Nightbound by Lynn Viehl

LViehl-Nightbound

LViehl-NightboundOnce again, I have come across a book I can’t finish, *sad face*.  Even though I tried, I barely made it passed Chapter 2 in Nightbound by Lynn Viehl.  The writing is strange, and not in a good way, at least to me it was.  So, sadly, I had to throw in the towel before anything good could happen.

Beaumaris of York has many secrets. No human can know that he’s an immortal Darkyn assigned to Knight’s Realm, the Kyn stronghold disguised as a medieval theme park. And none of his brethren can discover that he’s a half-breed, rescued from slavery as a child. Lately Beau has been yearning for action—and he’s about to find it with his new mission.

Brilliant archaeologist Dr. Alys Stuart is infamous for her extraordinary theories—especially those concerning the mysterious Knights Templar—and she is unaware that her research is funded by the Kyn coffers. When the Kyn sends a vexingly good-looking man to assist—and protect—her, she doesn’t expect the surge of attraction she feels for him.

When a powerful Templar artifact surfaces, Alys and Beau must trust each other enough to stop mankind’s greed for immortality from sparking a war between mortals and Kyn that will destroy the world.

At first, I thought the strange cadence of the sentences had to do with the era and location the Prologue is set in – circa Jerusalem 1208.  But Chapter 1 takes place in Florida, in January of 2013, and the ‘sound’ is still the same.  The sentences weren’t smooth to read, or to say out loud, and I kept trying to fix the sentences in my head to make things sound better.  For instance, when Alys sees Beau for the first time, she ‘began mentally compiling an observational construct of facts: no hesitancy intent gaze unhurried step tailored garments handmade boots…’ the list goes on a bit, but you get the gist.  And no, there were no commas between each fact.   She does this twice within a couple of pages!  Then after Beau touches her cheek with his thumb a few minutes after they introduce themselves, her inner monologue gets worse with ‘she’d learned that unsolicited touching by males was often a demonstration of sexual interest’.   These weren’t the only odd ball sentences I ran into, there were many, this just happens to be where I stopped reading because I couldn’t take it anymore.

Since I haven’t read anything by Viehl before, I don’t know if this is her usual writing style or if it’s because it’s an unpublished copy.  I’m curious, if you have read her novels, is this how she always writes?

I thought I’d take a chance on Nightbound even though it’s #3 in the Lords of Darken series, because the synopsis sounded intriguing.  It still does, but I don’t like the writing style of Ms. Viehl enough to find out what happens.

Read order:
Nightborn
Nightbred
Nightbound

Published: May 7th 2013
Series:Lords of the Darken #3
Format: Digital
Source: Received for review (NG)

About Nikki R 120 Articles
SAHM of 2, happily married bookworm, blogger and aspiring author. If I could read/write all day, every day, I would. Luckily I have a very understanding, and patient, husband who lets me get away with it as much as possible. Now if only the kids would understand my obsession, and the house would clean itself, then I'd be all set.

2 Comments

  1. I slogged through five books in this series before giving up. There are so many books out there that work better for me. Sorry to hear you couldn’t make it through.

  2. I have to agree with you on this review. I read about this book on line and decided to check it out. I love vamp stories, but only when done right. The idea of Templar Knights sounded like it might be a new, fresh take on the subject. This book however, was dull and a disapointment.

    The character development is thin if you ask me. The Alys character comes off as weird and stand-offish at first, but in no time falls for dude. Not that I want any other outcome in a urban romance….but still, usually I like my gal characters to have a little more gumption. She goes from weird to in love and normal in a beat.

    Also, the Beau character’s inner struggle is stupid if you ask me. He was the son of a Saracen (old European term for Muslim) prostitute and a Knight Templar. Something his fellow Knights don’t know. Apparently he is worried that after all these years his friends will still be prejudiced towards him…..not to spoil the end, but they’re not. And come on, it’s 2013. I would hope they would have gotten over their hate after hundreds of years.

    The twist at the end is ok, and I will say that I thought it picked up in general in the back half of the book. But I have to agree with your “skip it” review.

    I have read a couple of her regular Darkyn books and found a couple to be worth a read. The first in the series(If Angels Burn) is crap. It’s about a surgen who gets turned vamp and is still kicking and screaming about it well into the 5th book in the series. I mean come on, living forever with a super sexy man, extra strength, speed and other powers…get over it. But Dark Need and especially Night Lost are fairly good. She does a good job of mixing multiple story lines to create an interesting whole in these. Also the second in the series, Private Demon, is not bad either. But I would agree that Nightbound is a “skip it” and for that reason I haven’t read the rest of the Lords or Darkyn series either.

    Thanks for the review! I always find that the books you all recomend are well worth my time.

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