Eternal Craving by Nina Bangs (Guest Review)

Here’s the blurb:

THE ELEVEN – an alliance of ultimate predators. Primal, lethal, irresistible.

THE PROPHECY – an ancient Mayan prediction that the world will end on 12.21.12

THE PREY – where can you hide from pure evil?

LIES. He’s been promised a new life as the hunter he once was. Al soon learns that all the rules have changed. Now he must control his most basic urges – the need to kill, to feed, to mate. And the woman he wants looks at him with both heat and fear in her eyes. Jenna Maloy doesn’t buy the story that he’s come to Philadelphia to save souls. She seems to see through the layers of deception to the primitive heart of him. With her beside him, Al stalks the dark forces that crouch in the city’s night shadows. But the real battle rages in his heart. Love is a formidable opponent. How can he ask her to stay with him after she’s seen the savagery of his beast? He only knows that if she turns from him he’ll be cursed with an eternal craving.

My first step into the realms of otherworld romance has turned out to be the best step I’ve made for a while. Al Edenka is a man with a past: a past of at least 65 million years. Led by Fin, Al and nine others are here to save humanity from Zero and his nine immortal followers. With one immortal banished back from whence he came, the Eleven have another battle on their hands. Though love is getting in the way – or is it lust?

Jenna Maloy turns up on her sister’s doorstep determined to find out more about her quick romance and marriage to the mysterious, yet devastatingly handsome, Ty. Kelly is secretive, to say the least, yet Jenna uses every journalistic skill she has to get to the bottom of things. Very quickly she realises she is out of her depth in a world she only dreamt existed. Her emotions are also spiralling out of control when the gorgeous Al walks into her life. With a mixture of fear and lust, Jenna doesn’t know how to respond to him.

With vampires, werewolves, a Fae King, immortals and dinosaur souls, I was quickly as lost in this world as Jenna, but not with her confusion. I was swept up in the fierce battles Al and the Eleven were embroiled in. I, too, found myself attracted to Al and became jealous when...well, I won’t say in case it spoils it for you.

The most mysterious character is Fin. He just doesn’t seem to fit in with any of the otherworlders. A bit of an oddity, an anachronism too. His fascination with numbers is a little neurotic and not completely explained. With his eyes determining his mood and his penchant for reading minds Fin is one we are sure to learn more about in the next novel.

As this is the second novel in the Gods of the Night series I now need to search out the first, Eternal Pleasure, where I will learn about Kelly’s introduction to Ty and the Eleven. Though I will have read them out of sequence it won’t spoil my pleasure of this author’s work. If, like me, this will be your first step into this unique romance style, you won’t be disappointed.

Eternal Craving is published by Dorchester Publishers and you can find the author, Nina Bangs' website here.

This excellent review has been written for MFB by Sarah Keery whom I met on Twitter as "SeriouslyKooky". She's also gone and set up her own blog so drop by or go and harrass her on Twitter. Hopefully, if I can bribe her with more books, she'll become a regular guest reviewer for MFB.

**The Fire King Winners**

Exciting news, exciting news.

Our three winners are, thanks to Random.org

Number: 17 - Amy (@Aymless on Twitter) from Benicia California
Number: 8 - Vicki (@jadeheart) from California
Number: 29 - Crystal Boyles from Kentucky

Girls - very well done, and thank you everyone for your lovely emails and do come back for more!

Now, make sure to go out and buy a copy of The Fire King - srsly™, it is worth it.

And to Dorchester Publishers - thank you so much letting us run this fabulous comp.

**THE FIRE KING COMPETITION** (US Only)

To spread the word of Marjorie M Liu's awesome new book, The Fire King, her US publishers, Dorchester Publishers have agreed to let MFB run a competition for 3 lucky US citizens to win copies.

The rules are simple - all you need to do to enter is send us an email with "THE FIRE KING' as the subject, and your name and location (e.g .Jill from New York) before 6pm GMT on Thursday, 6th August.

