Kirsten Reviews: Captive by A.D. Robertson

Captive: The Forbidden Side of Nightshade

Forbidden Side of Nightshade #1

The first adult novel set in the world of the New York Times bestselling Nightshade series, Captive delivers a steamy, forbidden romance between sworn enemies drawn together by an irrepressible desire.

Twenty-five-year-old Tristan Doran enjoys a life of incredible power and privilege. As a direct descendant of the Keepers—witches who have embraced dark magic—he defers to no one but his overlord, Lord Bosque Mar. For most of his life, Tristan has been kept out of the centuries-old Witches War, his bloodline too valuable to risk in battle.

But when a beautiful, young human Searcher named Sarah is captured and made a prisoner in his Irish castle, Tristan’s infatuation with her flings him headlong into the fray. Captive and captor, unable to contain their longing, embark on a passionate, forbidden romance together—only to learn that their love is at the heart of a prophecy predicting the downfall of the Keepers’ ages-old reign.

Captive explores the darker side of the richly imagined Nightshade universe, a fantasy world of powerful dark witches, shape-shifting wolf warriors, and fascinating history. The first of three erotic novels, Captive delves deeply into the fiery, illicit romance of two young lovers whose very desires invite their doom.

A.D. Robertson’s Captive: The Forbidden Side of Nightshade is the first book in a series that takes place in the same word as those written by the author under the pseudonym of Andrea Cremer, and which pits the descendant of witches against a human, in hopes of creating sparks and conflict - to only partial success.

Tristan Doran is the descendant of the Keepers, witches who have embraced dark magic, and has been excluded from a war that has lasted centuries because his bloodline is too valuable to lose.

Sarah, a human Searcher is the catalyst to push Tristan into the thick of things. When she is taken prisoner, he becomes infatuated, and the clichés are easy to see coming. It should not come as any surprise that it’s the attraction, and emotional bond between Tristan and Sarah that is the linchpin of a prophecy that predicts the end of the Keepers’ reign of power.

The book has a range of different beings and characters, including lupine warriors, witches, and humans somehow in the middle of everything and tipping the scales. This has been billed by some as a YA novel, but it’s more accurate to say that it’s the ‘adult side’ of the world of Nightshade, and has far more in common with erotic novels than most YA out there.

All told, Captive did more telling than showing, overused plot devices, and was full of scenes that felt overly dramatic, or underplayed things too much. It was, to put it mildly, very uneven. Fans of the author’s other books may enjoy seeing her branch out into a different direction, but new readers may not find it as palatable.
(Received a copy from the publisher)

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