mlsimmons

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

In this story, we have Kougar, the oldest and most reclusive of the warriors as our hero.  For our heroine, we have a new species called Ilinas, named Ariana.  Ilinas can turn to mist and live in a plane the Crystal Realm.  Everyone has thought that they were all killed off over a 1,000 years ago.  Kougar and Ariana had mated before this when he was still the leader of the Feral Warriors and she was the queen of the Ilinas.

A lot has changed in the 1,000 since Mellisande, Ariana's second in command, severed the mating bond between Kougar and Ariana.  The Ilianas needed everyone to think that they no longer existed to hide from a mage.  When Kougar learns the truth about his mate, he is less than happy.  If it wasn't for the fact that he needs her misting power, he would leave her in a flat minute.

I was not a huge fan of this romance.  I didn't really like the hero or heroine.  I didn't think either were strong characters.  The connection between them didn't sit well with me.  I'm not a big fan of rekindling lovers, but even this one seemed a little off.  The way Ariana betrayed Kougar from the beginning and let him think she was dead all those years, was cruel.

However, there is a secondary story with some humans that were rescued from the previous book.  One is blind and therefore, the warriors can't wipe his memory.  There are also two women, one of which is his sister.  They are having difficulty wiping their minds, but warriors think it has to do with some healing that was done.  They also believe that given time, they will success, so that they can release them.

Wulfe has taken a liking to one of the women.  Not sure if she will be in a future book with him or not, but I hope so.  I like her.  We also learn a lot about Wulfe's past and his relationship with Beatrice, the previous Radiant.  

The blind man, Xavier, is eventually taken to work with Pink in the kitchen.  Evidently, even blind, he has a lot of kitchen experience.  Wulfe decides it is the best way to keep him useful in the house, since they can't release him without erasing his memory.

Even though I was not a fan of the romance story in this book, the secondary part made this book really enjoyable.  I've always had a love for secondary characters, so the fact that this part of the story was strong, really helped me to love this book.  I want to see what happens with the humans and with Wulfe's fascination with with the human female.

Narration

Once again, Shapiro does a good job with this story, as he has with all the stories up to this point.  With this book, he lowers his voice a lot when he voices the women.  This one was even lower than previous books.  Some parts I had a hard time hearing the Ilinas speak.  Not sure if he thought that because they turned to mist, that they would be soft spoken, or what.  He didn't do this with the women of previous books.  I even had to go back and replay a few times because I couldn't hear what she was saying. This was the first book that I had this issue with him.

I like to thank Tantor Audio for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.