Review ~ Lord of the Abyss by Nalini Singh

Title: Lord of the Abyss
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Royal House of Shadows #4
Length: 288 pages (e-book)
Released:  NOVEMBER 2011 by Harlequin Nocturne

Once upon a time…the Blood Sorcerer vanquished the kingdom of Elden. To save their children, the queen scattered them to safety and the king filled them with vengeance. Only a magical timepiece connects the four royal heirs…and time is running out.…

As the dark Lord who condemns souls to damnation in the Abyss, Micah is nothing but a feared monster wrapped in impenetrable black armor. He has no idea he is the last heir of Elden, its last hope. Only one woman knows—the daughter of his enemy.

Liliana is nothing like her father, the Blood Sorcerer who'd cursed Micah. She sees past Micah’s armor to the prince inside. A prince whose sinful touch she craves. But first she has to brave his dark, dangerous lair and help him remember. Because they only have till midnight to save Elden.

Read an Excerpt



Lord of the Abyss is part of the Royal House of Shadows series written by Gena Showalter, Jill Monroe, Jessica Andersen and Nalini Singh. It is a short series where each book is written by a different author, but there is a backstory that runs through all of the books. The stories are connected by four royal siblings and the kingdom of Elden.

My Thoughts:

I've received the e-book from netgalley months ago, but I had no time (or the right mood) to read it. I'm suffering from reader's block right now. I can re-read my favorite books, but lately I find myself picking one book after another, reading a few pages and leaving them for a later date, or moving very slowly through them. Anyways, I checked my netgalley account and saw that I still have to write a review for LotA. So I found the perfect antidote to reader's block: AUDIOBOOKS!! 

Isabelle Gordon did a FANTASTIC job reading it. I don't like female narrators but this woman ROCKS!

Why is that important? Because not sure I would have liked the book as much as I like it now if I had to read it. As I mentioned below, this is book four in the series, but this was a first for me. So it can be read out of order, Nalini did a good job on explaining the backstory. 

The gamer in me sees an awesome game story.

The movie whore in me wants (and saw traces of the "Legend of the seeker") a movie or a tv show rigth now!

The reader in me (ok I listened, but still) really enjoyed it. 

Since I haven't read the first three books, I can't speak about them, but Lord of the Abyss was like a fairy-tale for adults. I don't know who/how they came up with the backstory of the series, but THANK YOU! 

Most of the time we're in the Black Castle and Liliana trying to "help" the Guardian of the Abyss - I counted how my times we heard/read this - 48 times, it was a bit annoying, I understand, that he didn't remember and didn't want to remember his real name, but sometimes It was just too much - to remember the past, his family.  Of course, he doesn't corporate very well and they running out of time if they want to save Elden and its people and defeat the Blood Sorcerer.

Magis is everywhere! There are various kind of magical creatures, Elden's people are touched by magic. You literally can see before your eyes how beautiful it was. 

The sexual tension was... well we're talking about Nalini here! It was perfect and when they finally got to the sex scenes... I don't even...YOU HAVE TO READ/LISTEN THE BOOK!! 

Action... there was a LOT of action scenes close to the end. Seriously, their journey to Elden was harder than Frodo's journey to Mount Doom. If you're tend to cry over dramatic scenes, then you'll need a few tissue. 

I loved the characters.

Liliana isn't flawless at all! She doesn't look like a supermodell, not even close. But she is in some way better than average. I love flawed characters. She has a big heart and an awful past. I just wanted to kill his evil father over and over everytime when we found out how he brutalized her. But she's a strong woman. She has to be. Sometimes her humor cracked me up.

Micah a.k.a. the Guardian of the Abyss is the youngest of the Elden heirs. And he is their only hope. I love how his character changes through the entire book, but never changes completely. He's still the Dark Lord of the Black Castle, but he's also Micah. And when he teases...man! I think I will add him to "my top 10 book boyfriends" list.

Jissa is a brownie, a magical creature - kinda like pixies. Her character is sweet and loveable. She becomes a true friend of Liliana. 

The Blood Sorcerer - Liliana's father - is a true villain. He is evil to his heart. A total psycho... but that makes a good enemy.

The final battle (excluding the road that led to it) seemed a little easy. But the dangerous road compensates it I guess.

I definitely will read the other books in the series!