The Sylvermyst have a reputation as sinister cousins to the fey, and none are more mysterious than Ariyal and his tribe. To save his people from banishment, he sold himself to the evil Morgana. Finally free, he faces a new challenge: Jaelyn, an elite vampire warrior sent to capture him. By rights, he should kill her on sight. Yet he cannot bring himself to hurt her - or to resist her.

Jaelyn is stunningly beautiful, utterly lethal - and always alone. Until Ariyal. From their first encounter, she knows that what's between them is more dangerous than simple lust. And as they unite to thwart a terrifying prophecy that will mean the end of his clan and of the world they know, she will risk everything to fulfil her destiny by his side.

Review

BOUND BY DARKNESS is the latest in the Guardians of Eternity series by Alexandra Ivy.  I love the world Ivy has built and this is a decent addition to the story arch.  However, I think the romantic couple are my least favorite, though the novel is still worth the read.

In the last book, readers are introduced to Jaelyn, a vampire with specials skills called a Hunter, and the Sylvermyst Prince, Ariyal, who is a powerful fey.  Ariyal is desperate to save his small tribe but to do so he must kill an infant who can be used to awaken the Dark Lord.  Jaelyn has been charged to stop Ariyal from killing the child but still keep the world safe from the Dark Lord.  This novel is heavy on adventure as Ivy moves the story arch of the Guardians of Eternity along and I thought she did a good job.  I was also happy to reunite with reoccurring characters like the French gargoyle Levet and the teaser couples Caine and Cassandra and Nefri and Santiago.

Jaelyn and Ariyal were damaged characters that fans of Ivy expect and enjoy.  Jaelyn was forced to become a Hunter since she possesses unique skills for a vampire but in the process she had to expunge her feminine side.  Ivy used Jaelyn’s nightmares to show readers the psychological damage caused by her Hunter training and that worked very well, though I was hoping to have a little more closure with some of Jaelyn’s fears.  However, I enjoyed Jaelyn’s emotional thawing as I felt it was an interesting gender flip from many romance novels.

Ariyal too was an interesting character.  His history of enslavement on behalf of his tribe and subsequent refusal to allow their future subjugation was a believable motivation.  I adored his connection to nature and his emotional warmth which thawed Jaelyn.

So having said all that, why didn’t I love the novel?  Because I never felt the romantic connection between Jaelyn and Ariyal.  As the novel says, “despite their bickering and sniping, there was a potent force binding them together that was bigger than both of them.”  Ariyal and Jaelyn spend 200 pages arguing and hiding from each other but then suddenly admit they are life-long mates.  I never saw why they had this extremely abrupt change of heart.  I felt cheated out of reading about the emotional growth between them.  This is not to say Jaelyn and Ariyal’s smoking hot sex scenes weren’t great but it felt like their emotional connection went from non-existent to iron clad tight in a few pages.  Other readers may not think this is a big deal in the face of all the other great things in this book but it bothered me.

So while this wasn’t my favorite Guardians of Eternity novel (that belongs to Styx and Darcy in Darkness Everlasting), BOUND BY DARKNESS was still a satisfactory read to keep up with the wonderful world Ivy has created.

Reviewed by Janine

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