Book Review: Born of Shadows

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

"You can't look at someone and tell what they've been through. The scars that hurt the most are never visible on the surface." -Caillen

Caillen Dagan is used to running on the wrong side of the law, but can he deal with making the laws. As a result of being jailed to protect his sister, Kasen, Caillen discovers that he is really the missing heir to an empire. Desideria Denaraii is the daughter of the queen of a warring race. She's used to fighting for any scrap of respect, but gaining little because of her father's race.

When they are both framed in assignation attempts, Caillen and Desideria must team up to clear their names and avenge their parents.

Can the man who trusts no one survive with the woman who has never had anyone to trust?

I feel like I always start these things with a qualification. The one for this review is: I don't read science fiction. Kenyon's League series is the only part that I do. I already love her Dark/Were/Dream Hunter series, and decided to give the League a chance when the first 3 books were republished 2 years ago. Needless to say, I was hooked. She has a way with wry heroes and strong heroines with attitude to spare. Even though her Ichidian Universe is out of this world (pardon the pun), she still makes it feel like home. 

Sometimes I wonder about the amount of trauma her characters have in their pasts, but it does help the reader feel more sympathetic towards them and they can bond a little deeper. I know that I always have a hard time putting her books down. I read this one in about 3.5 hours and was up until after 1 am on a work night. I was dragging ass the next day. It was worth it. I chose to wait until I had a chance to read it a second time before writing this review. When you read that quick and absorbed, you can sometime miss out on the details. Kenyon's worlds are richly detailed. You can tell she has spent a lot of time there in her mind and that she truly loves her characters. This, in addition to her skilled writing, is why her readers (me included) form such strong attachments to the characters and keep coming back for more.

I can't wait until the next book in the series (Darling's called Born of Silence) comes out next April. I'm hoping to get to experience Chayden's, and Nero's stories as well, and maybe Vik's.

BIS Rating: 5 of 5

BIS Rating system:
1 nightlight = put it down and didn't care to pick it back up
2 nightlights = finished the book
3 nightlights = enjoyed the book but probably wouldn't re-read it
4 nightlights = had a hard time putting the book down
5 nightlights = stayed up way too late to finish instead of going to bed

Born of Shadows by Sherrilyn Kenyon on Bookshop.org.

(originally published 14 July 2011)