Reviewer Comments: Max is in bitter denial. She hates the fact that her best friend turned her and she is bound to protect Giselle, the witch, as her Shadowblade. Max has powers beyond the normal Shadowblade and believes she just needs to get the job done. She pines for her family and her freedom but knows both are impossible. Max is stabbed, bruised, shot at and all manner of other violent things in the course of her duties. One of the things I thought was funny was the fact that these Shadowblades needed something like 50,000 calories per day just to maintain their physique and energy levels. If only we could all be that way, and not gain weight!
Alexander is a fellow Shadowblade but for another witch. He first meets Max when they are at a Hag’s place. Max is in the wrong but gets what she needs. Later during an endurance challenge, Alexander loses to Max’s witch and then recognizes Max as his prime. Max can’t be sure if Alexander is for real but she thinks she might be able to scratch her itch for sex. Alexander becomes Max’s partner but never questioning her actions or motives, it is more worry for and about her. He does harbor thoughts of a sexual nature towards Max but they are never carried through in this story.
It did take some time for me to grasp the world that had been developed but once I had all the players where they should be, the story moved with a lot of action. There were times where I was glad that I was not eating, as some of the scenes, to me, were quite violent and horrible especially the description of the rats infesting Alexander’s body. Max is definitely very alpha and is the leader who si held with some affection by her minions. She has some special skills and features that the other Shadowblades do not appear to have and she is able to convince whether it is through her fighting skills or her negotiation skills that doing it her way is the best.
Of course, with a story like this there, are still threads to be finished and ends to be tied that will appear in further stories. The whole story takes place over a very short period of time but with all the action the reader may think this is actually longer. The end was left at a satisfactory point but it is obvious there will be further battles, rebuilding and a development in the attraction between Max and Alexander. Readers of romance might be disappointed with this story as it is more fantasy than perhaps a paranormal urban fantasy. However, this in no way detracts from the story.
