Loveswept | August 25, 2015 | Paranormal Romance
World of Walkers, book 5
★★★★
SOURCE: PUBLISHER
TOUR HOST: TASTY BOOK TOURS
From New York Times bestselling author Jacquelyn Frank comes the final chapter in the Nightwalkers saga! As the momentous showdown with a powerful demon unfolds, a passionate encounter breaks the ultimate taboo.
Kamen is a Bodywalker, an ancient soul reborn in one human host after another. He’s also a prisoner of his own kind: for it was Kamen who released Apep, the deadly god who threatens the existence of their world. To atone for this grievous error, Kamen accepts an urgent mission: to convince the other nations of the Nightwalkers to set aside their centuries-old conflicts and band together. If he fails, all will be lost. And no tribe presents a greater challenge than the Wraiths, the spectral beings who are feared and despised for their lethal deathtouch.
Kamen makes first contact with a stunning, ghostly pale beauty named Geneviève. Part Wraith and part human, scorned as a half-breed, Viève shares the hunger for redemption—and for connection. Her scintillating touch holds the kiss of death, and yet it makes Kamen feel more alive than ever. Soon his lips are pressed against hers, sending Viève into fits of desire and forging a bond that breaches the divide between them. Now they must unite all the Nightwalkers, from Vampire and Shadowdweller to Djynns, and fast—for Apep is ready for war.
{ about karen ferry } .
Jacquelyn Frank is the New York Times bestselling author of the Immortal Brothers series (Cursed by Fire, Cursed by Ice, Bound by Sin, and Bound in Darkness), the World of Nightwalkers series (Forbidden, Forever, Forsaken, Forged, and Nightwalker), the Three Worlds series (Seduce Me in Dreams and Seduce Me in Flames), the Nightwalkers series (Adam, Jacob, Gideon, Elijah, Damien, and Noah), the Shadowdwellers novels (Ecstasy, Rapture, and Pleasure), and the Gatherers novels (Hunting Julian and Stealing Katherine). She lives in North Carolina and has been writing romantic fiction ever since she picked up her first teen romance at age thirteen.
{ excerpt } .
Kamen walked to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face. Then he turned on the lights and picked up one of the ancient tomes he had been studying in hopes of finding a solution to any of his many daunting problems. And, failing that, he was searching for spells, both offensive and defensive—anything that would help protect the Nightwalkers when Apep’s next attack took place.He had been reading for several hours when, suddenly, something on a papyrus scroll jumped out at him—hieroglyphs of the figure of a god using some kind of power to divide a group of twelve beings into two halves.
Kamen knew instantly that the god was Apep and that he had used his power to sunder the Nightwalker nation into two. Then it showed that the god had died as a result of the curse. This was new information. He felt an emotion akin to excitement—if a man as jaded as he was could even feel excitement and hope any longer. If the god could die from the curse, then that meant he could die, period. That his mortal body was fragile enough to be destroyed. The question was, how did they go about destroying that mortal body when they hadn’t even gotten close to doing so in spite of using strength and manmade weapons against him? He’d been shot directly in the heart and it hadn’t even made him blink. If that couldn’t kill him, then what could?
But the next hieroglyphs were even more important. They showed the god resurrecting, enslaving people, using his power to kill . . . and then they showed the twelve beings coming together to fight the god. Eventually destroying him.
Did that mean what he thought it meant? That if all twelve nations of Nightwalkers got together they could fight this god? If that were the case then it would be an impossible task. Not only because they couldn’t see one another, but because the twelfth nation, the Wraiths, were enemies to all the other Nightwalkers. True, there had been an unspoken truce of sorts these past decades, more a case of neither making any moves against the other. But every Nightwalker on this side of the faction, known now as the Second Faction, knew the Wraiths were cold-blooded and would just as soon touch you with their instantly fatal deathtouch as not. The First Faction was lucky they knew nothing of the Wraiths. They made Nightwalker blood run cold.
But what if the Wraiths could be made to come to the table? Could be made to understand that it was best for all of them if they worked cooperatively against the god Apep? Surely they had just as much to lose.
But the glyphs showed no explanation as to how the twelve were able to coordinate an attack against the god. Hieroglyphs were notoriously open to interpretation and could only get across the most rudimentary of ideas. It wasn’t as though you could glean great philosophical discussions from them.
He gingerly touched the aged papyrus. Simple they may be, those few succinct images were the closest they had gotten to some kind of history or explanation or suggestion as to how to end all of this. He put a marker in the page and continued on in search of more, but he went through all the other scrolls and found no hint of further explanation.
Twelve nations, working together.
It was worth considering at least. And it wasn’t his place to agree or disagree with the concept. His only role was to report what he learned.
And so when dusk fell, that was what he would do.
{ review } .
First... Out of all the covers in this particular series, this is definitely my favorite. I just loved it.
Second... Although stated that it can be read as a stand-alone, I feel that the reader would have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the world Ms. Frank has put together if having read the previous books prior to this conclusion to the series.
