Reviewed by chymerra on
The book starts off almost right where The Silver Arrow ended, with Annika in the car with Stephan, a doppelgänger (he is able to take the form of anyone), after being kidnapped. There is a close encounter with a police officer and when the chapter ends, they are on their way to Prague. Reasons unknown but it couldn’t be good. I was genuinely scared for Annika during this chapter because I didn’t know what was going to happen to her. The unknown in books scare me….lol.
Meanwhile, back in London, Merriweather Narayanaswamy (Talvi’s partner) is called into the London embassy and summarily demoted from her position in the embassy because she screwed up a lot of things (oh lets see, failing to research her personal assistant’s, Stephan, background was a HUGE one to me because he morphed into her and stole Talvi’s personal records and that was how he got a hold of Annika).
Things further go downhill for her when Talvi and Chivanni discover that Annika is missing. While searching for her, locally, he finds the white dress that Finn and Annika, umm, painted while under a morphine induced haze because Annika was in her fertile cycle and Talvi had disappeared on a mission for Merriweather. Once he finds out that Merriweather was more or less responsible for Stephan kidnapping Annika, he had his revenge. It involves a tied up, drunk elf and a ton of sex toys. After this, Talvi is mentioned and sometimes makes an appearance during the book but the focus goes to Annika.
I will say what happened to Annika at the “farm” was disturbing and she was very lucky that Pavlo discovered who she was and let Konstantine know that he had found her. Pavlo,who is a doctor, cleaned her up, well the best that he could without wanting to drain her blood and waited for Konstantine and Yuri to arrive.
Speaking of Yuri, I can’t stand her. She is spoiled, selfish and plays mind games with everyone. I didn’t like her in Book 1, was relieved that she wasn’t mentioned in Book 2 but Book 3, I personally wanted to stake her. She was just plain nasty to everyone, including Konstantine…who for some odd reason loves her. Or does he? I have a feeling that for some reason, he is stringing her along. Just a feeling I get.
Anyways, they (Konstantine and Yuri) bring Annika to Yuri’s parents to be nursed back to health. Annika suffers both physical and mental scars from her time at the farm. Put it this way, Asbjorn was tricked by Sloan (his daughter) to kiss Annika’s neck all better and she stabbed him with a fork in the face. Yeah, ouch. She also has lost all of her memory of Talvi.
Which brings us to Finn. Oh Finn, why did you do what you did? I mean, I understand WHY but still, it was wrong. Paris was supposed to be a one time thing!!! Like Asbjorn said, Finn traded one addiction for another and that addiction happened to be Annika.
The ending of the book was so sad. For Talvi, for Annika and for Finn. I think I cried more in those 3-4 chapters than I did throughout the entire book. There are a few other storylines that get wrapped up by the end of the book. Except for Yuri’s (bleh).
How many stars will I give The Scarlet Tanager? 5
Why? This was a heart wrenching but great read. Normally there is a lull after the second book (and I know I said this in the review for The Silver Thread) but this book just keeps on going. No lull at all!!!
Will I reread? Yes
Will I recommend to family and friends? Yes
Age range: Adult
Why: Sex and some violence.
**I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it**
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 19 October, 2016: Finished reading
- 19 October, 2016: Reviewed