LondonTaken from my home. Imprisoned on an alien planet. Toyed with. Moved around like a pawn. Terrified. Angry. These are all things that sum up the last few days of my life.Confused. Curious. Anxious. Captivated. All the things that sum up the days that follow.I don’t know what’s going to happen from today to tomorrow. All I know for sure is that I hate him. He infuriates me. He confuses me. … infuriates me. He confuses me. But I also want to know more. I’m ensnared. He has that way about him. You want to look away from him and stare all at the same time. I don’t know if he’s going to kill me or let me live. But I do know he likes to play games. And I am his brand-new shiny toy.
So when I start to play back and crave his next move, I start to worry he has a pull over me I’m not sure I know how to escape. He’s dark and violent. Dangerous. But I’ve gotten used to danger in recent months and after witnessing my entire world be torn apart and taken over, you can understand why I didn’t turn away. Why instead I found myself trapped in a game I wasn’t ready to give up. Why the big bad Shadow Assassin didn’t scare me. Why instead I found myself right where he wanted me all along. Lost in him.
This story is a standalone romance but it is HIGHLY recommended that you read the series from the beginning. Each contains an underlying plot that is a continuation from the first in the series, Pythen, and will continue on throughout the series.
Warning. For readers 18 years and older. Contains explicit sexual situations, possible triggers, dark themes, language, and violence.
more
This was bittersweet, being the ending and all to an amazing series. But it also was bittersweet because I expected a bit more impactful conclusion. I liked the new narrative and couple, being Chyn and London, there’s no doubt about that. However the way it wrapped up the entire series was, for me anyway, rushed.
I get it. It is a short book to a series which have had a lot of narratives, themes and conflicts. Understandably it is a difficult job to conclude such a massive series in a way that perfectly ties every end together and satisfies everyone. I am not disappointed in the outcome at all. As a matter of fact, every main character got some sort of happy ending, which to me is a pretty satisfying note to end on. I even liked the bittersweetness with the conclusion for the humans on earth, also making it more realistic since it would have been too convenient and sappy for my taste to make everything end happily. Looking at the big picture, it was a well balanced ending.
We can’t forget the romance either. This one differed quite a lot from the previous books, having a bit more darkness and struggle to it, but it only made me love it even more. The tenseness, the mysterious dark assassin with no perceived emotions or feelings, except when it came to her. London never really trusting or knowing where she stood with him, if she was his prisoner or his “lover”. All of it built so amazingly into a thrilling romance with them in constant dramatic conflict and uncertainty. It made them finally getting together all the more compelling, and I really liked that even then we still had the more drawn back mysterious Chyn, only that London trusted him to know who he was. After Peyton and Tahk, they are now my favorite couple in this series.
I am as you can tell absolutely fine with the conclusion. I am just not overly in love with it. Since the book was short there was a lot of loose ends and question built up in the series that either had a very rushed conclusion or wasn’t solved at all. The biggest ones coming to mind was the Bours reason for the war, what happened to their leader, who the Kilbus Lord was looking for and if he ever will find her. Then there were smaller stuff like Bailey’s pregnancy or minor characters conclusions (e.g. Roxy, Vex, ignyt’s brothers, Tahk’s sister). These may not have been super important per say, but having followed the characters through the entire series it would have been nice to see. I am not too sad about it though since, as I understood it, the author may revisit this beautiful world in the future. I really hope she does.
Chyn was a formidable character so I couldn’t quite imagine what kind of heroine could match up with him. This author nailed it with London in my opinion. She can be a little sassy or sweet, and stand firm if needed. The origins of Chyn and the Juldo were interesting and a little sad . Chyn is a bit scary but London softens him just a smidgeon so I was invested in their happy ending. I enjoyed this read!
I felt the need to mourn something when I finished this book – it was just so freaking good! Starting a new book felt like a betrayal afterwords! There is so much to say I don’t know quite where to begin!
There is a lot of great detail surrounding Chyn’s story. This detail not only fleshes out Chyn and his history, but ties together the galactic history that led to the story of humans’ introduction to the universe, and leads into a rather bittersweet prospective future of humans’ integration with their new allies. And regardless of actual alliances, humans are the thread that ties the future of all these species’ together.
Chyn’s character is interesting, being a combination of his thousands of years of life, infection of a disease/madness, and being controlled by other forces, with little else of himself remaining. He doesn’t fully change nor fully embrace what he was, he adapts to what he wants and what he needs to be, but doesn’t become a boring blank slate.
London has some sass to her, which I appreciate. Her initial scenes when the Dahk learn of her kidnapping are delightful, and she gives us a quick update on what is actually going on back on earth, without having to stray from the story. And the romance is a slow burn, which I love, and a slow burn that ebbs and grows, continuously dancing around the events unfolding.