Unbound by @KHurleyBooks - My Review on Colorimetry

Oh my...

Unbound
by Katherine Hurley

Everything is out of control before this story begins and the lines between who is right and who is wrong and how far the leadership on all sides is willing to go just blurs. I can't talk about this book without spoiling something in the previous two, so beware.

I thoroughly love this dive into the grey area of real power. The leader of a city or people group has big decisions to make that will effect so many others. There is no answer that is purely right or a choice that will result in no death, so who is willing to go the furthest for their cause?  Who will be able to live with themselves afterwards?

Anyone who has had some authority has bumped into this, but the author expands the idea until thousands and hundreds of thousands are effected. The stakes are too high for anyone to back down. In fact, the one who is willing to risk the most seems like they will have the only chance at success.

Yet somehow Astarti and Logan maintain themselves with honor. In fact, they learn to let go of bitterness that could infect their decisions even though it is a painful process, like prying fingers one at a time off of the only control they feel they have.  My favorite scenes are the ones where they open up to each other and allow themselves to trust and let go.  I'm not sure I've seen bitterness and letting go of it so well portrayed anywhere.

Very realistically, the bad guy turns out to be human (or close enough) all along. The fathers who hold too much of the power are also vulnerable and I held my breath with the world waiting to see what they'll decide.

You shouldn't get to read this one until you've read the first two. It's only fair.  And this one's worth reading, so... there you go.

If I found fault, it's only that everything explodes right off the edge of reality this story balances on. Somehow the author made me feel that zipping along energy lines or riding tree/wind currents was completely natural. My neighbor may be able to do it and I just didn't know it. But when it gets to the flow of time and creation of everything... that feel of "this is real" slipped through my fingers. I lost my personal grip and was left watching the big light show.  Everything was grand and awe-inspiring enough, I just didn't feel as sold on all of it and I was quite committed, believe me.  I don't want to take anything away from it because all the pieces were necessary for that scene, THAT scene... you'll know when you read it. There's one scene that is THAT ONE and it's only possible because of all the nearly-unbelievable other stuff. In the end, worth it, totally, but I do hope that Katherine will take the time to drag my emotions through all the dirt again in future books.

Oh, yes, I'll read anything Katherine Hurley writes, by golly. I'm sold.

4 Stars for this one and the series all together may stay at 4 or grow to 5 if I find I cannot help but return and re-read it.  No doubt the reading experience would be completely different now that I know... just the way I like my library. Complex and satisfying.

Chains of Water and Stone by @KHurleyBooks my review

Chains of Water and Stone
by Katherine Hurley

This transitional book actually caused me pain. Don't read this review if you haven't read the first book since there are some spoilers that cannot be helped.

Belos, as I have already celebrated in my review of The Griever's Mark, is the awfullest breathing being I've read about in some time. He out-does himself when he gets his hands on Logan, who I also mentioned is/was emotionally unstable already.  At this point, I'm questioning Belos' intelligence. It's possible he's just a maniac with a death-wish. And I am certain I don't like torture in general and I detest it in detailed specifics. So... much of this book went beyond gritty for me into the realm of feeling like there was blood stuck to my hands as I read it.

Ok... that's dramatic, isn't it?  Well, it was much too realistic and I really got into the whole thing and it was NOT pleasant.

Astarti felt trapped in this second book instead of competent. The story pulls away from her mind to welcome Logan's POV, as well, and I resisted. Old-school sci-fi fantasies were delivered in 3rd person and I grudgingly resigned myself to accepting the familiar distance.  It was frustrating, though, since the two characters go through so much and their emotions swing on a huge pendulous as they adjust to their growing relationship.

This book is really two stories in one... there's a big break in the middle where I found some relief before launching into part 2. But mostly I wanted to deny a lot of this book as "wrong". Torture leads to issues and the action doesn't pause long enough for anyone to find healing. Questions are raised regarding fathers for both of them and no answers are neat -n- tidy.

And please, what is Astarti doing at Logan's feet on the cover?

I suppose Logan took the stage in this volume, but I still got most of my info from Astarti and was, frankly, frustrated. I wanted MORE inside their head and emotions, which I had before. I also wanted the answers they were searching hard for and I began to wonder if the hope I was grasping for was too HEA for this series.

I'm pretty sure I gave this book 4 stars because I didn't want to eat or sleep or take any breaks while reading it, which is fantastic. But... how frustrating!!  So many things are held just out of grasp. There are too many secrets, either to protect or evade or just due to plain ignorance. Thank goodness book #3 was out before I read this one.  Hello!!! Can you imagine?  If you love the first book, definitely read this one. But have the final at your fingertips, too, and just clear your reading schedule 'til you get through all of 'em.

My review: The Griever's Mark by @KHurleyBooks

I love this series...

It's gritty, dark, viper-fast and larger than life.  If you like fantasy and are ok with fade-to-black adult romance and rather a lot of violence... this is a great choice.  If you enjoy different cultures, Greek gods or dominant personalities, this series is a must-read.

The Griever's Mark
by Katherine Hurley

After completing the series, I am now certain that I enjoyed this first book best.  I was introduced to this amazing world where people can disappear from the physical world into a buzz of energy and zip along energy lines to reappear somewhere else. How flippin' fantastic is that?!

This is also where I met Astarti, who is absolutely amazing. She is one of the most in-depth, evolving characters I've read in fiction.  I would be terrified to meet her in real life. I'd literally be dumb-struck in awe and real fear. Watching the story unfold from within her head?  I felt that awesome and did not want to put the book down.

Belos is also frightening. He is so evil and so powerful and has a kick of intelligence and common sense that just makes him one of the great all time horrific bad-guys. Like, he could win awards for being awful. Naturally, Belos is Astarti's pseudo-dad.  Her first great move is to consciously resist his dynamic pull into evilness to decide that she chooses mercy and kindness instead. She makes mercy look... like a conscious decision achieved at great price. Knowing how much she will have to pay for her actions, she still chooses to follow her own heart and Belos is the shadow that makes her choosing so amazing.  He's so rotten.

Logan appears in this first book, too, as a splatter of an accidental force of pure WOW! I was astonished to discover later that this first impression is real, true & accurate. He really is a force of WOW! Not like all these heroes in stories that discover their own awesomeness and fall into greatness... no. He's like so WOW! that he trips over himself and no one else knows what to do with him either. Their attempts to contain and understand him warp Logan (very realistically) into something of an emotional mess.

With all these strong characters and more on the horizon, not to mention this incredible world where trees are alive with energy that flows in a current you can take a ride in (Oregonian heaven), this book was a delight for me. In a white-knuckled, wide-eyed, mid-gasp sort of way.

I can't help but love the cover, too. My impression of Astarti, who quite obviously is featured with her energy weapon, is not quite so... um... dramatic, but I can imagine her energy and personality would hit as hard and with as much attitude as the artistic model.

I think I gave this story 4 stars on Amazon initially, but I must admit to loving it a full 5. *sigh* No chance of forgetting it, either. Ever.