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Monday, January 2, 2012

Sheep Review: Lord of Rage by Jill Monroe

Lord of Rage, by Jill Monroe, is the second story in a series of four books in the Royal House of Shadows saga. Each book in this series is written by a different author (Showalter, Monroe, Andersen, Singh) but all the authors teamed up to create a shared world of magic and blood. Book two focuses on Princess Breena, beloved and sheltered but forced into a life unknown to her, I was hoping for a bit more from this book, with her being the only female in a family of boys. Overall it's a good addition but nothing compared to book one.

Plot:
Princess Breena had been dreaming of her warrior lover when she was ripped from her Elden castle and thrown into a strange, dangerous realm. Lost and alone, she prayed for survival and vengeance for her stolen kingdom. She found both in a woodland cottage…in a dark bear of a man.

The golden-haired beauty had eaten his food and slept in his bed when Osborn found her. Though he wanted to awaken his virgin princess to carnal pleasures, Breena wanted more—including his warrior skills. Skills the once-legendary mercenary had long buried. Now Osborn had a choice—risk his life or deny his princess her fairy-tale ending.

Dreams seem to be the motif in this series so far, whether on purpose or by accident I've yet to figure out. But nonetheless we have book two taking off with the lone sister Breena getting dumped smack dab in the middle of nowhere. She's a low-level witch in this book, but book one's references to her powers seemed to imply she's capable of more than we see in this book, OR her abilities are yet to fully manifest. Either way it seems one of the few powers this female has is dream scape. She's been spying on a hunky berserker for a while, but after her home is besieged by the Blood Sorcerer, Breena and her bear of a man are brought together.

Osborn lost both parents as a young teenager, setting out to raise his two younger brothers he takes on the task of father figure and sole provider. Taking jobs here and there as hired muscle, the man earns his rep as a badass while keeping his remaining family secluded in a forest. He's been scarred so deep from a painful past, Breena's got her work cut out for her if she's going to get his help avenging her parents deaths. As she stumbles upon the boys' home you really get a feel of Goldilocks and the three bears, eating their porridge and sleeping in their bed it's a laughable moment that ends with a much bigger punch in the story than we're used to.

Trained to fight alongside Osborn's younger brother, Breena learns to wield a sword. But it turns out all her hard training doesn't end up being utilized by the end. It's a bit anti-climatic which leads one to wonder why the the author spent so much time on the training if it was never to be used in the climax of this book. Aside from that, the pampered princess has a harsh reality to get used to but she does a pretty decent job of managing in her own way. She's innocent in more ways than one and while I did enjoy her humor, I was a bit disappointed she didn't get more backstory or building of what's to come. Things end pretty abruptly and not much is given to her past and the future of saving her kingdom.

A good edition to the series that will keep me intrigued to see what happens next. Will the siblings ever make it home and take back what was once lost? I'm dying to find out!

The second half of this book contains another story by Monroe called Primal Instincts. For those wanting to know more from this author it's a great opportunity. Folks wanting more of the Royal Shadow series are cut off at the knees once again and will just have to grab book three. That review will be coming tomorrow with: Lord of the Wolfyn by Jessica Andersen.

Getting 3 and 1/2 'I've never kicked anyone's cat!' Sheep
KD
Lord of Rage & Primal Instincts
Lord of Rage & Primal Instincts

7 comments:

  1. This one fell flat for me too. I did like how each author took their own spin on the fairytales.

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  2. I liked this one but by far the best book from the series is Nalini Singh's.


    Paranormal Haven

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  3. @Christina of the series as a whole this was my least fav. Not to say it was awful but it wasn't as engaging as the rest. :)

    @PH Singh's review is coming in 2 days.... *winks*

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  4. @ Katie I agree, it wasn't terrible. Just not my fave.
    Yes, Singh's was my fav too.

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  5. I really struggled with Showalter's one--enough that I'm not sure that I'd bother with the rest in these series. Although I do enjoy Singh's work.

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  6. @Stephanie what was it that had you struggling? :) Something in the plot itself or maybe the main characters?

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  7. Thanks for sharing. I have read several recently that left it at you have to buy the next one and frankly sometimes to me that is annoying, unless I am so enamored of the characters that I just want to keep reading LOL This title, I don't know, will perhaps wait and see :)

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