Betrayal's Shadow by K.H. LeMoyne

By: Anonymous on Sunday, April 07, 2013

Title:   Betrayal's Shadow

Author:  K.H. LeMoyne

Series:  The Guardians of Eden #1

Published:  February 1st 2012 by Digital Crystal Press 

(first published April 14th 2011)

Page Count:  300

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Shelf:  Review Copy

Rating:   ★★★★

Synopsis from Goodreads:

What would you do to save your people from extinction? What if your race held the key to mankind's future? One Guardian will risk hell to change the future. Descended from the race of Guardians, Turen's people have survived the last two hundred years, quarantined and isolated. Living in secrecy with no mates and no offspring, they fail to deliver on their ability to replenish and heal human souls through the birth of their Guardian children. Risking his life, Turen chooses capture at the hands of a comrade-turned-enemy to seek answers to change the future. Mia Bowman has no knowledge of the secret Guardian race. Yet, her uncontrollable, nocturnal summons to Turen's prison cell and her strong sense of justice leave her with little choice but to help him. She can heed his warning and stay clear of his people's problems or she can ferret out the lies and unravel an ancient tale of murder and deceit.

Adult-content rating: This book contains content considered unsuitable for young readers 17 and under, and which may be offensive to some readers of all ages.

My Review:

LeMoyne employs a smooth writing style that highlights the action and simmers through the downtime in the story. The minute transitions in writing style between the different types of scenes really draw the reader into the story with little effort. The tension in the story plays out through the words used and mode of storytelling employed during that section of the story. The same can be said for other emotions that are prominent in certain scenes.

Not only does LeMoyne’s writing style draw you in, but so does her subject matter. This is one of those stories that goes beyond being unique. She doesn’t just give an old subject a new twist, but rather, takes a completely new subject and runs far with it. It was enthralled and intrigued throughout. Sure, there were a couple of times where the story was a little dense as new theories were laid out and various events were explained, but being the first novel in a series on a previously unknown topic this is unavoidable. Even while this was happening the story still held my full attention and once these theories were laid out the story was off and running and I couldn’t put it down.

This story had a rather large cast of main characters, but each and every one was well developed. They also all had important roles to play and were developed to suit a specific role and purpose. I loved how varied the characters in this novel are. They are so different personally, physically, and in abilities. Their names are all unique but memorable, and easy to remember. This helps the reader keep this widely varied cast of characters straight without having to rack your brain for that really cool, weird name that you just can’t remember.

This was a phenomenal beginning to the series as well as a brilliant standalone novel. By the end I couldn’t put it down and was thanking my lucky stars that there was a sequel since I can’t wait to spend more time with the brilliant characters.

Buy your copy online here today.