The Unleashing
Author: Shelly Laurenston
Release Date: March 31, 2015
Publisher: Kensington
Call of Crows Book #1
ISBN:
1617735051
ISBN13: 9781617735059
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Review Copy Source: NetGalleyWINGING IT
Kera Watson never expected to face death behind a Los Angeles coffee shop. Not after surviving two tours lugging an M16 around the Middle East. If it wasn’t for her hot Viking customer showing up too late to help, nobody would even see her die.
In uncountable years of service to the Allfather Odin, Ludvig “Vig” Rundstrom has never seen anyone kick ass with quite as much style as Kera. He knows one way to save her life—but she might not like it. Signing up with the Crows will get Kera a new set of battle buddies: cackling, gossiping, squabbling, party-hearty women. With wings. So not the Marines.
But Vig can’t give up on someone as special as Kera. With a storm of oh-crap magic speeding straight for L.A., survival will depend on combining their strengths: Kera’s discipline, Vig’s loyalty… and the Crows’ sheer love of battle. Boy, are they in trouble.
Kera Watson saves a girl, but ends up being murdered in the process. She takes an offer and ends up as a Crow. Along with her dog, Brodie, she begins a new life. I have to say that Brodie was probably one of my favorite parts of THE UNLEASHING, darn cool dog. Kera doesn't sit by and take ANYTHING. She is snarky, independent, and set in her military ways. She has a really hard time fitting in with her fellow crows, but does find her niche eventually.
Kera and Vig fit together well. Their romance is pretty fast, but not unbelievable. I do wish we would have started off the book getting to know Vig before Kera died and became a Crow. I felt like I was missing something at some points in the book.
Although THE UNLEASHING was enjoyable, I had a few issues that made it hard to fully get into the story. First off, there is a LOT of information to be learned. Tons of mythology, roles of different groups, people (OMG are there a lot of people).... It was a lot and I seriously couldn't recall half of it by the time I finished the book. Another issue I had was that I didn't fully understand the 'evil people' of the book. There wasn't a lot of information about them and the resolution was fast so I was just left thinking "huh?".
If you're into mythology I think you will enjoy THE UNLEASHING. If not, I would pass because it's a huge part of the book. It can be confusing at times, but if you stick with it, it will get clearer. Laurenston created a neat world and although there were a LOT of characters to meet I am hoping that now that we have met them, that part will calm down in future books.
I gave it 3/5 stars
* This book was provided free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.