We'll pick the winner at random (with a little help from random.org) and post the announcement here on Thursday evening and we will also Twitter it. So if you enter this from Twitter, make sure to tell us your Twitter Name and we'll tell the world there too! We'll contact the winners directly by email to confirm the other bits.

Good luck!

The Fire King by Marjorie M Liu

Synopsis

Long ago, shape-shifters were plentiful, soaring through the sky as crows, racing across African veldts as cheetahs, raging furious as dragons atop the Himalayas. Like gods, they reigned supreme. But even gods have laws, and those laws, when broken, destroy.

Zoufalství. Epätoivo. Asa. Three words in three very different languages, and yet Soria understands. Like all members of Dirk & Steele, she has a gift, and hers is communication. When she is chosen to learn the dead language of a shape-shifter resurrected after thousands of years of icy sleep, she discovers a warrior consumed with fury.

Strong as a lion, quick as a serpent—Karr is his name, and in his day he was king. But he is a son of strife, a creature of tragedy. As fire consumed all he loved, so death was to be his atonement. Now, against his will, he has awoken. Zoufalství. Epätoivo. Asa. In English, the word is despair. But Soria knows the words for love.

Short Review:

Buy the book, read it, love it.

Long(er) Review:

I can't remember the last time two characters gripped me quite this much. Karr and Soria's relationship is obviously very much the focus of the novel. You become involved with them individually as well as a couple as they run for their lives from a variety of factions bent on destroying Karr or capturing him for examination and then destroying him. I couldn't shake the feeling like I was being allowed to spy on something very special indeed. (But not in a creepy way!!)

Karr's character is well defined and as the author deals out snippets of information about Karr there is a sense that he is even more than what is being hinted at. Soria's characteri is fully formed - severely hurt just over a year ago, she is still fragile and you understand where she comes from, what her motivations are and as her relationship with Karr develops as they flee, you start liking her more and more. Clever, competent and level-headed in the face of adversity and someone with bucketload of courage, Soria is definitely someone you want on your side in a fight.

This is my first Marjorie M Liu book and although I know little to nothing about the Dirk and Steele Organisation this did not prevent me from falling into The Fire King with unashamed abandon. It is book nine in the series! I should have been struggling to keep up with all the back story, but this is where the book turns into something excellent. As far as I understand it, each book deals with another agent within the Dirk and Steele Organisation which is a covert organisation with members of the magical and shapeshifting kind mingled with humans - some of whom are normal and some of whom have bit of magic.

Having just checked on Ms. Liu's website it transpires that these novels are catergorised as "paranormal romance thrillers" and it is probably one of the most apt descriptions I've read for something like this that almost defies any of the genres I usually read. Marjorie M Liu breaks the mould when it comes to a) style and quality of her writing b) plotting, storyline and story arc c) characterisation and d) world building, throwing in some fantastically mysterious modern day location few of us would have the chance to visit.

I irrevocably loved The Fire King and would recommend it to those who may not be too excited about touching a book about shapeshifters, secret organisations etc. Read The Fire King and change your mind. For those who are already fans of this excellent genre which is revived by Ms. Liu's writing, buy the book! The quality of the writing is what lifts it from its fellows in the same genre along with the author's ability to create two characters whom you actually care about. The romance is perfectly pitched and it never becomes lewd or gross - Karr and Soria would never allow that to happen, not whilst we're watching anyway! But the tension and heat is there and yes, Karr does sound simply scrummy. He gentles Soria beautifully and his reaction to his fierce new friend made me smile quite a few times.

I won't gush anymore as it will become a bit tedious but I'm happy to say that The Fire King has to be one of my top-top adult reads of 2009. I am now keen to read the other books by Ms. Liu. Even if they are out of sequence!

The Fire King is published by Dorchester Publishers over in the States. Find Marjorie M Liu's website here. The Fire King should be available online both in the US and the UK and for those who are interested in purchasing it in the UK, why not run off and support our favourite indy booksellers, Murder One. If they don't have it in stock, they can happily order it for you directly.