Lord of the Abyss (Early Review)
Lord of the Abyss by Nalini Singh
Royal House of Shadows #4
Once upon a time…the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden. To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance. Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs…and time is running out.…
As the dark Lord who condemns souls to damnation in the Abyss, Micah is nothing but a feared monster wrapped in impenetrable black armor. He has no idea he is the last heir of Elden, its last hope. Only one woman knows—the daughter of his enemy.
Liliana is nothing like her father, the Blood Sorcerer who’d cursed Micah. She sees past Micah’s armor to the prince inside. A prince whose sinful touch she craves. But first she has to brave his dark, dangerous lair and help him remember. Because they only have till midnight to save Elden.
As the dark Lord who condemns souls to damnation in the Abyss, Micah is nothing but a feared monster wrapped in impenetrable black armor. He has no idea he is the last heir of Elden, its last hope. Only one woman knows—the daughter of his enemy.
Liliana is nothing like her father, the Blood Sorcerer who’d cursed Micah. She sees past Micah’s armor to the prince inside. A prince whose sinful touch she craves. But first she has to brave his dark, dangerous lair and help him remember. Because they only have till midnight to save Elden.
Time is running out for the Heirs of Elden, and all four must unite to save the kingdom before it is too late. Liliana has always hated her father, the Blood Sorcerer, for all the evil he has done. So when she see that the youngest heir, Micah, will not return in the final battle, and the rest will fail as a result, she knows she must find him and help him to remember his past. Only problem is that he is now the Dark Lord at the gateway to the Abyss, an incredibly feared monster. She will have to awaken him to his past and try to shield her heart from his seductive charms, for once he knows her true identity she knows she may just lose him forever.
Micah is quite different than his siblings, which made this book have a completely different feel than the others. He was so much younger than the rest of them when the Blood Sorcerer took over, and because of a spell, he lost all his memories. However, what made things truly different was the fact that he never really grew up, his circumstances made him quite childlike in certain aspects, complete with "temper tantrums." At first this really worried me as I couldn't see how he could possibly prove to be a viable love interest based on his behavior. However, as time went on, Liliana changed him and slowly started to awaken his lost memories. He massively matured over the course of the book, but I have a feeling he will always keep somewhat of the playful side when it comes to her.
Liliana was also quite unique compared to the previous characters, in that instead of being outside the conflict, and then drawn in; she was always center to it, being the Blood Sorcerer's daughter. She carries so much guilt and self-loathing even though none of her father's deeds are in any way her fault. For her entire life, he had been trying to break her and turn her evil like him, yet she never once cracked, despite all the torture. She does however, see herself as a vile ugly creature that no one could love, which makes things quite difficult when Micah started to care for her. She has a hard time believing he could possibly want her, so that stands as quite a road block. Of course those are the types of things that make a relationship so much stronger once over come, as things easily gained are simple to take for granted.
I did have a small frustration with Lord of the Abyss as the final confrontation felt rather anti-climatic to me. After the build up of three and a half books to reach that point, I had thought things would have been a little bit more involved to reach the final outcome. To be honest, I felt more danger and threat in all the previous events than I did at the end. That being said, everything else leading up to, as well as following the final showdown were quite good, so I can't really fault the book overall. Lord of the Abyss was a good final installment to the Royal House of Shadows series, tying up everything laid in place in the previous books, as well as showing the much awaited sibling reunital. If you enjoyed the previous books, you won't want to miss this!
(Received a copy from Netgalley)
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I confess I've never read any Nalini Singh but now I kinda want to. I love the sound of Liliana actually be front and centre of the action rather needing to be protected at the sides! :)
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