Kept me guessing

I usually can guess where a book is headed but this one kept surprising me.

The relationship was doomed from the get go and I couldn't see any way for them to be together but I kept hoping.

I'm going to read the second book now. ( )

The speech of the heroine and her sister felt kind of like what men think women sound like more than how they actually do. (I'm not saying that a man wrote it, it's just a feeling for the silliness of their slang and speech.) Maybe it's trying to be young and fun or something, but I don't think it was pulled off. And toward the end the heroine makes some couple terrible calls that seemed like she would really know better by then. But obviously things work out. And overall it was a compelling read. I'm curious to read the next book. ( )

2.75 of 5 stars

Listened to audio narrated by Melissa Moran and Leo Barnabas. There's a lot of gruff and growly narration, which fit the character but I didn't particularly enjoy listening to it. There's also a lot of characters to keep track of and this book might be better read rather than listened to on audio.
I've a bit conflicted about this story. Knox is suppose to be an immortal god, but he's also a slave to his king and is compelled to comply with any order given by his king. But he and the other immortals can be killed which would imply they can't be immortal.

Knox as well as other immortals representing other rulers are sent to 'Terra' to battle it out in a there can be only one gladiator type battle to wind the rights to the planet. When a warrior kills another they gain their special abilities. When a human Viking takes out one of them he traps the others preventing them from finishing the All War for over 1300 years.

Vale and her sister by choice get stranded and stumble upon the trapped warriors and are there when they finally break free from their icy prison, and begin battling immediately.

Knox inner voice claims the human is important to him so he snatches her away and then spends the majority of the book growling and yelling and distrusting her, so it's kind of hard to like him or believe their romance.

Vale has huge abandonment issues and spends a lot of her inner monologue lamenting why everyone leaves her and why isn't she worth sticking around for that I got tired of her pretty quickly.

If you can strip the growling and whining away it has the makings of an interesting series, so even though this wasn't my favorite book and I didn't particularly like the main characters I'll give the second book a chance.

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WHAT A COOL TALE, WELL ACTUALLY A FROZEN TALE !!! I loved Val's grit and determination to pull her foster sister along as they struggled to find a way out since their guard had left them in a cabin alone! Now, they had no choice but to search for help, but they NEVER expected to find frozen warriors, then suddenly ice cracked and they were killing each other! Knox of Iviland was a ruthless warrior in All War history and he had to win this war even though he had to kill twenty opponents just to obtain his freedom from his king, and once freed he would kill the royal family and avenged his daughter, but once he sees Val, his inner sense wanted to possess her. Which would he choose freedom or love? I love to see a seven foot eleven inch man in my life that was gorgeous and fierce in battle like Knox as he could just rock my world as I can't wait to read book two! ( )

3.5 Stars.
This is the start of an imaginative new series by this author and though this wasn't my favourite of her books I have read to date I still enjoyed myself and this was an intriguing start that has stacked the deck nicely for future story progression.
So this is the 103 rd All-War, This is a process that is enacted many times on many worlds whenever a new realm is discovered.
To stop the pillaging and fighting over resources worlds get to send a single combatant to fight for there sovereign for ownership of the new world.
Gladiator style fight to the death with an entire planet as the battleground, last man standing wins all or at least the ruler of his world does.
He is Knox of Iviland a stone-cold combatant who controls the shadows and will stop at nothing to win.
Already an All-War four-time winner he now after the death of his daughter else has nothing to lose.
His end game? win the war, gain his freedom and then annihilate his king.
One who he is compelled to obey because of the slave bands on his body and he will allow nothing to stand in his way, not even the lovely Vale London.
As a new player Eric, the Viking unwittingly joins the melee and Knox and his fellow warriors find themselves imprisoned and encased in ice for over a millennium.
Upon his eventual liberation from an icy prison and sensing that this strange female is an integral part of his future survival Knox absconds with her taking her to his hidden bunker.
So character-wise Knox is very rough and ready and a bit of a brute understandable considering his violent background.
He is literally a weapon of war and he doesn't tolerate any weakness.
Vale herself is such a liability and where usually he would annihilate he finds himself going against his very own nature and protecting her.
Vale is his perfect foil an orphan who has grown up in the system she is all hard edges and prickly attitude.
She has been metaphorically kicked back down so many times she refuses to show her weaknesses hiding behind a gruff and snarky persona to protect her soft underbelly.
These two had instant chemistry though Knox initially did fight it somewhat.
Enemies but also reluctant allies while they both are of use to the other.
So, This did get a tad cheesy at times and the language used could be somewhat juvenile but this was essentially at heart a fun read.
Fast-paced and jumping headfirst into the action this was such a unique and imaginative concept.
and I will definitely be reading the next book in this series.
One final observation because there were so many players here it sometimes did get a trifle confusing and I did get lost in regard to some of the fight scenes other than that this was all grand an enjoyable experience.



Reviewed By Beckie Bookworm
https://www.facebook.com/beckiebookworm/
www.beckiebookworm.com ( )