Melanie
Written on Aug 11, 2014
This is the third book in the Feral Warriors series. It is also the hardest and darkest so far. This story is full of torture, rape and death. Once you get through the darkness in the first part of the book, the story does lighten up, so it is not all despair. It is worth going through the hard parts to get to the good parts at the end, and even makes the romance better in the long run.
We start this book pretty much where we left off in book two. Paenther is looking for the woman from the convenience store. She kidnaps him. When he wakes up, her eyes are copper ringed mage eyes. He goes a little crazy when he see those copper rings, which she had hidden when he first met her. Paenther's past is a dark one. He was trapped, tortured, and raped by a mage when he first became a feral.
Skye is a mage enchantress, she is able to call animals. She is also able to call the feral's animals. She travels with a group of evil mages and helps to kidnap Paenther. She also calls animals for the mage to sacrifice each night and she dances in their blood. We quickly learn that she is as much of a victim as Paenther.
This is a hard story to read. While I liked the story between Paenther and Skye, the beginning of the story is a dark one. There was rape, while not violent, was still rape. That was not something I was expecting in this book and it caught me off guard. It was also public rape for a mage ritual. I'm a huge animal lover and the animal sacrifices bothered me a lot. I'm the type of person when watching a movie, you can murder people all day, but don't touch the dog, cat, etc. Leading wild creatures and cuddling them before slitting their throat, was a hard thing to read for me.
All that being said, I did enjoy the romance once they leave the cave. After they escape and we get past all the evil mage stuff, the story gets much better for me. I like Skye and was great to see her finally getting away from the terrible situation that she has been in since she was eight. It was also nice to watch as the feral's learn to get past their prejudice of all mage. If it were only that easy in real life to get people to change their tune after centuries of prejudice.
I also enjoyed the overall story arc. We learn a lot about the mages and the dark world they live in. We see more into the mage's plans with the demons. Things happen with the other ferals, not just Paenther. I don't want to say more, because I don't want to give away any spoilers.
Narration
The more I listen to Shapiro, the more I enjoy his narrator. His voice has grown on me and now he is the voice for the warriors and even the women. His tone and emotion in the characters voices are done well.
I like to thank Tantor Audio for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.