Immortal Defiance - Laura Maybrooke

Picture me pleasently surprised by "Immortal Defiance", a fantasy book well grounded, that instead of centering on big fights and journeys, decides to center on the relationship between Dulcea, an elven enchantress, and Krath, a vampire.

At the beginning we find Dulcea in danger, betrayed by one of her own warriors and in the hands of her enemies. Enemies that are going to sacrifice her to their god, so she becomes his maid for all of eternity.

But then, out of the blue, Krath appears and saves her. Krath being a vampire and not very willing to let her go back to her war.

What follows is an interesting and enjoyable (and sometimes a little bit worrisome for me, Dulcea too willing to put herself under Krath's influence) story, Dulcea's fears and desires being shaped by her new acquaintance, a vampire that makes her see things in a new way. It is a nice touch that the author has decided to center on the characters and she has a knack to make them relatable and interesting, even if a little bit stereotypical.

The story (this is the first volume of a trilogy) is well developed, even if there are too many flashbacks to tell of what has come before, and sometimes I wished the plot developed faster, but these are minor quibbles. Also, Maybrooke's writing style is perfect for the genre, with a good balance between dialogues, description and a good care into developing the atmosphere and the scenery, the world in which the story happens.

A good fantasy book. And a nice first step into a new world full of mysteries and adventures waiting to happen.

The best: the relationships between the characters are well developed, and they feel alive; that Maybrooke can pull Dulcea and Krath's relationship off

The worst: the relationship between our two heroes sometimes falls into the worrisome, the masculine dominating the femenine (decide whatever you want about this); the plot could go faster

Further reading: this kind of books falls into the David Gemmell or Terry Pratchett (minus the humor) fold: good characters (and maybe not so much plot)

6/10

(English)

*Thank you to the author and booksirens for the copy*