Third... ;)
Anyway, third... Jacquelyn Frank does this paranormal-esque world well, but when she writes, she writes in a language different than, say... Stacey Kennedy or Cynthia Eden. Ms. Frank's writing in such 'worlds' is almost in an Old English type way. If is a writing style that you have to know and understand in order to get through -- or at least be willing to focus deeply in order to make it through the books. She does put a 'guide', if you will, in the beginning of the book to help the reader decipher people and sectors in this godly world she's made up, so that helps.
All of that said, I know when I pick up a title of hers that it's going to be a book that I need time to read. They aren't books that I will find myself lost in for hours and come up to breathe only when finished. Hers are books that I have to read, breathe and reflect, read some more, breathe and reflect, and so forth. Her IMMORTAL BROTHERS series is another that I've been reading and I have to read it in the same fashion.
I wanted to put that out there because sometimes I feel that when we/I/readers don't get into a book right away, it gets tossed to the side. The underlying story, this world and the intricacies of everything are extremely well thought out and it's a world that is definitely one for the paranormal fan.
In this conclusion to the series, our main couple is Kamen and Geneviève, but we also get side stories from the other couples, as well as who I'm assuming to be the main couple of the series, Dax and Bella. Kamen is a bright individual who studies old spells and scrolls, but in his studies, he released the dangerous god, Apep; as such, he feels it is his duty to take him down. So again, Kamen is studying and finding a way to do it. With the help of Bella and others, they decide that they need to get everyone together as a unit -- and that includes becoming allies with the Wraiths. It is decided Kamen is the man to try and forge that bound, and by doing so is how he meets Viève.
I appreciated the information throughout about the different nations and how the different walkers came to be (and how they live with the human race) but at times it felt to be either too much information, or out of place information. On a suspenseful note, I felt that the final battle was not as grand as it should have been due to the hype and build-up the nations/characters gave it. And then there's the lovely "insta-love" aspect of the story. While I could demean it, a) Kamen and Viève are well aware that their love was fast and while they both question it slightly (as well as question what everyone else thinks), they are certain in their love, and b) whenever it comes to paranormal stories, I take the love aspect and pretty much accept it however and wherever it is placed. Everything is a little different in paranormal worlds so who am I to judge that an immortal love can't begin two weeks after meeting someone?
Altogether, this was a 'typical' Jacquelyn Frank read and it is enjoyable in it's right!
Second... Although stated that it can be read as a stand-alone, I feel that the reader would have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the world Ms. Frank has put together if having read the previous books prior to this conclusion to the series.
Third... ;)
Anyway, third... Jacquelyn Frank does this paranormal-esque world well, but when she writes, she writes in a language different than, say... Stacey Kennedy or Cynthia Eden. Ms. Frank's writing in such 'worlds' is almost in an Old English type way. If is a writing style that you have to know and understand in order to get through -- or at least be willing to focus deeply in order to make it through the books. She does put a 'guide', if you will, in the beginning of the book to help the reader decipher people and sectors in this godly world she's made up, so that helps.
All of that said, I know when I pick up a title of hers that it's going to be a book that I need time to read. They aren't books that I will find myself lost in for hours and come up to breathe only when finished. Hers are books that I have to read, breathe and reflect, read some more, breathe and reflect, and so forth. Her IMMORTAL BROTHERS series is another that I've been reading and I have to read it in the same fashion.
I wanted to put that out there because sometimes I feel that when we/I/readers don't get into a book right away, it gets tossed to the side. The underlying story, this world and the intricacies of everything are extremely well thought out and it's a world that is definitely one for the paranormal fan.
In this conclusion to the series, our main couple is Kamen and Geneviève, but we also get side stories from the other couples, as well as who I'm assuming to be the main couple of the series, Dax and Bella. Kamen is a bright individual who studies old spells and scrolls, but in his studies, he released the dangerous god, Apep; as such, he feels it is his duty to take him down. So again, Kamen is studying and finding a way to do it. With the help of Bella and others, they decide that they need to get everyone together as a unit -- and that includes becoming allies with the Wraiths. It is decided Kamen is the man to try and forge that bound, and by doing so is how he meets Viève.
I appreciated the information throughout about the different nations and how the different walkers came to be (and how they live with the human race) but at times it felt to be either too much information, or out of place information. On a suspenseful note, I felt that the final battle was not as grand as it should have been due to the hype and build-up the nations/characters gave it. And then there's the lovely "insta-love" aspect of the story. While I could demean it, a) Kamen and Viève are well aware that their love was fast and while they both question it slightly (as well as question what everyone else thinks), they are certain in their love, and b) whenever it comes to paranormal stories, I take the love aspect and pretty much accept it however and wherever it is placed. Everything is a little different in paranormal worlds so who am I to judge that an immortal love can't begin two weeks after meeting someone?
Altogether, this was a 'typical' Jacquelyn Frank read and it is enjoyable in it's right!
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