 |
| Image (c) Orbit |
Publication Date: September 1st, 2011
Format: Library Book
Rebellion has a price.
The lacy gold mapped her entire body. A finely wrought filigree of stars, vines, flowers, butterflies, ancient symbols and words ran from her feet, up her legs, over her narrow waist, spanned her chest and finished down her arms to the tips of her fingers.
Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle's body bears the telltale marks of a comarré—a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world...and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks.
Now, Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign.
Funny
how things work out sometimes. Especially when it comes to books that
you end up loving but you would have never found out about them had it
not been for social media. The same happened with me for Jennifer
Murgia's Forest of Whispers and, now, for Kristen Painter's Crescent
City trilogy and, in extension, the House of Comarre series.
Chrysabelle's patron has died. Well, yes, as a vampire they were already technically dead... but now they're no longer part of this plane. The problem is that now she's the main suspect in her patron's murder. It wouldn't be too farfetched of a thought, sadly, due to much of her training that involves taking down vampires even if it's only meant as protection for the thing she serves. But, despite that, she's determined to prove just how innocent she really is. By running away and disguising herself back as a human once more...
Which led her to run into Malkolm - another vampire who, almost ironically enough, is that much dangerous for her as his curse is incredibly dangerous. As a Comarre, Chrysabelle must get rid of some of her blood at a certain point due to the fact that she is what she is. Had Malkolm actually attempted to take even one bite from her, her life could easily be forfeited due to said curse. In fact, Malkolm would've been more than happy to make her leave... if it wasn't for the fact that she was more than willing to uplift the curse that's been upon him for years.
If anyone ask me what my favorite urban fantasy book or author is, at this point of time, I'll definitely point out Kristen Painter. I mean, yeah, books involving vampires are fairly common in the young adult community... but none like this. After all, one of the other characters we get to meet is a ghost called Fiona- who's attached to Malkolm due to his curse- who ends up falling in love with another character named Doc. I ended up falling in love with their... well, romance, because it felt oddly realistic and heartbreaking.
This story is told in multiple characters' point of views. I feel like this adds more depth to the story and gives information that the reader would otherwise be ignorant to. We know that both Chrysabelle and Malkolm have their own problems but I thought it was a good way to see how the world around them is slowly changing.
I'll always recommend this series. Always! Can't wait to read more.
(Originally posted on A Court of Ink and Paper, previously known as Cosying Up With Books)
 |
| Image (c) Orbit |
Publication Date: October 1st, 2011
Format: Library Book
With the Ring of Sorrows still missing, and the covenant between othernaturals and mortals broken, Chrysabelle's life outside the realm of vampire nobility is about to take another downhill slide. She's vowed to help the outcast Malkolm find a way to lift his curse, but that means returning to the home city of the vampire who's trying to kill her. The breaking of the covenant has also activated an ancient organization designed to protect mankind — the Kubai Mata.
And when Kubai Mata Thomas Creek comes to Paradise City, Chrysabelle finds herself torn between the need to save Malkolm and the desire to stay on the path of light. Finally fulfilling her vow to Malkolm proves devastating for Chrysabelle. If she survives, what's left of her life will never be the same.
Things
are still changing for Chrysabelle. One of the toughest things she has
to deal with is going against what she's been taught as a Comarre with
revealing secrets no other vampire knows and dressing as anything but as
a Comarre. That's just a little bit of her knowledge though. But she's
determined to keep her promise with helping Malkolm with his curse.
This is the first time reading this series that I truly disliked a character, ignoring Tatiana of course. Tatiana is meant to be the sort of antagonist through the story and, despite being a pain in the bum, she's still very well rounded of a character to where she feels like she has purpose. But Creek? A human involved in the paranormal by being a part of the Kubai Mata. I guess it wouldn't be that much of a big deal but I feel like he's only there to become a third wheel in whatever relationship is between Chrysabelle's and Malkolm. I'm all for polyamory but I just... never really felt like it would work out between the three of them. Having a person from Kubai Mata could've been more effective had they focused more on their job rather than their attraction to Chrys.
Again, I fell in love with the relationship between Doc and Fiona. In fact, this time, it broke my heart into another million pieces. I don't know if I'll ever recover from the pain this time around. In fact, there's no shipping Chrys and Mal - I'd rather ship Doc and Fiona. Their love for each other is incredibly raw and adorably cute.
This is urban fantasy at its finest and I highly recommend reading this. Then pick up the Crescent City trilogy because that's awesome too!
Yay!
(Originally posted on A Court of Ink and Paper, previously known as Cosying Up With Books)
No comments:
Post a Comment