What the back says... The path will be forged in sweat and blood. Rune, Grey, the shape-shifter Beltran, and willful vampire, Verida, set out to rescue their friend and mentor, Tate, from the gladiator games. But first they must navigate the perils of Eon and its warring factions. Each of this band of four carries with them a secret that threatens to tear their group apart from within. Rune now bears the mark of the promise she made to save Grey’s life—a nixie bubble lodged in her arm that could call her away to do their bidding or spell her death. Even as their loyalty to their cause and to one another faces its greatest test, Rune’s twin brother Ryker is forging an alliance with their mortal enemy, the powerful sorceress Zio, who has plans of her own for the Venators and Eon. Hearts will be bared, secrets unveiled, and relationships made and destroyed in this stunning new installment of the Venators series.
I fell in love with this book series after reading book one and so, after the emotional journey of book two, couldn't wait for this one to be released. Legends Rise picks up straight after the events of Promises Forged with Rune and Grey recovering from the events of Feena's Kingdom, explaining themselves to the Council members and weaving a web of stories to enable them to right some wrong's and rescue their mentor, Tate, who was on his way back to the gladiator ring.
With only shape-shifter Beltran (I love him, I love a character that you can't fully work out), and explosive vampire Verida to help and guide them, they are sent on a journey where secrets and lies are revealed, long buried trauma's are released and the flickers of a new romance start to burn.
Through this book we learn a bit more about our characters, particularly the long buried secret trauma of Grey's childhood. Whilst I'd had my suspicions of what had happened to him, actually reading it on the page was truly heart breaking (this definitely needs a trigger warning). Something that he had thought was so obvious for people to see had happened to him, to have to say they words and explain was both traumatic and cathartic.
After being largely side-lined in Promises Forged we also discover exactly what life has been like for Rune's twin brother. Ryker, since he arrived in Eon. Not taken prisoner by Zio as everyone had thought, but living and training with her to become her own personal Venator.
After finding Rune quite hard work in the previous books, she definitely came out better in this one, with Verida taking the slightly annoying character award this time. Whilst I love Verida as a character, the shouty, angry persona was getting a bit grating. But, finding out the heart break she went through does go in her favour in the end.
Which then brings me back to Beltran. As I said, I love this character. Not ever really knowing what his intentions are, and why he's doing what he's doing - the whole mysteriousness of it makes me think, if this was ever a TV series or film, he would be the stand out character - not to mention the 'ship' - Beltune? Or Rultran? - what do you think?
Longer than the previous two, this was a meaty read, slightly slow in places but it covered a lot of ground and character development. The author weaves fantastic storylines and fantasy with very visual descriptions of characters and the land they are in. I have said it before, but I envy any writer than can create such a detailed fantasy land.
It's thanks to Dave at the Write Reads again that I have been introduced to this series, I really have enjoyed it and am really pleased to have added it to my collection. If you love tales of different lands, vampires, werewolves and other mystical creatures then this is definitely worth a go.
I received this as an e-book in return for an honest review as part of The Write Reads Blog Tour.