Shadow's Claim (The Dacians #1)
by Kresley Cole
Blurb:
#1 New York Times bestselling author Kresley
Cole introduces The Dacians: Realm of Blood and Mist, a new paranormal series
following the royal bloodline of Dacia, a vampire kingdom hidden within the
Lore of the Immortals After Dark.
Shadow's
Claim features Prince Trehan, a ruthless master assassin who will do anything
to possess Bettina, his beautiful sorceress mate, even compete for her hand in
a blood-sport tournament—to the death.
He won't be denied...
Trehan
Daciano, known as the Prince of Shadows, has spent his life serving his people,
striking in the night, quietly executing any threat to their realm. The coldly
disciplined swordsman has never desired anything for himself—until he beholds
Bettina, the sheltered ward of two of the Lore's most fearsome villains.
She's bound to another...
Desperate
to earn her guardians' approval after a life-shattering mistake, young Bettina
has no choice but to marry whichever suitor prevails—even though she's lost her
heart to another. Yet one lethal competitor, a mysterious cloaked swordsman,
invades her dreams, tempting her with forbidden pleasure.
A battle for her body and soul...
Even
if Trehan can survive the punishing contests to claim her as his wife, the true
battle for Bettina's heart is yet to come. And unleashing a millennium's worth
of savage need will either frighten his Bride away—or stoke Bettina's own
desires to a fever-pitch...
Review:
I was thrilled
to see this spin-off series created by Kresley Cole. I have long been a fan of the Immortals After
Dark series and after reading the last story in that series, Lothaire, and meeting the new species of
vampire, the Dacians, I was looking forward to this for a long time. I was a bit surprised to see that though this
was a spin-off, it was actually happening at the SAME TIME as Lothaire's story. Cole does this quite often in her series, but
I had wrongly assumed that because this was a new series it wouldn't follow
that trend. It made things even more interesting and it was fun to return to
Lothaire’s story, even if just tangentially.
This story revolved around the tournament for
Bettina’s hand in marriage and the chance to rule her world beside her. Being that the world of these immortals is
quite brutal there are definitely some terrifying moments and way more violence
than I would normally be able to handle.
But the interactions between Trehan and Bettina are often sweetly
sensual as he works to seduce her to his side.
Trehan is a great character and he is devoted to Bettina once he accepts
that life without her will be impossible to accept.
Bettina on the other hand is not a favorite character
of mine. She is very self-wrapped
through most of this book. She is determined
to have only one man, the demon that she grew up with and believes she’s in
love with. No matter that Trehan is her
destined mate, and Caspian has no interest in being her husband as he
knows she’s not his true mate. She refuses
to see that maybe her life is destined for something different, but gradually
Trehan is able to show her the beauty that can be found in his arms. But sadly it takes losing him, to her own
stupidity and insecurity, to see just how much he really means to her.
Trehan feels betrayed by Bettina, believing
that she has sabotaged his chance to claim her, even though he has gone out of
his way at every opportunity to prove to her that she is the most important
thing in the world to him and he will do anything to make her happy. And of course this makes him a little crazy,
ehh, maybe a lot crazy. Leaving his betrayer,
his own mate, to live her life without him, he slowly falls further and further
into his madness. Strangely the only man
who can talk him out of the madness and make him see the course he needs to take
is Lothaire—ironic ain't it?
I very much enjoyed this story and was thrilled
to see a lot of characters that we have grown to know and love making cameo appearances. Typical of Ms. Cole’s work there was intense
battles, sometimes a little too gory for me though. Trehan and Bettina were fun to watch, seeing
that even such powerful and magical individuals can screw up their love lives
reminds us that at our base we are all just human and can make some seriously
bad decisions when it comes to matters of the heart. The next in the series
should be interesting and I’m hoping it is Cousin Viktor’s story. I can’t
wait to see how the possibility of opening up the world of mists will affect
the Ascension, but I see that the changes to come will be vast and terrifying. Keep the awesomeness coming please Kresley.
Rating: 4.5 stars
Rose Rating: 
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