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Review: Paths of Malice by Sylvia Mercedes

Poisoned. Trapped. At the mercy of a ghost . . .

She can handle this.


A month into her competition with Venator Terryn, Ayleth seems no closer to winning the Golden Prince’s trust. Why else would he call Terryn to serve at the castle on some secret mission, leaving Ayleth to manage the borough on her own?

No matter. She’ll prove her worth to the prince come what may. Plenty of mysteries plague the land under her protection . . . including the mystery of Terryn himself and the strange, dangerous talisman he’s been keeping hidden in his room.

Her search for answers soon finds Ayleth on the trail of her deadliest foe yet. A ghost from the prince’s past has returned to haunt the present, possessed of a powerful phantom shade capable of walking the dark paths of the Haunts. Ayleth is totally outmatched and unprepared to face such an enemy alone.

 But when has she ever backed down from a fight?

Welcome back to a world where enemies and friends can be difficult to distinguish, where angels are deadly and demons desirable, and shadows of the past loom dark across the future. If you like your heroines brave, your heroes tormented, and your action non-stop, try The Venatrix Chronicles today!

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                                                                 My Review:

This installment starts with a bang with my favorite rivals meeting up together on the field after a month of apparently trying to avoid each other as much as possible (at least they had a month to recover after the first two books- they are going to need it).
 
This book was even more interesting and even more of a gut punch than the previous two, which I didn't even think possible. My love-hate connection with this book goes as follows: more moments with the Golden Prince!... And extreme Golden Prince abuse is apparently the toll that must be paid for his time. Precious bro moments between Terryn and the Golden Prince, with definite younger brother energy coming from the latter. But it bears repeating: rated R for Golden Prince abuse. The fun new character of the Golden Prince's bride-to-be and the interesting dynamic there. But also the parallel introduction of the She-Devil who needs to get herself into the nun sisterhood before I put her there myself.
 
Also, my hypothesis that Terryn has no choice but to immediately come to Ayleth's aid has graduated to theory because it doesn't matter if he doesn't know she's in the area, or if he was just trying to lie to himself about hating her, or if anything else is happening. She screams and he's there. We're going for scientific law next.

Finally, since that study is going so well, I am presenting a second hypothesis based off of what was observed in the last book and here. If Ayleth is asleep/unconscious/eyes-moderately-closed and Terryn walks within a mile's radius of her, she will clutch his jerkin in her sleep. Inquiringly minds want to know.

Note to more sensitive readers: This book had some bad language, violence, horror elements, past trauma, exposure, and SUPER SAD STUFF.
 
 

 Three days until cover reveal!
 

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