I've enjoyed Karin Tabke's books in the past, and I happened upon mentions of these books and was intrigued. So many of the reviews for the first book were glowing, and I knew immediately that I had to read it. However, I've been burned by cliffhangers in series/trilogies before, so I decided to take a look at people's thoughts on this book before I picked up the preceding one. Well, the reviews were obviously somewhat less enthusiastic for this one, and that gave me pause. My curiosity was still piqued as to what had everyone so riled up, so I decided that maybe if I read both books back-to-back, knowing what to expect, that the events in book two wouldn't be as off-putting as they were for some of the readers who went into it not having any spoiler-related knowledge.
So, was that strategy a success? Did it enable me to enjoy both books on their merits and not come away from them confused and somewhat angry? In a word: nope.
The following will have sort of light, general spoilers, and at a couple of points, I'll delve into more specific spoilers (but will include warning prior to those sections), so for everyone who wants to avoid that kind of thing, reading any further might not be such a good idea.
This isn't a review of the first book, but this book directly and irrevocably impacted my impression of that one, so I have to briefly address it. In short, I really liked it: I thought both Rafael and Falon were great characters, and I thought Ms. Tabke did a wonderful job in terms of developing their chemistry and connection. Even with that in mind, I tried to kind of temper my enjoyment, because I knew what was going to happen in this book. That said, the events in Bloodright still managed to cast a pall on my reading experience of Blood Law because (in my opinion) Rafa/Falon were totally decimated, both in terms of their relationship and their individual characterizations.
Many reviewers have noted that, while Falon initially put a fight, she gave into her attraction to/desire for Lucien very quickly; indeed, much too quickly given what she was supposed to feel for Rafa, and that is entirely correct. Within about 40 pages, she basically told herself that it was okay to enjoy sex with Luca, because Rafa was lost to her. If one hadn't read the first book, I think Luca/Falon would be a pretty appealing couple: there was a lot of heat and passion there, and a surprising depth to the emotionality inherent in their interactions that increased with just about every subsequent page.
However, having read all about Rafa/Falon, I found everything that happened between Luca/Falon to utterly destroy the foundation of the former relationship, and it made me wonder what the whole point of the first book even was, if Ms. Tabke was so bound and determined to tear everything about it asunder with the very next story. It was bad enough that Falon could so quickly relish being with Luca in every way, but there even came a point when - warning: *a more specific spoiler lies ahead* - she thought to herself that, while she had cared about Rafa, their emotional connection just hadn't been as deep as the one she had found with Luca. It just seemed to me that not only was she overly willing to jump from one brother's bed into the other's, it was also remarkably easy for her to sort of look down on everything she and Rafa felt for one another and went through together, regardless of the lip service she gave at regular intervals to the contrary.
What was even worse for me was that - VERY SPECIFIC SPOILERS COMING UP - Rafa was forced to choose another mate. Initially, I thought that he'd refuse for a long time and that maybe it would be a near thing, but they would find a way around it. Boy, was I wrong. Yes, he fought it for awhile and put it off for as long as he could, but not without there being moments of his desire for his new mate being described and even a moment of two of some intimacy between them. I thought it wouldn't get worse, but again, I was mistaken: at one point, Falon put Rafa's new mate's hand in his and told him to go mate with her. She then went off with Luca to have sex, and in the midst of that, she had some sort of mind-link with Rafa and we were "treated" to seeing him having sex with his new mate, and marking her. Now, it wound up turning Falon on, but for me, it was the last straw. To add insult to injury, it was followed by a scene in which Falon had to witness both Rafa and his new mate bearing each other's marks, him holding her hand, etc. etc. Yes, it was mentioned that he didn't want to be with her, but it was also noted that his desire for her was enough. It's also true that he basically turned his back on her at the end in favor of focusing on Falon, but by then, too much damage had been done, in my view.
-End of specific spoilers -
To put it simply, after seeing how Rafa/Falon were so utterly ruined in this book, I kind of shudder to think what will happen in the next installment. I have to say, I just don't get it. I understand that Ms. Tabke wanted to sort of pay homage to Sons of Anarchy (yea!) along with the werewolf/fantasy genre or subgenre, and I think she accomplished that very well. However, and this could just be me and I fully acknowledge that not everyone will have as extreme a reaction as I did, but even with the author warning readers that she was doing something "different," I think this took "different" to a whole new, entirely unwelcome level. I just think book 2 decimated everything that made book 1 so good. So, as far as ratings go, I'll give this one 2 stars because taken on its own merits while totally ignoring everything that happened in book 1, Luca/Falon was a good relationship, with a lot of heat and depth of feeling, and the events surrounding the pack were interesting and suspenseful. Other than that, I have to say that I came away from this book not thinking that highly of any of the characters, and with the certainty that my readership of this trilogy has come to an end.
