Moon Sworn (Riley Jenson, Book 9) by Keri Arthur
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Edition Reviewed: eBook
Amazon: Paperback | Kindle
Goodreads: Moon Sworn
Some nights never end.
Some desires never die. . . .She ventures where no one else dares—into realms of peril and pleasure. But will this next journey be her last?
Shape-shifting werewolf and vampire Riley Jenson is through with death–causing it, solving it, surviving it. Her soul mate, Kye Murphy, is dead–and at Riley’s own hands. Not even the seductive embrace of her vampire lover, Quinn, can fully ease her mind, for she has begun questioning everything that makes her Riley–including her job at the Directorate.
Now, the ritualistically slain bodies of ex-cons have started turning up. Reluctantly, Riley takes the case, but something even worse is waiting in the wings. For a vicious enemy from her past is determined to strip Riley of everything that gives her life any meaning: her lover, her brother–and even her own identity. Can Riley survive this ultimate assault? All she knows is, she must fight one last time to find answers, before everything goes dark forever…
Review:
Fellow readers gave me soooo many warnings about this book. The conclusion to the much beloved Riley Jenson series. So I was bracing for the worst. Like some kind of gun-ho drama where everyone dies and the lead wakes up in an alternate universe where she is God. (Though those endings might only happen in Anime.) Because in my mind I have never read a truly brilliant final book. "The Ends" always disappoints. Maybe because you know everyone is going to get a Happily Ever After or the author spelled it all out for you books ago. In my mind end books are just there to say P.S. this series is over here's your closure. Even Harry Potter's final book didn't blow me away. End books are average reads at best.
That said, this book surprised me. Instead of pulling away from the general guidelines of this series, Arthur comfortably sticks to the good stuff. After all, if it's not broke don't fix it. Riley is set on a murder mystery where criminals released from jail are being killed by a red cloven hove demon. Kye's warnings of Blake, the alpha wolf that tossed Riley off the face of a mountain, are nagging at Riley. She's not sure whether she's paranoid or if Blake's "revenge" is coming. This is a Riley book, of course the bad guys are out to get her.
After yet another car accident Riley wakes up in the desert with a patchy memory and only a week to get her memory back or die. Unlike the other many UF/PNR titles out there where the lead has no memory it's a real treat to have one up on the lead. It was beautiful frustration knowing more then Riley as she struggled to figure out what was going on. Of course, the original murder mystery follows her. So yeah, even the final book gets hung up on the same old formula that Arthur desperately clings to. At this point I wonder if this is the formula she will use for every book she writes.
What is great about this final entry is that readers get closure. Quinn and Riley's relationship has been so intense and REAL for me. Especially Quinn. I've gone from mild interest, to loathing him, wanting him dead, and now to absolute adoration. Riley has grown from a free and loose wolf, with a white house picket fence complex, to a real person. Realizing that love can't be planned out or forced. The two have come so far, and I am beyond over joyed to see things come together.
In the end, this isn't a brilliant conclusion. Arthur needed to break a way from her overly done plot. Shake it up! Quite borrowing plots from your own stories. However, for this series it worked just find. All a reader can ask for at the end of a series is for closure. That's exactly what Moon Sworn delivers.
Sexual Content: For a Riley Jenson book pretty sparse. There is abuse of a pregnant woman, while it’s not graphically illustrated it’s mentioned.
3/5- Adored it, just a few minor details held it back.
| Previous book(s) in series: | ||
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| Full Moon Rising (1) Kissing Sin (2) Tempting Evil (3) Dangerous Games (4) Embraced by Darkness(5) The Darkest Kiss (6) Deadly Desire (7) Bound to Shadows (8) Moon Sworn (9) | Paperback | Kindle Paperback | Kindle Paperback | Kindle Paperback | Kindle Paperback | Kindle Paperback | Kindle Paperback | Kindle Paperback | Kindle Paperback | Kindle | Full Moon Rising (1) Kissing Sin (2) Tempting Evil (3) Dangerous Games (4) Embraced by Darkness(5) The Darkest Kiss (6) Deadly Desire (7) Bound to Shadows (8) Moon Sworn (9) |
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