Welcome to the Kingdom of Hades, where even its prodigal princess sleeps lightly.After fighting Soul Stealers in Detroit, Khara hoped to return home to find answers in her father’s realm. But the land of the dead offers little information, and far too much tragedy. Now cut off from her brothers, and left only with her dark and unreliable companion Oz, Khara must navigate the centuries-old webs of … centuries-old webs of deceit and betrayal, all while eluding the Underworld’s most depraved inhabitant. But she soon finds an unexpected ally in her adopted sister Persephone. Together, they endeavor to right a terrible wrong. And as Khara soon discovers, there’s more riding on her success than she ever thought possible.
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GAWDDAMMIT, NATUSCH! I officially trust NO ONE in this series. lol No one, I tell you!!!
UNSEEN is the second installment in the new Unborn series by Amber Lynn Natusch. I recently reviewed the first book in the series and fell in love with it. Although it’s a spin-off of the Caged series, it couldn’t possibly be more different. It’s gritty. It’s dark. It has a bad habit of pissing me off.
I dont say that as a bad thing. Quite the contrary. Natusch is rather famous for her 1 question answered/5 questions added method of laying out a series and UNSEEN is no exception.
Unborn left off with a LOT of questions unanswered and Unseen wasted no time in diving right into the thick of things to try to solve a few of the many mysteries we were left holding. Oh, and answers you will get, my friends. Lots of them. A few that will blow your frikkin mind.
As mentioned in my review of Unborn, the series, much more so than the Caged series, intermingles urban fantasy with ancient Greek mythos. The cast you will meet in UNSEEN is unlike anything she’s every written. I wont get into who you’re going to meet because spoilers and all that. I don’t want to ruin the book for you and I think the trip through Greek mythology is half the fun of this series.
In my review of Unborn, I had stressed how different this series is from Caged and UNSEEN really seemed like it set out to prove that point. UNSEEN takes us on a journey through the Underworld, and with the exception of Sean’s name thrown out a few times and the obvious involvement of the Detroit PC boys, you’ll go through UNSEEN with just the tiniest of notions that this book is somehow related to the Caged series. UNSEEN is the book that will make you forget about it’s parent series.
Where Unborn was the hot new guy at school, UNSEEN was the tattoo-covered bad boy who would drag you into the janitor’s closet, have his way with you, and slap you on the ass with a wink on his way out. We are now familiar with the cast, so rather than having to spend a lot of time getting to know the main players, the story really had room to unfold and breathe. Not only does your hangover from Unborn ease a bit, but the author has taken the story, tied it up in an unrecognizable knot, and somehow, at the end of the day, the tangles come undone and reveal a perfectly woven story.
The stunner moments in UNSEEN are…ummm….many. One in particular resulted in my emailing the author with a message along the lines of “If ________ is still ______ at the end of this book, you and I are going to have some serious words.” Lucky for her, my fears were put to rest. Well…..sort of. It’s not all unicorns pooping rainbows, but it took a step in a direction toward the sunny side of the street. You know, right before the tornado hit and fucked everything up again.
The mystery of exactly what Khara is goes straight bananas in UNSEEN. If you thought shit was weird with her in Unborn, hold on to your fedoras, my friends, because you’ve got a long bumpy ass road ahead. And, of course, by the end of the book, you’re going to have more questions. I’m sorry to tell you, but it’s true. Prepare for yet another book hangover.
I did see something in this book that was unexpected of our girl Khara. Maybe I just didn’t pick up on it in Unborn, or maybe she was still just too new to the whole emotion thing to bring it to light, but our girl isn’t afraid to use her hot ass to move toward her goals. She dabbles in wielding her sexuality as a weapon in UNSEEN and reveals that she’s no stranger to using her assets as a means to an end. As I said, it was unexpected, but also not unconvincing. The way it is written in and further explained, it works for the story in a way that it wouldn’t have in Unborn, and it shows the reader that we’ve just barely scratched the surface of this girl.
Oz. Oz is a bit of a conundrum. He takes “bad boy” to a whole new level and I spent the majority of this story saying “what in the name of all that is unholy is he up to?!?!?!” Still not entirely sure, but I have a sinking suspicion he’s one of very few actually concerned with Khara’s well-being. I have no clue what is brewing between Khara and Oz, but I can tell you that if those two ever pull the trigger and bones, it’s going to be HOT. Like, really hot. If they ever get pelvic, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be explosive. The tension with these two! Hot, hot, hot.
Deimos. He’s such a dick. I know this is not what he looks like, but I dislike this character so much, every time he has a scene, all I can picture is Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog.
And I kind of adore Aery. She’s a fantastic supporting character and I am really hoping to see her become more involved in the main story. She’s spunky and mischievous and she totally reminds me of Alice Cullen from the Twilight books. Not the movies. The books.
Overall, I loved UNSEEN. It’s an excellent sophomore effort and I cant wait to see where the story takes us. The writing is tight. The story is captivating. The characters are beyond fantastic. Truly a great addition to the story.
Some of my favorite quotes:
“I wish Casey were here right now,” he murmured.
“Why is that?”
“Because I do love it when he calls you batshit crazy, and that is precisely what that idea is. Bat. Shit. Crazy.”
“Be careful whose doorstep you lay your loyalty upon.”