Kyrene is the Vindica Ultis, the chosen warrior of Shiket, the Goddess of Justice. With her talking (to her at least) sword Zefiah, also known as the Blade of Retribution, she is seen by others as a hero. But she doesn’t see herself that way. But now someone has offered her a chance. Sure, he’s a vampire and her sworn enemy, but she wants to help her punish those that truly deserve to be punished, the gods themselves. She can always kill him when they’re done. If she still wants to…Discover this complicated new hero in Carissa Broadbent’s newest novel, The Lion and the Deathless Dark.
[Note: While I am reviewing this novel independently and honestly, it should be noted that it has been provided to me by Bramble for the purpose of this review. Warning: My review of The Lion and the Deathless Dark contains some spoilers!]
An unworthy hero on a mission
The world is an ugly place since the sun fell. Vampires and soulless roam everywhere hunting humans for food and sport. To be honest, humans also roam everywhere hunting humans for food and sport. Kyrene carries a god-blessed sword, the Blade of Retribution, and hunts down those that offend the goddess Shiket, but that doesn’t make her a follower of the goddess. Or any other member of the White Pantheon, to be honest. If they can allow such suffering to afflict their followers, what’s the point? Kyrene does her job for the goddess, but she also takes on other bounty-hunting jobs because goddesses don’t pay, and Kyrene needs money.
She has a small group of rag-tag companions that follow her around. She says that she wishes they wouldn’t, but deep down, she loves them and is glad they’re there. So when a vampire gives her a warning one night that a rival vampire house is hunting her down, she sends them away, promising to meet up with them later. Never intending to fulfill that promise because as much as she loves having them with her, she’s sure they’re better off without her.
But then the unthinkable happens. The vampires track her friends instead of her. The destruction they wrought on her friends and the temple where they take shelter is beyond words. Kyrene is so angry that she calls upon her patron, Shiket, to demand justice. But Shiket, the Goddess of Justice, isn’t upset about what has happened to her followers in her very temple; she’s pleased because it gives Kyrene something to do! In her anger, Kyrene takes justice into her own hands and kills Shiket for failing to protect those who sought her help.
The fallout from Shiket’s death is huge; Kyrene is lucky to survive at all. When she wakes up, she’s in the last place she would expect, the bedroom of a vampire. Not just any vampire either; Septimus, the prince and heir to the House of Blood, is there when she wakes up. And he has a job for her. Turns out she’s not the only one who’s disgusted with the gods. He wants to hire her to kill some more gods, to topple the White Pantheon that has abandoned humans and vampires alike. The only caveat: he will be there every step of the way, guiding and helping her. Kyrene would rather kill him than work with him. But the chance to take revenge against the gods is hard to pass up. She agrees to work with him, secretly vowing to kill both him and his vampire goddess before she’s done.
It’s the laws of physics: opposites attract
When they start out, Kyrene wants nothing more than to kill Septimus. Zefiah (her sword) feels the same way and routinely begs her to just kill him. But Kyrene enjoys sparring with Septimus. The two of them exchange verbal jabs constantly. There’s also more than a little underlying sexual tension, not that either one will admit it. Along the way, their attempts to one-up each other begin to change. They still trade barbed remarks back and forth, but the undertone is different; the double-entendres are no longer just sexual and no longer just to annoy each other. Kyrene doesn’t want to admit she’s falling for a vampire, but Zefiah knows her heart, and that may jeopardize everything they’re working towards.
A little slow to start and a little too long
The Lion and the Deathless Dark isn’t a bad book. And I’m not surprised by how long it is; I’ve read Carissa Broadbent’s work before. But I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I’ve enjoyed her past work. At least not right away. The beginning of The Lion and the Deathless Dark is very slow, and I have a hard time really investing in Kyrene. About halfway through the book, she changes, though. I’m not sure if Broadbent finally really connected with her or what, but before the Kajmar temple events I just wasn’t that into the story. After that, I was much more interested.
I love the ending too. It starts to look like it’s going to be a Romeo and Juliet situation, and I hated that idea. Not only am I opposed to that on principle, but it was so out of character for both of them, especially Kyrene, that I was really annoyed that Broadbent was setting that up. I thought that it was going to twist one way to stop that scenario, but it twisted a completely different way. It allows for a much more interesting setup to start the second book (yes, this is book one of a duet) and a few very interesting possible paths that I can see for the characters as the story goes on. I am very curious to see which way Broadbent chooses to go, something I imagined or a completely different direction.
Personally, I would have cut out a great deal of the first half of the book. Don’t get me wrong, there is some important setup in there, but it just really drags until the characters begin to come into themselves. The second half of the book makes up for it though. Just be prepared for a long read though because at 532 pages, this is not “light reading” material, even if it’s juicy fantasy.
Rating: 7/10
The Lion and the Deathless Dark by Carissa Boardbent is available now!
Learn more about the book at the official website for the title.
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