Book Review: Vengeance Born by Kylie Griffin

Vengeance Born
Author: Kylie Griffin
Series:  The Light Blade, book 1
Publisher: Berkley Trade
ISBN-10: 0425245365
ISBN-13: 978-0425245361
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For more information visit Kylie Griffin's website


Annika is Na’chi, a half human, half Na’Reish(demons). The Na’Reish and humans don’t get along, but the Na’Reish need blood slaves to live. They are like vampires with all pointed teeth, purple eyes and odd markings on their skin. Because Annika is half-blood, and the Na’Reish like pure bloods she is treated unfairly, and has to deal with abuse from nearly everyone. All but a human slave named Hesia. Hesia shows her the ways of a healer. When the Na’Reish captures a Light Blade warrior, it is Annika who heals him, and makes a deal with him. She will set him free if he will take her to the human lands, and protect her.

It took me a while to get into this one. The first 150 pages slid by slowly. Not because there wasn’t a lot going on, but because our couple was trying to make it out of the demon lands. I knew things wouldn’t heat up until they were in the human lands, and I was right about that. Once there the story becomes much more interesting.

Other than the slow start there is a great deal of narrative from Annika. She constantly recalls the awful life she had lead, and distrusts the Light Blade hero, Kalan. She also constantly tells Kalan how awful her life was, and keeps worrying about how it will be. It was very interesting to watch how she was welcomed within the human lands. To me she wasn’t that strong of a heroine. She has some really neat powers, and grew up in a very hard world, but is all soft. Despite her short comings, by the end of the novel I was rooting for her.

Kalan isn’t much better when it comes to narrative. The story is in third person, but the switch between her thoughts and his is not a smooth one. He fights the Na’Reish, and doesn’t trust Annika at first. In fact he almost knocks her around at the start. Soon he works past his distrust, and comes to understand her. After this point he constantly reminds readers how brave Annika is, which drove me nuts. Despite that there romantic scenes are warm, but by the time they truly got together some of the tension was lost.

There is a side story with the other Na’Chi. Annika doesn’t know there are anymore, but the human slave, Hesia has spirited them away, and they live out in the woods. I actually thought this was kind of silly. Considering how strong the Na’Reish are, and the fact they have demon dogs, it seems like they would have found the Na’Chi in the forest long before. We are not given a true scope of how big the forest is, but Kalan and Annika make it out in around two days on foot. All the same Hesia urges the group of Na’Chi to follow Annika to the human city. Once they do they stir the pot. The city is already coping with Annika being different.

This was a book I was looking forward to, and it is safe to say I was a little disappointed. The narrative bogged me down, and slowed my reading. On the plus side this is a very interesting world, and I love the differences of the Na’Reish from the usual demons or vampires. Annika doesn’t do it for me as a heroine. We are constantly told how brave and strong she is, but we often see her about to break into tears. Considering her life before, I expected a woman with some edge and steel in her back bone. Despite my reservations I look forward to see where the story goes.
My Rating: