Thursday, June 20, 2013

Rogue Descendant by Jenna Black [REVIEW]

TITLE: Rogue Descendant 
           (Nikki Glass #3)
AUTHOR: Jenna Black
PUBLISHER: Pocket Books
PUB DATE: Apr 30 2013
Summary from Goodreads:

"The third novel in an action-packed urban fantasy series from the acclaimed author of the Morgan Kingsley, Exorcist books—starring a female private eye who discovers that she’s an immortal huntress.

No longer the leader of the Olympians, Konstantin has now gone into hiding. Konstantin is vulnerable, and Anderson believes now is the perfect time to destroy his nemesis. He orders private eye Nikki Glass to use her powers to locate Konstantin, and she balks at the idea until a series of attacks leads her to believe that Konstantin is gunning for her and Anderson instead of remaining safely in hiding.

Nikki’s search is complicated by Cyrus—Konstantin’s son and the new leader of the Olympians—who threatens retribution should his father be killed. The complications mount up as Nikki begins to suspect that Konstantin might not be behind the attacks after all. The only person who hates Konstantin more than Anderson does is Anderson’s estranged wife, Emma, who has joined the Olympians. And Nikki knows Emma would be more than happy if Anderson and his people embroil themselves in an all-out war against the Olympians—a war they cannot hope to win.

As Nikki tries to figure out who the true enemy is, she deals with her tumultuous relationship with Jamaal, who struggles to control his death magic. But being loved by a descendant of a death goddess is the least of Nikki’s worries…"

Rating:

Warning: This review contains spoilers.

This is slightly less exciting than the first two novels from the Nikki Glass series written by Jenna Black. With how book two, Deadly Descendant ended, I expected to see more of the whole Liberi lot to be working together now that they were established as part of Nikki’s life. Not that I mind looking into Nikki’s point-of-view, but thinking that they all live together in one roof, I expected that a deeper bond has been created with each and every one of them, considering all that they’ve been through previously. So it kind of dampened my excitement knowing that Nikki was working alone again.

In spite of that, there are still some interesting surprises going on. For one, I’ve always thought Anderson was a father-figure to the Liberi living within his mansion. I never thought he’d have feelings for Nikki that would run deeper than platonic affection. That was weird. Isn’t he like way older than her? Ew?!

Photo from my
Instagram: @janusvielle
I was fascinated about Sita, a phantom tiger that Jamaal can call to manifest from his death magic. I keep wondering how Jamaal can be able to control her especially once the crucial moment comes that he really needs Sita – that didn’t happen. All he did was practice, kind of a letdown right there. Although she did kind of ruin a very exciting moment for Jamaal and Nikki – man that was just cruel! Ha! Ha! Ha! With the hot scene between Nikki and Jamaal in Deadly Descendant, I thought they would finally take their relationship to another level but, alas they started dancing around it once again.

The mystery behind who was causing the fire hazards that surround Nikki was kind of predictable. I already knew who the culprit was the moment that person came into picture. But that was okay, I didn’t mind that it lost its unexpectedness. What bothered me was the culprit’s reason for doing so. It seemed so petty.

Probably the most disappointing part for me was Anderson’s failure to use his powers. He is a god after all, right? What good were his powers and his ability to come back from the dead when he didn’t get to help Nikki in her time of need?

I’m not sure how many books there would be in this series but judging from the ending of Rogue Descendant, there’s a fourth book upcoming, other than that I’m not sure how many are in store for us readers.