Review: Validated my love for the series!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 11, 2013
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Steven Montano's books have made me a fan of his after I first came across his debut last year. Even though it was a bit rough, the potential within in regards to the writing and the series convinced me that this was an author worth paying attention to. Since then I've read and reviewed all four books of the Blood Skies series and it's safe to say I haven't been disappointed. Before I begin the review, I would like to re-iterate that by discussing certain aspects of the fifth book, I'll be spoiling some of the earlier four prequels. So those readers who haven't read the previous ones, be warned...With the fourth book, certain events occurred that made the book a great and equally tragic one. We got a POV from Kane and it was great to see the happenings from his eyes. The author then continues his POV run by giving Ronan a narrative voice with this book and it's a different experience as well. The story begins with not two but three distinct threads. The first one is centered on Ronan and Maur and he try to get back to the Southern Claw. The second tract focuses on Cross who is back to the land of the living but having aged nearly more than a decade with his sojourn in the Shadowlands. Lastly we get to see what happened to Danica especially after the events of the fourth book and we learn that she faces a cruel fate as did Cross in the last book. She is made to serve the vampires albeit with a different name and with a different set of circumstancesThe biggest change of the series is the change in the number of POV characters, with the first two books we have had only Cross as the sole POV, however with the third book, we gained another set of eyes into the world and since then with every book, there has been a POV addition. With this book, we get to see the world via Ronan's mind and that is a great facet for this book. The story so far has been a grim one with each book having a few character deaths and a few of those have been main characters as well. This has led to the readers never being sure who might survive in each book. With this book, the story becomes even grimmer if that was even possible with such a dark world to begin with, but the author goes out of his way to further torture his characters. Now while that doesn't speak all too well about a person I haven't met, I must say it makes for some fascinating reading. Steven Montano has surprised greatly with the direction of the story he's taking and even with the world he has created, he continues to add further facets to it that make it seem as mysterious and foreboding as it was when I discovered it in the first book.The characterization is what makes this story such a terrific one, Cross, Danica and Ronan have been pushed physically, mentally and talents-wise. Their struggles to remain as a team and save each other make this story worth reading. With this book we learn a good deal about Ronan's past (not that it makes him any less scary), Danica continues to evolve further and after the events of the last book she seems like a whole new person (there's also certain plot points which facilitate this transformation) but I'm also talking about her overall character arc, which has been a great one to read so far. Maur is another of my favorite characters however doesn't get much page time for reasons that have to be discovered by the reader. Cross also returns and furthers his evolution as the soul of his team and the person who has given it his all multiple times before and will be forced to do so again.The author has started a four book arc beginning with book three and this is the penultimate book in that arc as there are many references to events of the past three books. There's also the further peeling back of the curtain for readers to understand what truly is happening behind the scenes. After being mildly disappointed with book three, the fourth book and this one have completely reinvigorated my faith and interest in this series and I can't wait to see what happens next. The Blood Skies series comes highly recommended for readers who would like reading a heady mix of genres and books that are bloody, dark and action-packed as those by David Dalglish and Matthew Reilly to a certain degree.