Review: Soul Avenged by Keri Lake

Posted February 4, 2013 by Carmel in Carmel, Reviews, Urban Fantasy, Werewolves / 6 Comments

Soul Avenged by Keri Lake
Series: Sons of Wrath #1
Published by Indie
Published on: February 6, 2013
Genres: Urban Fantasy, Werewolves
Pages: 533
Format: ARC
Source: Author

Amazon

Passion is blind in vengeance and love…

Ayden’s suburban home was invaded by a pack of Lycans.

The brutal attack is the only memory she carries of her former life.

Now, one motive burns in her soul:

KILL THEM ALL.

The Sons of Wrath—a brood of vengeance-dealing warrior demons—band with Ayden to hunt the Lycans on Detroit’s most deadly feeding grounds.

Kane Walker should’ve been her easiest kill.

Unfortunately, the newly bitten Lycan has something she wants—clues that may finally lay her past to rest. To reach them, she must be willing to submit to the sensual pleasures awakened by his touch.

Time is running out.

In seven days, Kane will become what Ayden despises most. She can halt his transformation but the antidote requires the ultimate sacrifice. As the beast takes hold, Kane becomes more of a threat.

Ayden must choose between her lust for revenge, or surrender to her enemy and discover a horrible truth.

Typically I prefer my werewolves to be the good guys but Keri Lake’s lycans are so maliciously evil that I couldn’t stop myself from jumping on her “kill them all” bandwagon. Except for Kane of course but I’ll get to him later. The Sons of Wrath reminded me of J.R. Ward’s best-selling Black Dagger Brotherhood series and well, need I say more? Replace a house full of sexy vamps with one full of beefy demons and you have my full attention! Soul Avenged is not for the faint of heart with its gruesome battles and stone cold heroine; heck, even the love story is dark!

Readers get to enjoy multiple POVs which is always fun. There’s nothing better than getting to experience both sides of a story. Rather than having to guess at the various characters’ motivations we get to witness them first-hand. I love visiting the minds of twisted individuals and this book has plenty to choose from! That being said, I found the background info to be lacking. The world felt post-apocalyptic and yet not. The outskirts of town are littered with abandoned buildings and mangled corpses but no one seems to notice. People don’t know that lycans exist yet they avoid these “bad parts” of the city like the plague. There’s a link missing somewhere in there…

The Sons of Wrath were by far the best part of this novel and I wish that they’d gotten more face-time but seeing how this series is named after these hunky demons I expect that this won’t be the last we’ll see of them. There’s an interesting mix of preternaturals in this story too and they’re not the usual suspects either; I’m talking ghouls and hellhounds people! And finally, just when I thought that I’d read every possible variation on werewolves Lake proved me wrong. I enjoyed the changeling aspect of her lore as well as their violent natures. This book truly is a rabid read!

Ayden’s character was a little too black-and-white for me. I enjoyed her spunk and killer battle instincts but found that her human side was lacking. Other than the odd blip she seems incapable of feeling anything other than hatred which isn’t surprising given her lack of memories but she was still too much of a Debbie Downer for my tastes. Kane is the complete opposite; his wisecracks and charm added some much needed sunshine to this otherwise gloomy tale.

Soul Avenged is gory and dark with endless action that’s sure to please even the manliest of Urban Fantasy readers. My next dose of The Sons of Wrath can’t come soon enough!

Carmel

Owner, designer and main blogger behind Rabid Reads. Avid book reader, snowboard bunny, video gamer and Supernatural fan. I love all things paranormal, werewolves especially. Oh, and I’m Canadian, eh!