Review: Hunter Sacrificed by Nancy Corrigan (Wild Hunt 0.5)

          Title: Hunter Sacrificed

                 (Wild Hunt 0.5)

          Author: Nancy Corrigan

          Release Date: November 3, 2015

          Publisher: Samhain

          Category: Paranormal Erotic Romance

          Type: Digital

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          Nancy Corrigan Website

Blurb:

His vow to save mankind turns him into the father of the damned...

Arawn, Lord of the Underworld, is faced with the hardest decision of his long life. Because of his neglect, humans are suffering...but his vow to make things right could cost him everything he holds dear.

Minerva, the Goddess of Love, holds his heart and soul, except the act he must now commit might very well destroy their love.

But his sacrifice doesn't go far enough to end the humans' agony. It compounds it--and turns him into a pawn. He cannot renege on his deal with the Triad, but he can avenge those he's wronged.

To do that, he'll need every one of his Huntsmen to win the greatest game of all time--the Wild Hunt.

Excerpt:             (from the Nancy Corrigan website)

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Screams reverberated inside Arawn’s head. He knew the story behind each one, had shared in their agony and had experienced their deaths. All had been avenged. None would be forgotten. It was his gift and a reminder of why he oversaw the punishment of the corrupt. Or so the Triad had told him the day he was chosen as the Lord of the Underworld.

The day he was sacrificed.

Damned and forgotten.

Hands clenched, he strode across the balcony of his fortress. At the railing, he stopped and swept his gaze over his realm. The endless barren landscape offered little in the way of scenery or comfort. It wasn’t meant to give any.

The unfortunate beings who found themselves on the desolate plains stayed only long enough to be judged before moving to the lower sections of Hell, where they faced their eternal punishment. The nine shimmering portals dotting the horizon provided access to each level. He studied the barriers, looking for any additional signs of deterioration. All remained secured. He nodded, pleased that his efforts to mend them had found some measure of success. The horrors and inhabitants contained within the Underworld could not be released, not ever again.

The demon sentinels who guarded the gateways understood the dangers and the penalties if they failed in their role. Arawn had made sure of it, and those who obeyed his command were richly rewarded. Few offered him their allegiance, however. They were demons after all, and he was a god.

Revered, envied, feared and…

Blessed.

Arawn cracked his jaw. The knowledge that he was the Triad’s favored servant, the one chosen to act as its hand in the never-ending battle against evil, didn’t comfort him or make his endless existence worthwhile. Only one thing did… One person, actually.

Minerva.

Silver hair and eyes, the face an angel and the body of a succubus­­—she was beautiful. As a goddess of love, she would be. He craved her touch, savored her every kiss and found heaven each time he joined their bodies.

He closed his eyes and conjured her face, allowing the wonder she bestowed upon him to seize him. The screeches and moans echoing within him faded to murmurs. He sighed in relief. Peace filled him. Fleeting, yes. The second her image slipped from the forefront of his mind, the endless anguish he experienced would return.

He treasured the moment. It would have to last. What he planned would take his personal heaven from him, at least for a little while.

I have no other choice. My wrong must be righted.

The truth didn’t erase the sin he would soon commit, nor did it justify his past actions. It was all he had to give his mate, however.

It wasn’t enough. Nothing was.

On a weary exhale, he opened his eyes, letting Minerva’s image scatter, lost to his memory. The endless expanse of the Underworld greeted him. The shrieks and pleas of victims returned, ten times worse than they had gripped him before. Dots spread over his vision, and the pressure behind his eyes built. He breathed through the sensation until the dizziness passed. One more deep inhale, and he steadied himself, pushing back the weakness only Minerva knew about.

He turned his back on the domain he’d been tasked to oversee and made his way inside, each step slower than the last. Choices, past and present, weighed him down. They couldn’t be ignored, however. He’d picked his path, and the consequences of his decision were inescapable.

At his office, he straightened his spine, then flung the door open.

