Just finished reading…My Immortal Assassin by Carolyn Jewel

This book was given to me by the author.
This review cross-posted on Goodreads.
My Goodreads rating: 4 of 5 stars
View all my reviews at Goodreads.

My Immortal Assassin
(My series, book 3) by Carolyn Jewel

I’ve been a big fan of Carolyn Jewel’s books since reading, Scandal (see review), one of my Top 5 historical romances. Since then, her My series has become one of my Top 5 paranormal romances.  It’s been a long wait for Durian’s story (the previous My Forbidden Desire was released May 2009), and I was really happy when the author offered to send an early copy of My Immortal Assassin to me.

One of the things I really enjoy about this series is the originality of the world. The demons (known as the kin, among themselves) are engaged in a struggle with the magekind. Dark mages use enslaved demons to provide power and as coerced minions. Witches, too, often get caught in the crossfire, becoming pawns for the dark mages.

Over the course of the previous 2 books of the series, the leader of the kin, Nicodemus, has brokered a tenuous détente between the mages and demon kin (aka fiends). It’s amidst this precarious cease in overt hostilities, that the assassin Durian encounters Gray, a witch whose life was torn apart by a dark mage.

Gray has been indelibly changed, transformed into something “other” as a result of the mage’s failed power grab attempt, and now she is determined to exact revenge upon him. Durian is sworn to uphold the peace agreement, but is drawn to Gray, and promises to help her learn how to control her new powers, if she will bind herself to him.

This is a lot more set up to a book review than I usually do (I usually prefer to use the book description to do it), but the series story arc, and as a result, the book’s plot is a very complex one. There’s a lot of “meat” to the story, and that’s one of the reasons I really love this series. My one regret about My Immortal Assassin is that I didn’t re-read the previous 2 books to refresh my memory of the series details. (Something I like to do with some series.) I’d really recommend reading this series in order, if you haven’t already read the first 2 books.

One of the things that made My Immortal Assassin a stand out in the series for me is the relationship between Gray and Durian. More than any other book in the series, there is a give and take to their relationship that is really refreshing. While Grey has “submitted” (not in a D/s way, but in a magical way) by binding herself to him, rather than being subservient to him, she is pledged to protect him, and becomes his bodyguard. As Gray increasingly comes into her power, she assumes a more protective role toward Durian that male heroes more typically take on. I really liked this shift in traditional power dynamics.

And, despite this reversal, Durian is as bad-ass as ever, struggling with his increasingly protective feeling towards Gray, while relishing her growing abilities and her desire to protect him. He sees her protection of him and it affects him in a way that it new to the usually cold and detached assassin. Gray’s and Durian’s chemistry is great, and they both feed so much from this dynamic.

I really enjoyed the direction the larger story arc took as well, and where the series will go in the next book, My Dangerous Pleasure (to be released June 2011). The introduction of the mage Leonidas is showing a more complex image of the mages, and should complicate the storyline nicely.

Also, I’m chomping at the bit for Kynan’s story and Iskander’s story, as well as hoping for more about Gray’s sister, Emily.

My Immortal Assassin will be released January 3, 2011.

• Carolyn Jewel’s site.
• Excerpt for My Immortal Assassin.

View all my reviews at Goodreads >>