Nocturnal Book Reviews

Building from Ashes by Elizabeth Hunter (Elemental World #1)

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Synopsis from Goodreads
For a thousand years, powerful earth vampire Carwyn ap Bryn has served others. God. His family. His friends. But tragedy and loss disrupt his peaceful existence, causing him to question everything he has committed his eternity to.

Brigid Connor has known about vampires since they rescued her from a painful childhood. But not even their vast elemental power can save her from the demons that torment her.

As loyalties are tested and new paths are forged, a lurking danger slowly grows in the Elemental World. Carwyn and Brigid will learn that even secrets revealed can come back to haunt you when you least expect it.
A continuation/spinoff of the Elemental Mysteries series. The timeline in this books stretches from BEFORE A Hidden Fire starts (so you see a little character history) until AFTER A Fall of Water finishes. As I’m sure lots of you could tell, Carwyn had quite a few things going on in his life that didn’t make it into Gio and Beatrice’s story. So Building From Ashes explores that storyline and also sets up the Elemental World for some new adventures...

 Amazon kindle US($3.99)/UK(£2.58)| Smashwords

8.5/10

Every time I read anything Elizabeth writes I can't help but immerse myself in her gorgeous, captivating and lively world of elemental vampires completely, so her books for me are always a treat.



I was sad to bid Gio and Beatrice goodbye, and I'm sure it will take awhile for me to warm up to the change of dynamics in the spin-off of this series. You see, now, instead of having a series about one couple continuously, we have one couple in each new book if I understand correctly. As a result what was essentially a paranormal mystery with romantic elements turned into a paranormal romance with mystery elements.

Carwyn is a charming, warm, larger than life, humorous character, and I really loved his sense of loyalty and care for everyone he loved. Just thought that Gio used remind me of Aramis and Carwyn's character is similar to Porthos from Three Musketeers. But it's Brigid who stole the limelight in this book.

Like Beatrice, she is incredibly strong, stubborn and determined, and I admired her rise in the ranks among the water vampires. She is a security consultant and she becomes involved into a search for a supplier of a new vampire drug (which we know about from the previous series) and investigation into a consequent kidnapping and death of Carwyn's son, Ioan.

At the same time, Brigid is not like Beatrice, she is damaged by a childhood trauma, suffered from anxiety for many years and even at some point had drug addiction problem, but she works on herself and eventually straightens up.

Carwyn knows her from her childhood till she changes and his admiration for her grows with each year but he doesn't realise what he is feeling until later on, when he experiences a personal crisis after Ioan's death and feels how lonely he really is. When he does, sparks between him and Brigid fly!

This is a very good paranormal romance. My only problem is that a lot of the things that are happening we already know from Bi and Gio's story and it becomes a tad repetitive. However, I'm sure that this will disappear with the later books of Elemental World as the timetables of the stories will grow apart.

Recommended!

Elizabeth's books I've reviewed:

A Hidden Fire - 9.5/10 (still free on Amazon in US/UK) | This Same Earth - 9.5/10 | The Force of Wind - 9/10 | A Fall of Water - 9/10 | The Genius and The Muse - 9/10


Интересно как динамика изменилась в построении книг в новой серии Элизабет Хантер.

Если история Джио и Би разворачивалась медленно на протяжении 4-х книг и была паранормальным детективом с романтическими элементами, то новая серия  переходит в разряд классического паранормала с элементами детектива, где каждой паре отводится одна книга.

Мир всё также занимателен и опасен как и в предыдущей серии, хотя из-за того, что главный герой - Карвин(занимавший важную роль в книгах Джио и Би), повторений в сюжете избежать не удалось. Карвин - очень привлекательный, добродушный, широкой души человек вампир, который настолько привык заботиться обо всех в его большой семье, что не замечает что он одинок, и только смерть его сына Иоана заставляет его испытать кризис жанра.

Бригид выросла в клане Карвина, она испытала огромную травму в детстве, страдала от тревожности и даже подсела на наркотики в колледже, однако её сила духа и упрямство заставили её измениться, и теперь она работает консультантом по безопасности на клан водных вампиров Дублина.

Её жизнь неотвратимо меняется с убийством Иоана, который заменил ей отца, и она чуть ли не умирает от передозировки наркотиками. Дидре - её приёмная мать, превращает девушку в вампира, и когда её даром оказывается самый опасный элемент среди вампиров - огонь, Карвин принимает на себя заботу о Бригид, что позволяет их чувствам друг к другу наконец-то оформиться...

Добротная, хорошая книга. Рекомендую также как и остальные книги писательницы!