Name: Venators
ISBN: 9781612549873

Devri Walls

"When their college dorm is infiltrated by creatures from another realm, Rune Jenkins, her twin brother, Ryker, and old friend Grey Malteer are thrown into unexpected, twisted chaos. While Rune and Grey are able to escape, Ryker is kidnapped away to Eon, the alternate world from whence these dark beings came."--

Magic Unleashed

Venators

Candyce Kirk

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this copy from the author. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book Series: Venators Book 1

Rating: 4/5

Diversity: not that I can remember

Publication Date: April 10, 2018

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 16+ (love, romance, violence)

Publisher: Brown Books Publishing Group

Pages: 416

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Six years ago, Grey Malteer was attacked by creatures he thought couldn’t possibly exist. They repeated a word, calling him a name he’d never heard before…Venator. Since then, his life has been a hellhole of secrecy—hiding old pain alongside strange new abilities.

Rune Jenkins has an itch, as she calls it, but it’s more than that. It's an anger that builds up like the inside of a boiler whenever she’s around anything remotely supernatural. The pressure is growing steadily worse and she can’t understand why. All she knows is—her control is slipping.

By order of an unknown council Grey and Rune are pulled through a portal in the St. Louis arch, landing them in an alternate dimension where creatures of myth and legend exist. A realm that calls them, Venators. 

Made up of centuries old fae, vampires, werewolves, elves and succubi the council’s corrupt nature becomes obvious as they seek to wield the newly returned Venators as weapons. Wedged in an impossible position, Grey and Rune must decide their fate—do they go against the council’s wishes and help the innocents of this unforgiving land, or face the possibility of execution by the council.

Review: I felt like this book was great! The characters were well developed, the pacing was very well done, and the writing was fantastic! The book was also well plotted out in my opinion.

I did feel that the world building could have been a bit better done. It really dragged down the book in the first half and the pacing was a bit off at the first part because of that.

Verdict: A great start to a new series.

Rune, Ryker, and Grey are still trapped in the world of Eon, where danger continues to unfold at every turn. Grey has now fallen into the Fae queen's clutches, his soul slowly being drained away. With Ryker still held captive by Dio and her goblins, it's up to Rune to save Grey - but will she be able to harness her Venator powers to do so in time?

Venators: Promises Forged

Disclaimer: I received this book from the author. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book Series: Venators Book 2

Rating: 4/5

Diversity: not that I can remember but I read this a bit ago.

Publication Date: April 30, 2019

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 15+ (love, violence, slight gore, death, and romance)

Publisher: Brown Books Publishing Group

Pages: 428

Amazon Link

Synopsis: It has been mere days in the world of Eon, where Rune Jenkins, her twin brother Ryker, and their friend Grey have been trapped, fighting for their lives. After discovering the truth of their ancestry, the three are far from home, and far from anything resembling their mundane lives of the past.
While Ryker is still held captive by the eerily beautiful Zio and her goblins, Grey falls into the clutches of Feena, the Fae queen. She begins to drain his soul bit by bit to feed her dark underground garden, and Grey has no hope of escaping on his own.

It is now up to Rune to save Grey, as his precious time slips away inexorably. But the Council has denied her permission to embark on a rescue mission, until she can harness her Venator gifts and prove herself capable of venturing into the Fae queen's territory. As Rune discovers that promises in Eon are forged with life-or-death consequences, she realizes that she must act quickly, or else be swallowed and Grey along with her by the dangers of Eon.

Review: I have a lot of conflicting feelings about this book. On one hand I felt that the writing was very well done. The characters were very well flushed out and the pacing is spectacular. The book does well at drawing the reader in.

However, there are key elements to the backstory that I feel like I am missing out on. I don’t feel like I’m getting enough backstory for this plot point and any future ones. I really liked the book, but there were a lot of times in the book that frustrated me with the plot and such.

Verdict: An amazing second book!

Karolina

In the third installment of the Venators series, Rune, Grey, and their companions Beltran and Verida have set off together to save their mentor Tate from the gladiator games. As their group struggles to stay together under the strain of their situation, Rune's twin brother Ryker is falling more surely into the clutches of Zio the sorceress, who has her own plots for the future of Eon, and the Venators.

Venators Magic Unleashed

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