Darkness Unbound by Keri Arthur


Dark Angels, Book 1

Synopsis: Being half werewolf and half Aedh, Risa Jones can enter the twilight realms between life and death and see the reapers, supernatural beings that collect the souls of the dead. But she soon makes a terrifying discovery: Some sinister force is stealing souls, preventing the dead from ever knowing the afterlife.
Reapers escort souls—not snatch them—but Risa is still unnerved when a reaper shadows her in search of someone Risa has never met: her own father, an Aedh priest, who is rumored to be tampering with the gates of hell for a dark purpose. With the help of her “aunt”—half-werewolf, half-vampire Riley Jenson—and an Aedh named Lucian who may have lost his wings but none of his sex appeal, Risa must pursue whatever shadowy practitioner of blood magic is seizing souls, and somehow stop her father . . . before all hell breaks loose.


Review: After the end of the Riley Jenson series, I was quite curious to discover this one about Risa Jones. I really didn’t know if reading the first series would be significant for the future and I think this is finally the case. Without knowing the history of our former guardian, I think there are many points that would have remained unclear. In addition, all the characters from the first series are present for our pleasure, even though a few years have passed since. I also wondered if the two series would be equal to each other. And I must say that I was really surprised by this volume, which was a nice discovery.

So here we find the Risa’s story, the Dea’s daughter we’ve met before. Half-wolf, half-Aedh, she has some outstanding abilities. However, unlike her aunt Riley, she can’t turn into a wolf, but she has many very intriguing gifts as a Aedh. Indeed, she can vanish into the air or browse the limbo when she needs it, something that few creatures can achieve. Her life is pretty normal, she works in a restaurant and makes a few extra for her mother when she needs to announce if a person is dead or not when she is in a coma, for example. But her life is turned upside down by the return of her father. She has never seen him, she does not know who he is but everybody is convinced that he will contact her and everyone wants to be present at that time. In fact, everyone will try to follow her, manipulate or kill her. Everyone means other Aedhs, a sexy reaper, Madeline Hunter and many more! Yes! You read well! We can finally meet Madeline Hunter. After everything we had heard and all the speculations about this character, we can finally discover her several times throughout the novel. I was quite surprised because I did not really expect to see her.

In addition to all this, Risa will have to investigate the theft of souls in a rather atrocious way. It seems that the victims are all connected and even if our heroine is in no way an investigator, years of training with Quinn and Riley prevent her to attend events without doing anything. Helped by a young reaper, and a mysterious Aedh whose she knows nothing about and her two best friends, she will run after the killer. I was immediately intrigued by all the characters and we can only wonder what Azriel and Lucian really seek. They both have many secrets and do not pour too much about their personal life. I confess that my heart balances between the two of them and I’m curious to see how the story will make them evolve. They are very different from one another, but we doubt they expect something from her without really knowing anything.

I loved discovering Risa given the little information we knew about her. She is courageous and brave, but also assumes her fragility and her limits. She doesn’t want to lead the life of Riley as a guardian but she knows how to defend herself when needed. I really enjoyed learning more about the Aedhs, we had learned a little about them in the first series with Quinn but many elements are discovered here for our pleasure, we can better understand all these things. I also loved seeing the evolution of Riley, her brother, Quinn and Liander. Even though they’re older, they are always equal to themselves, and we discover that they have matured and Riley is now a mom of several children which was fantastic.

This first volume is very nice and I’ll start right away the second to learn a little more about our new characters.

 

9 thoughts on “Darkness Unbound by Keri Arthur

  1. I really enjoyed this book but I’m sad to say that the rest of the series is becoming meh for me. Lots of the same old stuff going on and very little movement in the main plot line. I wonder if you will feel the same as me. Can’t wait to read your reviews to find out 🙂

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