Early Review - Lord of the Abyss by Nalini Singh

Title: Lord of the Abyss (Royal House of Shadows #4)

Author: Nalini Singh

Publisher: Harlequin

Publication Date: November 22, 2011

Genre: Paranormal romance, Fractured Fairytale

Other Books in the series:

Lord of the Vampires (book #1) by Gena Showalter, reviewed

Lord of Rage (book #2) by Jill Monroe

Lord of the Wolfyn (book #3) by Jessica Andersen, reviewed

How I Got It: from NetGalley for review

Goodreads Summary:

Once upon a time…the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden. To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance. Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs…and time is running out.…

As the dark Lord who condemns souls to damnation in the Abyss, Micah is nothing but a feared monster wrapped in impenetrable black armor. He has no idea he is the last heir of Elden, its last hope. Only one woman knows—the daughter of his enemy.

Liliana is nothing like her father, the Blood Sorcerer who’d cursed Micah. She sees past Micah’s armor to the prince inside. A prince whose sinful touch she craves. But first she has to brave his dark, dangerous lair and help him remember. Because they only have till midnight to save Elden.

The Royal House of Shadows series had a lot of potential, in theory, but never quite developed into a good read.  I hung on until the bitter end, surely the final book written by Nalini Singh would be good.  Well, it was better and even fun.  It might have helped that unlike the other three authors, Singh did not have to create and explain a brand new world.  Her story took place either in the world of the Kingdoms (first introduced in Lord of the Vampires) and the Black Castle.  The castle stands at the gate of the Abyss (a lot like Hell) and the Dark Lord of the Black Castle rides out and collects evil souls to imprison in the Abyss.  Micah was five years old when his parents were murdered and their protective spell was warped by the Blood Sorcerer.  He was sent to the Dark Castle where it seems grew into an adult while he slept.  When a Dark Lord dies or decides to retire, the castle chooses the next lord.  Micah was the one chosen as a replacement.  Be it the Blood Sorcerer's curse, his young age, or all of the years he spent asleep, he has no memory of a time before being the Dark Lord.  Despite his great beauty, it is his lack of understanding and social skills (along with a curse) that make him the Beast in this Beauty and The Beast retelling.  But Singh has made him a delightfully sympathetic character.  He is blunt, honest, demanding, impatient, but absolutely adorable in a scary Lord of Hell kind of way.  Liliana helps him learn, grow, and acknowledge the friends and family he has tried to make in the Black Castle.  

Liliana is the most unattractive Beauty ever.  While her body may have been illformed, her spirit and personality are what make her beautiful.  As the daughter of the Blood Sorcerer she has suffered through a horrific childhood.  Liliana is brave woman who stands up for what she believes is right, and neither torture nor terror will sway her.  Not to say that she's unafraid, she frequently is, but she doesn't fold under the weight of her fear.  She wants desperately to help the Micah's siblings overthrow her father and save the kingdom of Elden.  When she first comes to the Black Castle, Micah throws her in a cell.  He's curious about her and Liliana's bravery gives her a job in the kitchens.  Micah is curious about this woman who isn't afraid of him and his interests in Liliana grows.  In turn, Liliana uses the time with him to try and help Micah remember who he is so that he can fulfill his part of the spell.  Micah's attention is the only positive or romantic attention she has ever had and she treasures each interaction.  She is sure that he's only attracted to her because he's never seen other women.  As the story progresses she learns that isn't the case.  She finds it hard to believe that he could love her, but Micah has never met someone so kind and gentle, someone who doesn't faint in terror at the site of him.  Their relationship was sweet and I loved the differences between shy Liliana and blunt Micah.

Liliana and Micah made this story for me, but mostly Micah.  I couldn't help but smile and chuckle at his attitude and acceptance of Liliana.  I wish we could have had more interaction between the siblings, but we only have one brief scene with all of them together and they don't actually talk to each other at the time.  This is my favorite of the Royal House of Shadows books, but it doesn't really "save" the series.  It works because it is a fairly self contained story, but once it has to interact with the main storyline, it weakens.

Verdict:

Lord of The Abyss was a short,fun read, and can be read separately from the other books (which I would recommend).  It's an entertaining story for fans of Singh's writing, but not her best book ever.  If you're going to get it, get it from the library.  This one gets three stars because I really enjoyed Micah.