REVIEW: IMMORTAL CRAVING By Kendra Leigh Castle

Posted January 29, 2013 by Karen in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

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Title: Immortal Craving Dark Dynasties #4
Author: Kendra Leigh Castle
Rating: 4.25/5 Stars
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Forever
ASIN:B007ZFIU0K

SYNOPSIS
The last-and most lethal-of his kind . . .

Wild, uncontrollable, and powerful, the lion-shifting Rakshasa were hunted down by vicious rival vampires who feared their dark, magical abilities. Somehow one survived, and now, after centuries of hiding, Tasmin Singh reemerges as fierce and fearless as ever at the door of the Lilim queen, seeking answers . . . and sanctuary.

The human best friend to a vampire queen, Bay Harper traded her quiet, comfortable life for a world filled with immortal assassins, warring werewolves . . . and this hauntingly sexy shifter. Only Bay’s gentle touch can subdue Tasmin’s inner demons, even as he brings out a passion and sensuality she never imagined she could feel. But when a bloody struggle threatens to tear them apart, can Bay risk everything on her faith in him-or will his dark side be stronger than even their all-consuming desire?

REVIEW
Immortal Craving is the fourth book in the Kendra Leigh Castle Series A Tale of the Dark Dynasties. For those unfamiliar with the Dark Dynasty Series, it is a paranormal world comprised of vampires and werewolves. The vampires that Leigh creates come from a social structure of a caste system. There are the high bloods, aka the ruling class, and the low bloods. The ruling class vampires prey on others, both socially and morally. The vampire maker’s bloodline is passed down to those he sires; the newly turned lot is caste with his maker’s bite.

The Highbloods are ruled by dynasties. The Ptolmey Dynasty ruled by Queen Arsinöe, Cath Sith & Lilim Dynasty is ruled by Lilly Quinn MacGillivary, Dracul Dynasty ruled by Vald Dracul, Grigori Dynasty ruled by Sammael, Empusa Dynasty ruled by Mormo and the extinct Raskshasa Dynasty ruled by no one. The Cath Sith had been considered low bloods until Lilly Quinn MacGillivary decided to co-op them into her new dynasty.

Each dynasty member is marked by a tattoo that appears upon conversion. This tattoo declares to everyone who you belong to and what you are. There is no hiding your nature amongst the vampires of the Dark Dynasty. A tattoo that has been muddled by another’s via blood exchange during mating, marks them forever as low bloods. Only those of pure blood, untainted by another’s, are considered high blood vampires. As fans of the series will know, each dynasties members have unique abilities. Ptolemy lighting speed, Cath Sith, Dracul and Raskshasa can take animal form, Lilim have powerful psychic energy, Empusa can take smoke form and the mysterious Grigori have the power of flight.

It should be noted that these are not the sparkly vampires of young adult books. These vampires have a complex political structure made up of alliances and warring factions. All the vampire dynasties have unique abilities, and some can even take animal form. The ability to take animal form is seen as disgusting to some such as the Ptolmey dynasty vampires.

In Immortal Craving, the only known Raskshasa Dynasty survivor, Tasmin, awakens after a unnaturally long sleep to discover that his dynasty of powerful illusionist lion vampires no longer exist. The Raskshasa has the ability to make anyone believe anything they choose. They were not seen as loyal and they had no central power or ruler; they lived in lion pride structure, not banding together. They were hunted to extraction by the Egyptian Ptolmey Queen Arisnöe. Arisnöe is such a warm and lovely vampire ruler, NOT. Arisnöe had a deep abiding hatred for any animal ability vampire.

Tasmin makes his way to the United States from India, in search of answers to what happened to his dynasty. He has heard about Queen Lily and her resurrected Lilim dynasty. Being recently turned, and a 21st century gal, Lilly doesn’t believe in the caste dynastic system. Tasmin contacts Bailey, Lily’s human best friend in order to get an introduction to the Lilim queen. It is soon revealed that Tasmin is not well, but of course this doesn’t stop the attraction that builds between Bailey and Tasmin.

Castle does a marvelous job of world building and the history that she builds for her characters and past is vivid and rich. She writes a very enjoyable story, and her books keep building her complex world in stunning detail. Castle does a great job in pulling the reader into the political machinations of the vampire dynasties. The world that the low bloods inhabit is dark and they live on the fringe of society trying to live their lives and not be noticed by high bloods. High bloods see the low bloods as fair game in taunting and even killing. The high bloods reminds me of the peerage of historic English society, those that are above all laws even those that they may enforce.

The character of Tasmin is a powerful, alpha lion, that is tormented by the loss of his pride and dynasty. He is tormented by his illness, an illness that he fears revealing and yet knows that hiding it will have devastating repercussions. Tasmin is a strong, yet tender, fierce and loyal character. These attributes shine as the tale unfolds.

With Lilly’s friendship, Bailey is introduced to this new paranormal world. Bailey is a feisty character, but she is also conflicted with Lilly’s strange life. She knows that this immortal world is not for her, no matter how much she loves Lilly. She loves her mortal life, and doesn’t want to give it up for anyone or anything. Being a mortal best friend to an immortal power player has put Bailey in the crosshairs of the political machinations of Lilly’s enemies, aka Queen Arisnöe. This queen is willing to use anyone and anything to weaken Lilly.

The conflict that Bailey faces is a powerful storyline. Most characters in paranormal books would jump at a chance to be an immortal. Instead, Bailey is happy with her life and mortal existence. Her character is a breath of fresh air in a genre that sometimes throws away mortality a little too easily.

All of the series characters are included in this tale, along with a new character, Grimm, Bailey’s big black Newfoundland dog. How could I not fall in love with such a noble and loyal character? Being neither immortal or magical, I worried about Grimm the most.

I would highly recommend this book and the entire series as a whole. Castle’s Dark Dynasty characters and books are rich in adventure, love and imagination.

AMAZON | BARNES & NOBLES

imageABOUT THE AUTHOR Kendra Leigh Castle

After being raised in the far and frozen reaches of Northern New York, Kendra Leigh Castle ran away with a handsome young Navy fighter pilot and has spent the last thirteen years moving all over the country. She began her writing career in the high desert of Nevada, but now lives in Maryland with her husband, their three children, a Pekingese, two Newfs, and an obnoxious Siberian cat. Kendra can usually be found curled up with her laptop and yet another cup of coffee, and loves to hear from her readers! A 2011 RITA finalist for her book RENEGADE ANGEL (Nocturne), she is currently hard at work on the next in her Dark Dynasties series (Forever).

Author information taken from Goodreads

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