Guest review: MacRieve by Kresley Cole

Immortals After Dark, Book 13

Synopsis: A BEAST IN TORMENT

Uilleam MacRieve believed he’d laid to rest the ghosts of his boyhood. But when a brutal torture revives those ancient agonies and destroys his Lykae instinct, the proud Scot craves the oblivion of death. Until he finds a young human so full of spirit and courage that she pulls him back from the brink.

A BEAUTY IN CHAINS

Seized for the auction block, Chloe Todd is forced to enter a terrifying new world of monsters and lore as a bound slave. When offered up to creatures of the dark, she fears she won’t last the night. Until she’s claimed by him – a wicked immortal with heartbreaking eyes, whose touch sets her blood on fire.

A FULL MOON ON THE RISE

With enemies circling, MacRieve spirits Chloe away to the isolated Highland keep of his youth. But once he takes her to his bed, his sensual mate becomes something more than human, evoking his savage past and testing his sanity. On the cusp of the full moon, can he conquer his worst nightmare to save Chloe… from himself?

Review: Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series is one of my favourite paranormal romance series. I find the overall storyline of the Accession, the  battle for supremacy between the many factions of Lorekind that takes place every five hundred years, intriguing and I also adore many of Cole’s characters. My absolute favourites are the Valkyrie, whose many eccentricities have endeared them to me. From Nïx, or Nucking Futs Nïx as she is often called, to Kaderin the Cold Hearted and Regin the Radiant. Having said that I am not quite sure what to think of MacRieve. I like it, but I very much doubt I will reread this one.

Cole’s writing is as appealing as ever and her characters are well-portrayed. I like both MacRieve and Chloe, but I did not fall in love with them. This may well be the reason I started paying attention to  the repetitive use of Cole’s old familiar recipe of boy with traumatic past meets girl, they both hate each other yet cannot stay away from each other and in the end resolve their issues. It’s a recipe that has worked quite well so far, but fails to have its usual effect on me in this instalment.  The lack of action and comic relief in comparison with previous books may have contributed to this feeling. The main focus of the book is on MacRieve’s struggle back to mental stability after recent events opened up badly healed wounds from his past. This struggle coincided with finding his mate, who is related to a man who captured and tortured him and carries the blood of Lore creatures he hates more than any other. Although his beast accepts Chloe as its mate, MacRieve’s head refuses to accept this. Their relationship may appear doomed, but Chloe is not someone who easily gives up and neither does MacRieve’s beast.

Despite the above and a plot that is definitely lacking, I did like the book. Mostly because  I was pulled into the story from the start. The epilogue is great and introduces a cliff-hanger. Frustratingly enough Cole’s next book does not appear to continue where the epilogue ended as it features other characters. Here’s hoping book 15 will be about Munro and his mate.

The series contains one major storyline that carries on through each new addition on top of the smaller, romantic storyline that is completed in each book. My advice is to read this series in order.

4

Mirjam copie