Immortals After Dark (XV) - Dark Skye by Kresley Cole
And finally, Lanthe’s turn – with Thronos, our favourite Vrekener: Dark Skye (Endlose Nacht), published 2014 with 531 pages I all read in English. Because switching in the middle wouldn’t make much sense.
Centuries ago, Melanthe, Queen of Persuasion, had her power and a best friend who wanted to marry her when they grow up – despite the fact that their races are at war. Now, she has shackles, an unreliable power and an enemy for life, who found her and is about to imprison her in a place without joy, without happiness – or gold! But Lanthe has an ace up in her sleeve. And as the two of them tumble from one realm into another, apparently without rime or reason, they have to bury their ages long hate and become allies. Possibly even friends – with a lot of chemistry between them…
I’ve been waiting for this part ever since Sabine’s story. Wanted to skip to it as soon as I held it in my hands, a bit battered up because I bought it second hand. But after my experiences with skipping from Wicked Deeds on a Winter Night (Versuchung des Blutes) to Kiss of a Demon King (Zauber der Leidenschaft), I thought I’d better not. Could have done it, though, there weren’t that many spoilers. But I’m glad that I actually read it in the chronological order… because now I can really appreciate the trick Lanthe pulled on Morgana and Nereus.
First of all, Nereus is creepy. He shouldn’t be the god of the sea, but rather the god of the please-let-me-take-a-hot-shower-and-do-you-have-a-steel-brush-I-could-borrow kind of feeling. Which he can induce by simply being in the same room as you are. God, that guy’s so so creepy… and his beds! His games! I’d be sorry for Morgana, if not for the stunt she pulled with Bettina in Shadow’s Claim (Die Verlockung des Mondes) and with Thronos in the end. She definitely deserved Nereus now.
But there’s another reason why you should read this in the chronological order. A lot of questions are answered, like where Furie is… why the Valkyries give the ghouls their hair… and what Nïx’s angle is in all of this. By the way, I adore Nïx – always have, always will – and now you finally begin to understand why she does half of what she does. She’s a sneaky little Valkyrie, isn’t she? I can’t wait to read how this will play out… And maybe find out why she wanted Nereus to have her lock. Maybe so she can ask Mari to send others to it and retrieve Furie, while they’re at it? Would make sense. But then, why risking the ringlet, instead of just any lock of hair? I’ll never get her. But her explanation to the goddesses about “Dora” was so awesome! Why did you free the Queen of Evil?! – Because, obviously, no one else was going to do it. Yeeaaah. And I wonder what’s up with Bertil. He’s always close to her, and then she sends him away for nap time? There’s a reason he’s around basically since before the Order’s abductions. But what? That woman’s a walking enigma. And damn funny while she’s at it.
Well. I started about telling you how much I wanted to read Lanthe’s story – and then I tell you about everything but the stuff she’s actually involved in. Neat. I’m almost tempted to find something else to say that doesn’t involve her or Thronos, just to prank you again. Almost.
Lanthe’s fascinating, which I already pointed out before. She’s the animal loving, cloud gazing little dreamer, who scratched her sister’s brain with a piece of her skull from the pavement to revive her – at the age of nine. She’s the girl who’s been on the run from Vrekeners her entire life, ended up as the prisoner of one of the most evil guys of the entire Lore – her half-brother – has amazing powers she can only access under the highest duress and uses a whole lot of energy to convince herself that she doesn’t feel guilt. She’s way more empathetic than she lets on, but thinks it’s a weakness. She thinks really fast and doesn’t let others rule what she does, even fights for her equality with the guy she loves – which is almost unheard of in the Lore. And, of course, she’s absolutely in love with gold. What she does to see it… I was almost sorry for Thronos. I adore the Sorceri’s obsession with gold, it gives those manipulative, cut-throat politicians a vulnerable side. Lanthe’s mother, by the way, was interesting as well.
But Thronos… yeah. Thronos. On the one hand, God, what an idiot for ruining his body like this. On the other hand, he’s the most loyal, and, in a way, loving guys in this series. He changed his entire life and system of belief for Lanthe, even though he was angry with her for so long. I don’t envy the two of them for their relationship issues, they had a whole lot of misunderstandings and knee-jerk reactions between them. As well as a lot of policies he had no idea about – I’m so glad Thronos a) didn’t have any part in that (because that would be very hard for Lanthe to forgive) and b) didn’t have to take care of himself. It’s his brother. Good that he got what he deserved without Thronos’ having to regret anything. And I adore how he slowly begins to see the light about her as well. In the end, she wronged him a lot more than he her – actually almost accidental. He had definitely reason to be angry at her and try to rule her, but I’m glad that he realises that she’s even good and that he doesn’t really want her to change all that much. The hell world… nice.
Well. The worlds Lanthe and he went to were really, really interesting – well done. And I was sceptic when they ended up in this world of lust from the beginning… even before the pain. But I didn’t think of the actual solution, I was convinced they were on Hawaii and suffering from wishful thinking. Oh well.
Okay. Not only that worlds was nice, but rather Lanthe’s and Thronos’ relationship. They did have a rough start – but thankfully he didn’t abuse her, in contrast to almost every other annoyed guy in the Lore! Sure, he was a little rough on the first day – but he also didn’t actively hurt her and ended up in that dungeon and then with the Sorceri for her to begin with – to protect her. And every guy in the Order’s dungeons is out of his/her mind afterwards. They were vivisected and stuff like that. Not funny. Plus, Thronos took a hell of a lot damage to protect her. And he felt guilty, like, two seconds afterwards, and changed his entire behaviour not soon after. Don’t get me wrong. Thronos was still a bit shitty sometimes, but it wasn’t abusive. And it’s absolutely realistic – after their story, everything else wouldn’t have made sense. I adore that they actually start their life together on good and equal terms… I adore how Lanthe and Thronos start slowly forgiving each other and falling in love. It’s nice – realistic – even romantic, in a way. I like that Thronos doesn’t break all of his rules for her (because I hate relationships in which one person sacrifices everything and the other doesn’t care) and that Lanthe in the end did go with him, sacrificed something for him. Something other than herself, her dreams and her soul (meaning stuff no one should ever ask for). I like how they make sure the other’s happy, no matter what a third might say to this – and the letter from Thronos to Rydstorm was awesome. How they start to reform.
Spoiler:
The ending’s so nice, especially with the prospect of children on the way – and the hints to Cade, Holly, Aly and Bri, they are so awesome!!) but this last twenty pages problem with Morgana ruined it a bit. I mean, it’s realistic that she retaliates for Bett and that Sabine, Rydstorm and Morgana don’t believe Lanthe’s there out of her own volition. But the situation is resolved, like, a page before the ending. The beautiful, nice ending is hacked into pieces and leaves you confused and, well… not really ready to finish with the book. I was thiking the entire time “this can’t be it” and “this sucks”. Not nice.
In brief:
Stars for characters, content, style and ideas, minus one for the ending.
Prequel:
MacRieve
(Uilleam Andriu MacRieve, chieftain of the Nova Scotia Settlement of Clan MacRieve
& Chloe Todd a.k.a. Olympic hopeful, unwitting immortal)