Born of Fury by Sherrilyn Kenyon

Hey everyone,

I’ve really been enjoying science-fiction recently, be it the form of TV shows, films or books. If it has aliens, space or time-travel (cause I count that as science-fiction) I reading/watching it. Being a long-time lover of romance books I immediately turn to Sherrilyn Kenyon’s League series as its one of my favourite science-fiction romance series. Also Born of Fury has been languishing on my bookshelves for far too long! Haven’t all my books though?

The book:

The war is on...

Counted among the fiercest Andarion warriors ever born, Hauk is one of the five founding members of the Sentella- an organization that has declared war on the League that rules the Ichidian universe with an iron fist and terrifies it with an army of well-trained assassins. Hauk's enemies are legion, but he fears nothing and no one. He will do whatever it takes to survive and protect his Sentella brethren.

Sumi Antaxas is one of the best assassins the League has ever trained. In her world, failure is not an option and she has never met a target she couldn't execute. So when she's assigned Hauk, she believes it'll be a quick and easy mission.

But nothing is ever as simple as it seems, and Hauk is far better trained and skilled than his dossier shows. More than that, as she pursues him, she stumbles upon the key that will bring down not only Hauk, but the entire Sentella organization.

In the race to report her information, she is overtaken by enemies out to end her as effectively as she intends to end Hauk. Now her only key to survival is the one man she's been sent to kill. And Hauk doesn't trust her at all.

The only question is, will he help her to live... or send her to her grave.

My thoughts:

Born of Fury completely absorbed me while I was reading it. I had to know whether Dancer and Sumi would get the happily ever after they both deserved. Dancer is a member of the Sentalla, and has appeared in most (all?) of the previous League books. In contrast Sumi is a league assassin whose been sent on a mission by Dancer’s brother to bring back evidence that Dancer is a member of the Sentella. On paper this is a couple who should hate each others guts and to start with they do. But pretty quickly Sherrilyn Kenyon works her magic and shows us that Sumi and Dancer are more similar than appearances would first suggest.

The three of them are the only thing keeping you alive right now. Release them and we'll let you live. It's your choice on how you leave this place. On your feet or feet first. You have thirty seconds to decide.

As with all of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s books family, be it the one your born into or the one you create, is incredibly important to all of the main characters. In my opinion Sumi starts to fall for Dancer because of the love he has for his niece and nephew. She is able to see past the stories of his violence and his Andarion nature because it is clear there is more to Dancer than just a soldier. Also Sumi is an assassin herself and therefore isn’t put off by a little violence. Although I liked the sexual tension that built between these two it was the tender moments that I really loved reading about. The scenes were Dancer let Sumi heal him, where he exposed his weaknesses and trusted her enough to help instead of hurt.

Family isn't about the blood you share. It's about the people willing to bleed for you.

Now this wouldn’t be a Sherrilyn Kenyon novel if didn’t contain a bucket load of fighting and a hero and heroine with a tortured back-story. Born of Fury has both in droves. Strangely it was the fact that Born of Fury stuck to Sherrilyn Kenyon’s tried and tested formula that made the story great, but stopped it from being amazing. Dancer and Sumi’s story is a solid four star book for me. It had all the elements to make a great science-fiction romance; complex world building, an alpha hero who isn’t an arsehole, a feisty heroine who doesn’t have to be emotionless to come across as strong. Yet the whole time I was reading Born of Fury I kept thinking, oh yes classic Sherrilyn Kenyon. I felt like she was constantly trying to prove how Dancer was the fiercest warrior in the series ever, the one with the most tragic back-story. Equally with the character of Sumi she had to be the strongest female in the series yet to complement Dancer.

Assholes give us needed perspective to appreciate the people who really love us.

Now that makes it sound like I hated Dancer and Sumi, which I didn’t but it did detract from my enjoyment of Born of Fury and is the reason I haven’t awarded it five stars. If like me your currently craving science-fiction romance books they definitely read the League Series. Although I’d recommend starting at the beginning with Born of Night.

My rating:

Happy reading and see you next time!