Unchained - Book Review

Unchained: The Dark Forgotten
by Sharon Ashwood
Signet July 6, 2010

Ashe Carver lost most of her witch powers during adolescence when one of her spells went terribly wrong resulting in the death of her parents. As an adult she became a monster killer, a way to channel all the anger built up inside of her - an anger tinged with self loathing.

The one light in her life is 10 year old daughter Eden. Her former in-laws (Ashe is a widow) are fighting for custody.  In response Ashe decided to cut back on the hunting job (but not entirely because it pays so well).  She hopes to present a kinder, gentler face to the world. Unfortunately her monster hunting job has created a lot of enemies. She may have to set aside her new soccer mom facade for a bit.

Captain Reynard has charge of the guardsmen inside the infamous Castle, the prison to a huge variety of supernaturals. He is the handsome, dashing hero who came to the aid of many at the close of Scorched. It was Ash whose softer side came to the fore as she held the badly wounded Reynard until help arrived. Of course being an immortal he rather quickly made a complete recovery.

[Note: there are drawback to being a Guardian. They are tied to the Castle and can only leave for a short time otherwise they will suffer dire consequences like death]

As the story begins Ashe has accepted an assignment to track down what turns out to be a cute furry bunny from hell - a phouka. Coming to her aid is Captain Reynard who allowed himself a brief excursion to the outside world. It turns out the two work quite well together. Ashe and Reynard expel the phouka from this world and back to the Castle where it belongs. They also manage to track down and take out a vampire who had been stalking Ashe.

Introduced in Unchained is Miru-kai a leader of the dark fey and one of the Castle warlords. He is smart, quick witted, and always looking for ways to work an angle. It is his machinations the cause many of the harrowing events that transpire.

Sharon Ashwood once again creates a world replete with supernatural characters as well as human ones. All interact within a plot with complex twists and turns.

Unchained has a fantastic mix of fey, vampires, a dashing, fearless hero, a kick-butt heroine, and all manner of heart pounding adventure levened with Ashwood's edgy sense of  humor.

This is book three in the Dark Forgotten series.

Book one: Ravenous: The Dark Forgotten.  Read a Review

Book two: Scorched: The Dark Forgotten.  Read a Review