Knight of the Hunted is a YA paranormal romance and is the first in a series.
Lisbeth is a 400-year-old Born vampire and a strong one at that. Created by the coupling of a human mother and an Incubus, she is more powerful than a turned vampire and can take sustenance, not only from blood but from human food too. Throughout her life she has lived by the rules, knowing that they are there for a reason and there is no need to break them. So why did she feel the need to protect a Lycan pup? That was a big no no. Now she has Hunters on her trail (including her friend Olivier) who mean to bring her in to face the consequences of breaking that rule. As she flees from her pursuers, she meets up with a guy called Knight whose scent she cannot place. Part Lycan, part something else. Plus, he has no pack to run with. Knight vows to protect Lisbeth and as their pursuers get closer, they find themselves in a village of vampires and humans, controlled by another ancient Born vampire James, drunk on the control additional blood feedings give him. James decides to make Lisbeth his own, and she starts to sink deeper and deeper under his influence. She needs to get away from James, but how? She needs to remain safe from the Hunters, but how? She needs to decide what to do about Knight in her life, but how?
So, the story itself. The author has definitely kept it YA so a bit of romance, not any gratuitous violence, and some light-hearted banter and snarky remarks. What I did enjoy about the book, was the idea that one who follows the rules so whole-heartedly would break them to save a child and in doing so learns more about what is out there in life. The lycan/vampire love interest is not a new idea, but the slight change that makes Knight something more than a Lycan makes it interesting. I found there were too many questions left for me at the end of the book. Yes, there is a cliffhanger at the end, but it was the holes in the story that were left open that made it feel not well-rounded. For instance, there is a character called Sara who runs the guest house in the village James controls that has quite a big part in helping Lisbeth out but the reader has no idea who she is, where she comes from, why her son was mentioned, or her purpose. This might be looked at later on in the series but a small explanation now would have piqued the readers’ interest. The same goes for any other explanation about the village or what happens at any other times in it other than when Lisbeth meets James, more info about the Alpha’s protection, and maybe more character backgrounds especially Cameron and Balthazar.
The proofreading of this book did not do the flow of reading any favours. As an editor, my eyes tend to catch needless quirks and mistakes quickly which take the enjoyment out of an easy read. I understand that mistakes can crop up, but when curly apostrophes and straight apostrophes are mixed up in the same sentence, or en dashes are used in place of em dashes, or a word has a hyphen and an en dash in it more than a couple of times it makes me pause too often.
I would have to put this in the average category due to the editing mistakes and the story that left me with more questions than answers. I’m sure many people will enjoy it for its easy to read style, but I needed more substance to feel more for the characters. I would like to find out what happened to Lisbeth at the end though!
Thanks to Voracious Readers Only and the author for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.
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