in the series. Each character was well developed, the background was written with enough detail to bring about emotions and you could connect with the romance. Sadly, that is lacking in all of Kenyon's books. Born of Legend is a step in the right direction though. Hopefully, she can find her writing juices again to bring us the same quality as the earlier books. Also, she has to stop with so many deep sayings, it takes away from any story development and makes the book really cheesy.

Dagger kicked butt and took names a lot! He had the innate ability to read people in a matter of seconds, which got weird sometimes, and magically never died! He also gets some SICK abilities from his ancestors, a family worth fighting for and you get to see all the GOOD he has done. The minute he gets back from being tortured, again, he gives a few kisses and then has to leave because they are under attack (Ushara starts crying again). What a cliff-hanger! At this point I'm not sure whether I'm being sarcastic or not. It seemed a little redundant.

Before I forget I would like to talk about the story telling. Born of Legend can be told in 1/3 of the size because it's basically told in three blocks. Each block will have: Dagger's introduction, meeting with Ushara and Vas, meeting Trajen along with side characters, emotional reveal, backstory, happy moment, torture, Dagger leaves to be on his own. The first time this was one, it was powerful and tear-wrenching. The second time, seemed a bit redundant but it was still good. By the third time it was just a bit irritating.

If you have read up until this book I would highly recommend this book as there are some MAJOR reveals and it is great if you want to read Nero's book.

Finally, the side characters. I loved all of them including our previous heroes. You did end up hating them through this story because of the way they treated Dagger, but it just shows that everyone is not perfect. We still need a story for Chayden! We were supposed to get more of his story but he was barely mentioned. Just in case you missed it, all the Trisani to date have been named after Roman Generals: Thraix, Trajen, Nero, Hadrian. The last two characters I wanted to talk about is Cairistona and Aros. Both of them I slowly started to like after Born of Night, but I just hate them all over again! They are two of the worst parents, and coming from this series that is an accomplishment. They are two characters I don't want to see redeemed and I am happy that they didn't get a sappy ending in BoL.

Overall this is a five-star book! Yah I still loved it even with it's flaws, get over it. It is great to see a captivating read after Invision, which was less then stellar. I can’t wait to read Born of Vengeance and hopefully Ms. Kenyon will release Thia’s short story soon. Thank for reading such a long review, no quotations though, too many spoilers!

Thank you so much to Sherrilyn Kenyon and Shelfawareness for giving me Born of Legend through a contest!!

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