Book Reviews

Book Blurb

If Sūnder Alārd was born female he would have been cherished for being faeborn—born with magick—and his birth celebrated. Instead, his L’fÿn mother insisted on his death. Only his Panthrÿn father’s desperate escape through the forest saved him.

With most Chándariāns uneasy in his presence due to rumors he is doomed to become a darksoul, and unlikely to find a mate because of it, Sūnder has nevertheless carved out an honorable existence as a warrior and commander. Serving as a bodyguard and chaperone, Sūnder accompanies the Chándariān prince to the annual mating festival on Earth, and when the prince is injured, he can’t help but be fascinated by the tongue-tied nurse who attends them at the hospital.

At sixteen years of age, Gabriel St. Baptista came home to discover his parents had taken off into space, leaving him behind to look after himself. Gabe never recovered from the unexpected desertion, and keeps everyone at arm’s length to avoid the pain of being abandoned again. However, after meeting Sūnder, Gabe finds himself unable to resist the bond between them and breaks his carefully crafted rules to spend time with the Chándariāns, regardless of the fact that Sūnder will soon leave. Scared by what he feels for Sūnder, Gabe can only hope his heart won’t be too broken when Sūnder returns to Chándaria.

But deceit and treachery surrounds them both, and when Gabe saves Sūnder’s life, it sets off a chain of events that could either tear Gabe and Sūnder apart… or give them both exactly what they want.

Book Review

About a thousand years in Earth’s future, a lot has changed due to the discovery of several alien species, and yet the world Lexi Ander has created for this exciting new series has more in common with today’s than I first suspected. Yes, there are multiple alien species, their varied societies and cultures, and lots of intergalactic politics. But there are also environmental issues on a larger scale than we see today, power-hungry despots ruthlessly following their goals, and interpersonal and family problems we are very familiar with in the 21st century. The story is told mainly by Sūnder, a Chándariān male faeborn with "magick" that makes him an outcast in some people’s eyes, and Gabe, a dedicated human nurse who has no idea about his true heritage. Others very occasionally chime in as well, and this makes for an intricately woven tale that starts with a bang and didn’t let me go until the final page.

Sūnder has been rejected by his biological mother because she and many of the L'fÿn race believe that a male faeborn with "magick" is evil by definition. Even though he is adopted by his father into the royal family, he is treated like an outsider due to a complicated political agreement necessary to save his life. He hides his abilities, which are very much like psychic powers but are called magick on his planet, Slorèx, and becomes a strong, powerful commander in the king’s military.

Gabe, left behind on Earth by his parents when he was sixteen, is a human nurse whose lover of seven years abandoned him, making him think he will be alone forever. When he meets Sūnder, everything changes. Gabe suddenly discovers a few more abilities than he was ever aware of, finds out he has a definite yearning to stay with Sūnder forever, and events begin to happen that have him scared for his life. He is stubborn enough to stay the course and curious enough to start digging into his past so he can find out what is behind all the changes in his life.

The worldbuilding is fantastic and weaves a few myths and legends like elves, fairies, and sentient plants into an entirely new setting. Several alien species populate Earth now, and their individual behaviors and secrets significantly enrich the background of the touching romance between Gabe and Sūnder. The plot is complicated and has more twists and turns than I thought possible in a book this length, with several secrets and mysteries to be solved as the characters slowly begin to discover what is really going on. Simply spellbinding!

If you like your science fiction complex and intellectually challenging as well as suspenseful and deeply emotional, if you prefer multilayered characters and lots of intrigue, and if you’re looking for a read that will transport you into a different world, then you will probably like this novel as much as I do. There is much more that can happen, I am curious what’s next, and I can’t wait for the next volume to be published!

 

 

 

 

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Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 359 pages/120000 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	04-September-2017
Price	$5.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Sūnder-Darksoul-Book-Lexi-Ander-ebook/dp/B0753JQZ8G