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Review
The first book in the Immortals After Dark series (well, actually it’s a novella) is dark and dirty with lots of sex and a strong paranormal setting.
Merciless warlord Nikolai Wroth is a 300 year old turned vampire. His fighting and conquering bring him to a castle where a beautiful creature is imprisoned. Sent to torture and interrogate her, the mysterious Myst instead engages in some light-hearted banter and intense flirting with the big badass.
Unbeknownst to Wroth, Myst is a valkyrie – a race thought to be myth. And Myst is secretly known as ‘Myst the Coveted’, using her beauty and her powers to bring deserving men to their knees before destroying them. Vampires are the sworn enemy of the valkyrie, and Myst lives to torment them. So she ‘bloods’ Wroth, linking him to her as his Bride. This means his heart starts to beat, his lungs start to breath, and he is awakened sexually since the first time since he was turned. They share one searing kiss before she leaves him high and dry – literally. As his Bride, Myst is the only one that he can be with, so without her he exists in a perpetual state of aching lust. It takes him five years to find her, and when he does he. is. pissed!
“Five years of hell,” he sneered, roughly palming my ass. “You deserve to be fucked till you can’t walk.”
And here comes the sexy! Wroth fully intends on making Myst pay for leaving him like she did, and he makes good on his promise. And with a delicious little twist that has Myst doing whatever Wroth wants, he doesn’t waste any time.
I’ve seen some reviews where people have been turned off by the ‘non-consensual’ nature of their relationship. I can understand people’s concerns, but it didn’t bother me. I didn’t actually see it like that, because while Wroth certainly pushes the issue, Myst is right there with him every time of her own free will.
I enjoyed the back and forth between them, the touch of sweetness as they come together, and the romance as it develops – even though it’s not very detailed. There are additional storylines featuring Wroth’s brother and his fellow vampires, and we get to know some of Myst’s valkyrie sisters. Again, there’s not a lot of detail given, but it’s a novella, so there wasn’t really time for it.
Kresley Cole’s paranormal world is violent and dangerous. I admit it took me a little bit to understand the setting as it wasn’t all laid out straight away, but I finally figured out that the story is set in present day and in the world as we know it, there just happen to be numerous supernatural creatures living among us. Although there was no human interaction in the story at all, it’s all very strongly paranormal.
I have been meaning to read this series for such a long time, and I’m so excited that I finally made a start. I’m looking forward to delving further into this world.
3 stars.
For full series info, see our Immortals After Dark series page.