NEW RELEASE REVIEW: Shadow & Ice BY Gena Showalter
A new paranormal romance series by Gena Showalter… Gods of War.
Knox of Iviland has spent his life competing in the All Wars, where vicious warriors with supernatural powers fight to the death to claim new realms. One winner takes everything—and all losers die. Enslaved as a child for his ability to control shadows, the most ruthless champion in history will stop at nothing to kill his king. But first he must win the battle for Earth. When a fearsome weapon imprisons every combatant in ice, centuries pass without progress…until she walks in.
Vale London craves a fun arctic getaway with her foster sister before settling down to open a bakery. Street-tough but vulnerable, she is unprepared to find ancient gods escaping a frozen cave—merciless beings who target her when she inadvertently enters their war.
Though Vale is now his enemy, Knox is consumed with lust and a fierce need to protect her. But only one combatant can prove victorious, and he will have to choose: live for freedom, or die for love.
GRAB YOUR COPY
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Apple Books
Add to Goodreads
“I love this world…this is Gena Showalter at her best!”—J.R. Ward, #1 New York Times bestselling author
“The Gods of War series is my new obsession.”—Christine Feehan, #1 New York Times bestselling author
This is the first in Gena Showalter’s Gods of War series. It has given me hope for a resurgence of paranormal romance. The world, although complex especially at first, is innovative and unique. Immortal warriors (and maybe a token human) compete in an “All War” to win for their dimension ruler (who in exchange for them winning in a Hunger Games-style scenario with only one winner who kills everyone else will release the winner’s family...and if they lose said family dies). This complexity necessitated so so much description in the first chapters. It took a few chapters to catch on and get the hang of this world. Although, just when I thought I understood, the rules would subtly shift. If you persevere there’s enough gore, fighting, power struggles, steamy sexy times and egos to keep the story hopping. If you’re not into explicit gory details of fights, then this isn’t the one for you. I found the author’s descriptions of such scenes masterful and much like a train wreck you don’t want to watch but can seem to stop staring.
Then the characters...Knox and Vale. Each interesting with characterizations that were rich but sometimes conflicting in goals and objectives. When they first met I felt her being into him—like almost crazy into him even though she didn’t want to be. Yet, we didn’t get any information he had enthrallment magic. So, I tried to figure out why she would be so needy for this guy after he abducts her to his alternate dimension secret hidey-hole after a bloody, terrifying battle (not even abducted to “save” her but because he thinks he can use her for something). And, she was upset that her sister had been taken by a different warrior. Yet, she was almost instantly miss hot-to-get-naked with him. That had moments that came off awkward, although the heat between the characters literally steams off the page. Knox seemed to toy with her crush on him at first, but didn't seem that into her (his interest did develop which was necessary to the story but not right away). Now, Vale wasn’t a pushover and that I adored about the character. She’s mouthy and sometimes badass. We do learn to understand how Knox became consciously isolated and hard after centuries of battles.
Interesting and fascinating start to a new series.
I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
About Gena Showalter: Gena Showalter is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of the spellbinding Lords of the Underworld and Angels of the Dark series, two young adult series--Everlife and the White Rabbit Chronicles--and the highly addictive Original Heartbreakers series. In addition to being a National Reader's Choice and two time RITA nominee, her romance novels have appeared in Cosmopolitan (Red Hot Read) and Seventeen magazine, she's appeared on Nightline and been mentioned in Orange is the New Black--if you ask her about it, she'll talk for hours…hours! Her books have been translated in multiple languages. She’s hard at work on her next novel, a tale featuring an alpha male with a dark side and the strong woman who brings him to his knees. You can learn more about Gena, her menagerie of rescue dogs, and all her upcoming books at genashowalter.com or Facebook.com/genashowalterfans
Thank you so much for sharing! ~Jessica, InkSlinger PR
ReplyDelete