Lucas, the Demon King, stood with his hands clasped behind his back and his gaze on Minerva’s portrait. He glanced over his shoulder. His plain brown eyes held curiosity. “You summoned me?”

Arawn shut the door behind him. “I am leaving the Underworld, and I want you to maintain my rule while I’m gone.”

Lucas raised a brown brow, the only sign of his shock. “And how do you plan to pull off such a feat? You are tied to this realm, as I am.”

“Through my mate’s connection to the heavens.” She just didn’t know she’d be helping him yet.

“I see.” Lucas faced Minerva’s portrait. “She plans to leave the Underworld too? I thought she’d vowed to remain here under your”—he cleared his throat—“protection.”

Protection. Arawn almost snorted at the demon’s word choice. None of the creatures in the Underworld would dare harm Minerva. No, it wasn’t protection Arawn offered her but relief. Within his realm of desolation, she thrived.

“She will remain here, and you will distract her from the unfortunate side effect of her position.”

“I am an incubus.” A leering grin spread over Lucas’s ordinary face. “The only comfort I can give is sex.”

Arawn didn’t bother responding to the demon’s taunting. For one, Arawn didn’t doubt his mate’s love or fidelity. More importantly, he knew what Lucas wanted above all else, and it had nothing to do with sex.

Review:

Arawn, Lord of the Underworld, made a decision a long time ago and chose love over duty – not love to just anyone, love to the Goddess of Love herself. He mated her and the two have shared a unique bond ever since. His dark and broody to her light and positive, they find that they balance each other out in unexpected ways which only strengthens their bond. But Arawn’s decision has come at a price and now a threat looms that must be squelched. His only problem is that if he does what he knows he needs to do, what he must do, it will very likely cost him the love of Minerva.

Minerva, Goddess of Love, is madly in love with Arawn and has gone so far as to installing herself in the Underworld itself. She refuses to be apart from him and he relishes having her near. When the heartbreak is too much for her to bear and the darkness threatens to suck him back in, they rely on each other for strength and healing. But Arawn has come to her with a plan and she does not like it. She knows that the threat must be stopped, but the price paid to achive it might be too much. Not only does his plan risk their love, it also risks her greatest desire. Reluctantly, she agrees to aid him. But will it work? And are the sacrifices worth the end result?

OK. So first, I have to caution you that this is not a novella. It is, but it is more of a prequel to the series. There is no start and finish in this one, just a start and then … nothing. I was truly aggravated by that. While I understand it, I dislike getting left with a huge cliffhanger. I don’t know why this could not have been the beginning of the book and then cut to 17 years later. I believe that would have worked, but that is not what happened. Sure, I could have read reviews first, but I dislike doing that for fear they will influence me, so I generally do not read them until after I have reviewed myself. If you guys are not prepared to be left in the dust, or have the first book in the series ready to read, you might not like this for that simple fact alone. That said, the premise of this series is quite interesting. Two of the most opposite of Gods are in love – their hook up spawns great consequence – imminent threat must be crushed – enter Huntsmen to defeat the threat. I liked it. To me it was maybe a little more SciFi than Paranormal – at least to my way of thinking. The characters were likeable and had purpose, but there was a lot left unsaid, especially from Minerva. I wonder if I might have had a better chance at connecting with them if more had been revealed. However, as I said, this was basically a very long prequel to a series, so I suppose, all things considered, we were given enough to whet the appetite for the series itself. While I was intrigued by the subject matter, I do not know that I would want to sit and read all of the books. And given the cliffhanger in this one, I wouldn’t be surprised if the same occurs in the other full length novels. That is something that would be an issue for me. In any case, the sex scene was hot, the plot seemed viable, and I didn’t dislike the characters. So a good start to an intriguing series, but maybe not quite enough to catch me hook, line and sinker. Possibly the hook, but that is it. It is a FREE read currently, so I guess I can’t really complain – and you have nothing to lose by downloading it.

Kindle version purchased for personal library