Born of Vengeance Summary: A fate worse than death . . .
Bastien Cabarro survived the brutal slaughter of his entire family only to have his wife pin their murders on him. Made Ravin by The League, he is now a target for their assassins-in-training to hunt and kill. The average life expectancy for such beings is six weeks. But defying the odds is what this Gyron Force officer does best, and Bastien won’t rest until he lays his betrayers in their graves.
Ten years later, he has one chance to balance the scales of justice, provided he relies on his former wingman— the very sister of the woman who testified against him.
Major Ember Wyldestarrin joined the outlaw Tavali the day Kirovar fell into the hands of a tyrant, and she and her team were left on an outpost to die under a barrage of enemy fire. The last thing she wants is to be involved in politics again. But if she doesn’t bring Bastien in, her sister will pay the ultimate price. Now she has to find some way to betray her former wingman (and fiance) before he catches on and kills her. Even so, treachery doesn’t come easy to a woman who took a loyalty oath to protect her homeworld and comrades-in-arms.
Yet as she tries to do right by her family, she learns that Bastien doesn’t just hold the key to the fate of Kirovar, he is vital to The Sentella-League war, and to the entire Tavali nation. If she hands him over, three nations fall. If she doesn’t, her entire family dies. Their fates are all in her hands, and time for all of them is quickly running out.
Born of Vengeance Review:
I actually thought this book was stellar and one of the better ones that Kenyon has written. Now, this is based mostly on the new dialogue that I felt added a lot to the story and even the repeated parts were good for me because I forgot most of them from the previous book. It also helped that I got this book from the library, so I didn't feel cheated for the repeated material.
What I liked:
Bastien: He was absolutely amazing! He was a great hero first and foremost, but on top of that, he didn't wallow in his history. Characters like Jullien (even though I liked his book) would constantly worry about their self-worth and it came off like a pity party. There was none of that with Bastien making the story refreshing and absolutely hilarious. There were actually parts that I laughed out loud which I couldn't do for previous books just because there was so much sadness in them. I'm not saying Bastien had it easy because his past will break your heart and pray for his happy ending. In all honesty, he was one of Kenyon's most real heroes and someone I wish had gotten a larger book.
The Intro: What a spectacular way to start a story!! It brought you right into their world and made you thoroughly enjoy the ride. It wasn't one of the endings Kenyon usually does that shows the hero talking (sometimes wallowing) in his past. It was exciting, invigorating and told us more about the characters than any long description could have.
The Side Characters: Some of the best stories were Bastien interacting with people like Ryn and Chayden. Holy cow was Chayden funny! I really really hope his story is to come soon because it will definitely be a spectacular book. Even the short story at the end about Thia was better just for having a Chayden cameo.
The Plot. It was well drawn out and interesting. It also revealed some new information which is going to be VERY important for the future of the League War. What was there and new was amazing. Another thing about this was that instead of getting a long description of characters and places, we actually got to see what was happening. The most important thing an author can do is show not tell and Kenyon did a much better job in this novel.
Now what I didn't like:
Ember: Now I'm currently on the fence about her. I really didn't like her in the beginning, even during the first chapter she gave me iffy vibes. I generally don't like the females in Paranormal Adult books because they come off as holier than thou and have so many irritating qualities. Not all because most of my favourite books are adult ones. Back to Ember, I was routinely pissed off that she tried to blame Bastien for her fear. Yes, he made mistakes but he accepted that and didn't take it out on Ember. Ember was not that selfless, even going as far as to hide secrets from him. Luckily, by the end, I did like her a bit more, but still one of the least favourite heroines.
Ember's Sisters: I am impressed that most of them managed to stick by each other through all the suffering they went through. The other side of that is that seemed like a cult. The were willing to lash out any person who slighted one of them. It angered me so much when they ALL turned on Bastien when they knew the parties at fault. And then when they
The Story: There were two problems with the story itself. The first is that there was a year completely ignored. We see them meet and then skip to when they were supposed to be in love. That year we missed did not develop the characters enough to actual feel for them during loss and to not understand the villain. This book could have only been strengthened by adding more information about their relationship and showing important character developments. The second problem came from that fact that so much of this material was repeated verbatim from the Born of Legend and Born of Fury. It was great to see this but it didn't add anything new to the story. What could have been better would be to add dialogue that wasn't in the previous books but still at the same time of those scenes. Kenyon did do one example of this by adding a scene we hadn't seen from Born of Fury. There were obviously many interesting new tidbits we saw, but more of this should have been included. It wouldn't have taken away from the story and could have allowed for more plot development. Just changing the perspective is not enough because there was so much that could have been talked about instead.
Also, the synopsis is actually a bit misleading so beware.
Honestly, this book was pretty good. Not the best, but better than a lot of the previous books have been. It could have even better had the story included more important information that wasn't previous revealed. It would have only strengthened and enhanced the book.
Overall, this is a 4-star read. 5 stars for the new parts of the story and 2.5 for the repeated parts. In all, I will read the next book and pray that it won't have the same problems as this one did. That it will only get better from here because she will learn what works and what doesn't because what is important to her isn't necessarily important for her readers.
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