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A review by raven168
Unborn by Amber Lynn Natusch
5.0
I won this book thru a contest here and while it definitely is a pretty slow build up, I loved it. I constantly wanted to keep reading and had a hard time putting it down when I had to. 4.5 stars
Khara has spent her whole life (which has been centuries) living between the Underworld and hidden away in a forest alternately for six months each at a time. In the Underworld she is Hades' ward and as such she has grown to love him as a father and him to love her as a daughter. Despite this, she still suffered at the hands of the damned often because Hades simply was too busy keeping control of that realm to protect her from everything. So she had to learn to deal with much on her own and became pretty much emotionally disconnected from everything and everybody as a way of self preservation. One day she is ripped away from Hades' grip and clearly sees his fear for her in his eyes. Taken by a dark one which is feared by many and answers to no one, she is left in Detroit. Found by one she knows is a warrior, she is almost killed by him until just before he strikes. Imagine his surprise when he realizes that she is his sister. So he takes her with him to his brothers. These siblings are all sired by Ares to different mothers for one purpose, to maintain a balance on Earth. All his daughters are killed the minute he lays eyes on them. Khara should not exist. She also meets a fallen angel that she immediately cannot stand. As she tries to adjust to her new life with her brothers (while wanting nothing more than to go back home to the Underworld) it becomes apparent that the paranormal creatures in the city are after Khara. And soon they find out why. Once it's out in the open what she is, the story picks up pace a bit and there's a bunch of fighting and some things get answered while new questions take their place. The bad guy who was leading the others should have been obvious, but the story does it's damnedest to lead you away from it. The success of that is debatable. At the end, Khara tries to do good for one of theirs, but ends up doing the exact opposite. Though as it turns out that's just what she needed to get where she wants to go and hopefully get the answers she seeks. As well as a way to undo what she had done.
The brothers are all pretty cool, but I can't help but be partial towards Sean for some reason. Perhaps because he's the most powerful and in charge and just seemed awesome. I also quite liked how Khara spoke. It wasn't formal per se but she was succinct and straight forward. She simply spoke what she thought and held nothing back, perhaps honest to a fault at times. It was a great contrast to Kierson especially but all of the brothers as well.
Khara has spent her whole life (which has been centuries) living between the Underworld and hidden away in a forest alternately for six months each at a time. In the Underworld she is Hades' ward and as such she has grown to love him as a father and him to love her as a daughter. Despite this, she still suffered at the hands of the damned often because Hades simply was too busy keeping control of that realm to protect her from everything. So she had to learn to deal with much on her own and became pretty much emotionally disconnected from everything and everybody as a way of self preservation. One day she is ripped away from Hades' grip and clearly sees his fear for her in his eyes. Taken by a dark one which is feared by many and answers to no one, she is left in Detroit. Found by one she knows is a warrior, she is almost killed by him until just before he strikes. Imagine his surprise when he realizes that she is his sister. So he takes her with him to his brothers. These siblings are all sired by Ares to different mothers for one purpose, to maintain a balance on Earth. All his daughters are killed the minute he lays eyes on them. Khara should not exist. She also meets a fallen angel that she immediately cannot stand. As she tries to adjust to her new life with her brothers (while wanting nothing more than to go back home to the Underworld) it becomes apparent that the paranormal creatures in the city are after Khara. And soon they find out why. Once it's out in the open what she is, the story picks up pace a bit and there's a bunch of fighting and some things get answered while new questions take their place. The bad guy who was leading the others should have been obvious, but the story does it's damnedest to lead you away from it. The success of that is debatable.
Spoiler
I was disappointed with how easily Deimos was "defeated". To be so easily banished back to the Underworld by a chant from Sean just seemed WAY too simple and not satisfying at all.The brothers are all pretty cool, but I can't help but be partial towards Sean for some reason. Perhaps because he's the most powerful and in charge and just seemed awesome. I also quite liked how Khara spoke. It wasn't formal per se but she was succinct and straight forward. She simply spoke what she thought and held nothing back, perhaps honest to a fault at times. It was a great contrast to Kierson especially but all of the brothers as well.