Monday, September 24, 2012

Elisabeth Naughton - Marked

THERON -- Dark haired, duty bound and deceptively deadly. He's the leader of the Argonauts, an elite group of guardians that defends the immortal realm from threats of the Underworld.
From the moment he walked into the club, Casey knew this guy was different. Men like that just didn't exist in real life -- silky shoulder-length hair, chest impossibly broad, and a predatory manner that just screamed dark and dangerous. He was looking for something. Her.
She was the one. She had the mark. Casey had to die so his kind could live, and it was Theron's duty to bring her in. But even as a 200-year-old descendent of Hercules, he wasn't strong enough to resist the pull in her fathomless eyes, to tear himself away from the heat of her body.
As war with the Underworld nears, someone will have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Comment: This month's read for one of the book club's I'm in.
This is a story based on the legend of the argonauts, with a twist, of course. In the world created by the author, the argonauts are now the descendants from the original ones in the Greek mythology. The seven guys now are more like an elite guard for the Argoleans, a race that was specially created after the original argonauts. The race has a royal family, a different realm where the population lives and of course, their enemies, whose main figure comes in the appearance of Atalanta, apparently a woman who wanted to be an Argonaut but was considered unworthy of such an honor and she's got a bone of contention over that for centuries.
When this book starts, a certain argolean prophecy states that the beginning of Atalanta's defeat will start when the two halves of the royal daughter will get together and the stronger part will win. The argolean king tells Theron, the leader of the current argonauts that he must find the sister of the royal heir (Isadora) and kill her because this will allow Isadora to grow stronger and then the battle to win Atalanta will begin.
However, like expected, Theron finds in Isadora's sister someone caring and special and he falls for her. While discovering her heritage isn't as simple and human as she thought, Casey will learn more not only about what she can help with but she also introduces Theron for a reality that he didn't see coming and I don't mean simply the love part.

Well, another series. Some friends have read the books and one of them, someone who's so tired of paranormal that she even canceled orders with paranormal books, loved them and read them all and is currently awaiting the 5th one to come out, if I recall properly. Usually only opinions don't convince me, but in her case, I do value her opinion and when she's enthusiastic about a book I tend to seriously consider getting it. So, due to this and the fact is suited my book club for this month, I jumped in. I have to say, for a first book it has several interesting things, the world, the mythology, the intriguing characters, the way each person ha a personalty that will allow growth, interesting dynamics and possibilities. It's all there in theory.
I liked reading about everything, I loved how intrigued I was over many things and specially some details about this person and that.
The pace of the book was good too, I think. Of course the romance happened a bit too fast but come on, is it worth my time to keep ranting about it in these [paranormal] books? Humm, not.
However, two things bothered me. First the main male protagonist was a bit too bland for me. Nothing in him, except his dedication to his nation and his duty, intrigued me. He was rather obnoxious and annoying in his thinking on how women should react to him. He tried to have sex with Casey and he kind of influenced her and I didn't like that, although she was very attracted to him..and willing. I think I liked him better in the end, when he was helping in a community.
Then Casey, the main female protagonist. She was a bit shy, very self conscious, hard working, she loved books and she wasn't sex crazed like so many protagonists out there...she was attracted to Theron since the beginning but she didn't throw herself at him on first sight, which made her great in my eyes. She sort of lost her free will there in a bit but nothing major happened when it shouldn't, meaning they didn't have sex one day after meeting, it took some time, something I appreciate for all the women out there with a (sex isn't everything) brain.She believed in things a bit too soon but I guess it was part of the naiveté in her character.
In the end I liked her more than him, for sure.

I enjoyed how the story was moving along and was eager to see how things would work out and I was pleased to see how the author solved things for them and now I'm curious to see what happens in the following books.
It's a world worth getting to know and although this first book is a good read, my friends tell me the best is yet to come, so...hopefully I'll think that too.

2 comments:

  1. I have this book in my TBR, Sonia. I have GOT to give this author a shot... I've heard such great things about her! :(

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  2. Hilcia!! Well, I hope you manage to do that, I'd love to have your opinion on this "world"!
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