Now calling himself Graeme, he hides in plain sight, terrifyingly close to his goal. A rogue Bengal Breed, he is loyal to no one but himself. And he has a need for vengeance that surges hot and swift through his veins.
Graeme plans to wage an extreme and ruthless vendetta against those who wronged him — Breed and human alike. All will suffer his wrath: those who created him, those who pretended to love him, and those who betrayed him. This includes the one at the center of it all: a seductive, enigmatic woman helpless against the man whose desire is just as desperate as his need to destroy. And he’s tracking her scent...
Comment: So, this is the most recent installment in the Breeds series by author Lora Leigh.
This series has been around for a long time and this title apparently is #30. Talk about a long series... I've started the series in book #7 or something and it has been interesting, some books had a more interesting main couple than others but I've been holding on because as it happens with the majority of series where we don't love everything, I still feel curious about certain characters and keep reading in hopes of reading or knowing more about them...
This 30th story finally tells us the story of Gideon, a Bengal breed that has been hiding from the Genetics Council and confusing everyone for some books now. Known as Graeme, he only wants revenge and finally claim his mate, but even her isn't who she always said and only recently the truth about her identity has come to live.
There are still things to uncover though, and Graeme wants to make sure nothing gets on his path to destroy those who hurt his loved ones. But now that other situations have gotten in the way, can he still focus on his plans or the possibility of losing his mate is too great?
Ok, so I'll divide my comment in two parts, some thoughts I have about the book itself and then I'll say a few things about my view of the series as a whole so far.
If one is to bear in mind the importance of this book to the series, I'm afraid I have to say nothing much happens in terms of plot development and there is so much repetition of certain things that, to be honest, this didn't move anything along...
As for the interest on the book alone, I expected much more. The last books have been emphasized a lot on Gideon and his weird actions, all the mystery surrounding him and some more connected characters and, of course, their mates...but now that his story is here ad done...I feel disappointed, nothing really original happened.
After all the building up of expectations about what Gideon's story I was left waiting for the big news to be revealed, namely can they help Amber, are they close to defeat/bring down the Council and help Breeds more? Nothing really helps and now, coming out of nowhere (or if not I truly do not remember of reading it before) there are even avian Breeds! Plus spirits, dual personality, weird rituals that can certainly be the evidence of a culture but don't really help an already consulting world to expand. What bothers me is that after one more story we aren't any closer to see changes in what is happening in their world, it's almost like each book features a day or a week in the life of a character and nothing really happens. Many new things are suggested but when it comes to solve or explain things...nothing.
After having read this book I didn't learn much about the world, despite a strong world building nothing moves along and although we finally see Gideon and Fawn, or Claire or Cat or whatever her name really is, together, in terms of plot we got more of the same, mate stalking mate, mate running from mate, mates mating and mates saying they will have a HEA.
Gideon and Cat (her real name apparently) do find happiness and surprise, at the end she finds out what she was told about her family was a lie. I understand the need to improve a bad situation somehow and amaze the reader but nothing is convincing and this story isn't original, it's so repetitive...
I feel I can only criticize but the reality is I've read many books, some of them have interesting details and scenes but I wanted more than the same old issues and matings that we know always happen. The key goal here is to make laws to protect and enable Breed individuals to live safely, to have rights, to raise families, to be inserted and welcomed in society... we get many pages saying how difficult it is and how the Council and their minions/collaborators/assassins/spies/all evil or antagonists people try their best not to allow it. But we barely see the daily lives of Breeds, we rarely see their family bonds except if pertaining to the key couple, we only glimpse how they teach their young, how they live, their domestic lives, the sort of things that would help the reader have a general idea of what is supposed to be the goal here.
I can suppose the author goes along at a very slow pace on purpose or it's just her style, but it gets tiring... ok, I guess I could give up, not read more but the thing is, I feel we get enough to be curious, to have our interest focused on so many little things that we can't help but wanting to know if things will be ok for the Breeds. And I do and I want to see three or more characters have their HEA... but it's a task now, which gets the fun out of it for the most part...
Then there's this tactic of just letting us have a scene, a look, a tease and then countless books to reveal us more...
I apologize for my rant-like comment, I still like the majority of the series' content, the characters...but it's all getting so repetitive and long without real changes and that's it...
I hope the next one is better. A very, very average book for me.
Grade: 5/10
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