The League Series by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Genres: science fiction, romance
Books in the series: Born of Night, Born of Fire, Born of Ice, Fire and Ice (novella; to be published in an anthology in 2010)
Synopsis: In the Ichidian Universe, the League and their ruthless assassins rule all. Expertly trained and highly valued, the League Assassins are the backbone of the government. But not even the League is immune to corruption...
Audiobooks: Available to download.
Review:
The League follows the same format as most of Kenyon's series - each novel revolves around a new central couple, who are all associated with each other; and each book has a stand-alone plot but there are minor arcs which carry on from each novel to the next.
Apparently there are different versions of these books available; complications such as different publishers led to the author having to alter certain characters and plotlines. Therefore, if you buy the series, be careful to buy the latest editions.
I greatly enjoyed the three novels, most especially the first, Born of Night. They contain everything that I enjoy about Kenyon's work - good characters, dramatic plotlines (that would function perfectly well even if the romance aspects were removed, unlike the vast majority of romance novels), relationships that take a while to develop. As is usual for the author, many of the characters (especially the men) have dark and disturbing pasts; if child abuse and similar themes are traumatic for you, then do avoid Kenyon's novels.
As much as I liked reading them, I do feel that the novels aren't as skilled as Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series, probably partly because of all the rewrites, and partly because the first versions were written well over a decade ago. The chronologies of the first two books don't always match up (which Kenyon admits to and explains in an author's note) and there are some very repetitive themes, I'm not sure I'd want to sit down and read the entire series in a row.
According to the author's site, Kenyon has written other novels in this series which have not been published. I do hope that they're released - I'm particularly hoping that the character Sway gets more attention, as I found the mentions of his senator wife and matriarchal culture really interesting.
Books in the series: Born of Night, Born of Fire, Born of Ice, Fire and Ice (novella; to be published in an anthology in 2010)
Synopsis: In the Ichidian Universe, the League and their ruthless assassins rule all. Expertly trained and highly valued, the League Assassins are the backbone of the government. But not even the League is immune to corruption...
Audiobooks: Available to download.
Review:
The League follows the same format as most of Kenyon's series - each novel revolves around a new central couple, who are all associated with each other; and each book has a stand-alone plot but there are minor arcs which carry on from each novel to the next.
Apparently there are different versions of these books available; complications such as different publishers led to the author having to alter certain characters and plotlines. Therefore, if you buy the series, be careful to buy the latest editions.
I greatly enjoyed the three novels, most especially the first, Born of Night. They contain everything that I enjoy about Kenyon's work - good characters, dramatic plotlines (that would function perfectly well even if the romance aspects were removed, unlike the vast majority of romance novels), relationships that take a while to develop. As is usual for the author, many of the characters (especially the men) have dark and disturbing pasts; if child abuse and similar themes are traumatic for you, then do avoid Kenyon's novels.
As much as I liked reading them, I do feel that the novels aren't as skilled as Kenyon's Dark-Hunter series, probably partly because of all the rewrites, and partly because the first versions were written well over a decade ago. The chronologies of the first two books don't always match up (which Kenyon admits to and explains in an author's note) and there are some very repetitive themes, I'm not sure I'd want to sit down and read the entire series in a row.
According to the author's site, Kenyon has written other novels in this series which have not been published. I do hope that they're released - I'm particularly hoping that the character Sway gets more attention, as I found the mentions of his senator wife and matriarchal culture really interesting.