Book description:
A fiercely beautiful female leader from the Other world, Lusahn q’Arc can’t forget the Paladin warrior she met in battle — his chiseled body and piercing, thoughtful eyes still haunt her dreams. While investigating the smuggling of the mysterious blue stones used to light her shadowy world, Lusahn receives word that her missing brother, Barak, is alive — and working with the Paladins. Although angry at his betrayal, she arranges to meet him. But at the appointed time it is not Barak who arrives, but Cullen Finley — the enemy warrior who torments her memory.
Intense attraction immediately burns between Lusahn and Cullen despite their rival loyalties, and they can’t help surrendering to passion. Their time together is limited, though, for soon Cullen must return to his own world — with or without Lusahn. But when carefully laid plans go awry, together they must fight to keep their forbidden romance a secret — and keep each other alive.
I love this series. I think Morgan has done some fantastic world building here. In the first book of the series, it seemed pretty clear: The Paladins were the good guys, the Others were the bad guys. It was the sworn duty of all Paladins to fight whenever the barrier went down between worlds. It’s not long before we realize that it’s not so black and white. Not all of the Others are crazy killers. Some of them are just like the Paladins, fighting to protect their world.
Redeemed in Darkness picks up right where In Darkness Reborn left off. Cullen Finley crossed the barrier. After fighting a female warrior months before, Cullen could not get her out of his mind. When he finds out that he fought Barak’s sister, it gave him an excuse to seek her out. Not telling anyone his plan, he crosses the barrier to give her a message from Barak. Though he intended to toss it across, he couldn’t help but step into her world.
Lushan q’Arc was waiting for her brother. Though it breaks her heart, Lushan is prepared to execute him on the spot for being a traitor. The only kindness she can show him is getting it over quickly. The last person she expects to see is the warrior she fought and almost lost to. Her instincts tell her not to listen, but Lushan is attracted to the human. When he tells her why he is there, she agrees to help him.
This book was nowhere near as good as the previous three installments. First of all, Lushan was portrayed as this fierce warrior that is so dedicated to her duty in protecting her people that she planned on executing her own brother. Then Cullen comes across. As someone that has fought her, killed numerous people of her world, and who could quite possibly kill her, her reaction to Cullen was unbelieveable. It actually bordered on ridiculous.
I think what Morgan intended to do here was make is seems as though their attraction was so fierce and falling in love was so swift that Lushan could do nothing other than help Cullen. I just didn’t buy it. While Cullen had the whole “I am alpha-must bed woman now” attitude, Lushan’s flopped back and forth. She seemed so fascinating at first and I was really looking forward to learning more about her. After being a warrior for so many years, it took less than two weeks for Cullen to insert himself into her life and basically make all the decisions. I just didn’t buy it.
As in the prior books, the Paladins are still trying to discover who is luring Others’ over with the promise of freedom if they bring “blue stones”. We still didn’t find out who on Earth is trying to get their hands on the stones. We do learn that Cullen wasn’t the first human to cross the barrier.
While I intend to continue reading the series, I don’t consider it a bad thing that Morgan’s next book will be the first in a new series. Maybe a break from the Paladins is in order.
3 out of 5.
Yeah that doesn’t really sound that good. Angela Knight has some other “world” type of novels that are good though.
Bleh. And the book description seemed kind of cool. But I like my ballsy heroines to stay ballsy, so I think I’ll skip this one.
I’ve been reading and loving this series too. I just picked up Redeemed in Darkness. Here’s hoping I like it better because I’ve really been looking forward to seeing a glimpse into The Other’s world
I have this entire series in eform, but I have not started it yet.
Ooh I’m gonna add this to my TBR list and get to it whenever I can, this sounds pretty interesting.
Great review, Case!
Kristie,
I think the most interesting part of the book was seeing the Others’ world.