Review: Unsettling
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 04 20, 2013
As I said in my previous review for "Alpha's Pet," the consent issue in this series is dicey, but this book went a bit too far. At least for me.Casey (whose name in the last book was Cody) has come to the Dark Hollow Pack to avenge his brother's death. This plot (and that editorial mishap) could have been helped if Casey had not been there during Nicky's kidnapping. Had he really no idea how much his brother had deserved to get killed, his anger would have been more justified.I'll be honest, I was really looking forward to seeing how two wolves managed to work out their relationship. And I just adore Rory. The scene where he mates with Casey was disturbing given the cruelty in Casey's mind. It was a bold experiment, and I applaud the author for taking the risk, but it didn't work for me. There were a lot of way this could have played out that would have made the scene better, but too much just tipped over the edge into (frankly) rape. And the mythology also didn't make much sense. Rory could have grown into either a wolf or a pet, so why did his biology make him into a wolf and then bloodbond him to another wolf if there was not something in there to make it all work? If it was natural, his wolf should not have been in agony.As I said, this book had a lot of potential. Certainly, it was good to try and for once do the mating with someone who knew full well what it was and what it meant. There were a number of interesting ways that the whole wolf/pet thing could have been explored, but most of those didn't make it to the page.Ultimately, though, what made this book fail for me is that Casey just isn't good enough for Rory. This was actually the third DH book I read, so I am of the opinion that Casey is just a big jerk without any real redeeming qualities. Unlike Marco, he lacks any empathy for the people around him. And Rory is a sweetheart. He deserved a much better mate. And I think if we had to go through the truly unpleasant "I think my wolf is dying" scene it might have been more palatable if it had been done with love instead of malice.If you liked the first book, I would be braced for a much darker and more unpleasant story this time around.