Into the Shadow (Darkness Chosen, Book 3)

Christina Dodd

Edition	Mass Market Paperback
List Price	$7.99
	$7.99 (Save 0%)

Published by	Signet
Release date	2008-07-01
ISBN	0451224515
Availability	Usually ships in 24 hours

Blessed?or cursed?with the ability to change into a sleek panther, and driven by a dark soul he?s accepted as his fate, Adrik Wilder abandons his family and his honor to pursue a life of wickedness. He excels at every vice, including kidnapping Karen Sonnet to use for his selfish purposes.

But Karen?s spirit and passion make him question the force of his family?s curse. And when a new evil emerges, Adrik must choose whether to enact revenge on his enemies and redeem his soul, or save Karen from a fate worse than death?

Customer Reviews - courtesy of Amazon.com ( Marked4Sale.com is not responsible for review content )

Good Stuff

This was an interesting addition to the DC series. Adrik is quite different from his brothers: (a) he's suffered, and (b) he likes his darker side (interesting). Thus, this book is necessarily darker than the previous books and Adrik is a more questionable "hero." Sometimes his behavior towards Karen is downright dastardly. At the same time, Dodd reveals enough of his character that we come to understand him, which makes him difficult to hate. When we later see his softer side and he makes penance for his actions (and what a penance, ouch!) it is more easy to believe Karen's feelings for him and accept them together. Once again, I appreciated that Dodd strayed from the boy meets girl-boy and girl like each other-now resist! formula and instead chose other elements for the book's conflict (those pesky Varinskis). Also typical of Dodd, the writing is polished and efficient, with no overly flowery writing or lagging moments. You can read this one straight through.

Wickedly delicious!

Christina Dodd's characters are strong, stubborn, interesting, and fun. Some romances have rather cardboard male leads, but hers, thankfully, do not.

The background plot regarding the Varinski and Wilder families, the pact with the devil, and the prophecy to redeem the Wilder branch of the family is wonderfully conceived and executed. It's a fresh and fascinating take on things, and is used well to create a fast-paced and suspenseful plot that doesn't rely entirely on romance to keep it moving. I've never been entirely fond of books that rely wholly on the relationship struggles to keep things interesting---they almost always have to ratchet up the personality conflict artificially to keep things going. In this case, the Varinski mercenaries do a fine job of keeping things tense and dangerous as they seek to keep the Wilders from ending the pact.

Dodd conveys a tremendous sense of place. It's easy to see, taste, and feel each location in the book, from the mountains of Tibet to the luxurious gardens of a spa resort or the snowy cliff of a mountain. Her battles are well-drawn, and her sex scenes are hot, sexy, and moderately explicit. My only warning is that while Adrik is still in the grip of his darker side, he's rather domineering, and that includes the bedroom scenes---something that won't appeal to all audiences. This is definitely a romance, though, and one in which Karen wholly holds up her side of the struggle for survival.

All in all a gorgeous book, and I'm definitely reading the follow-on next.

BEST YET of the three

I had the worst time putting this novel down and ended up finishing it in one sitting. I thought it was wonderful! Jammed packed with adventure, battles, abuse, caveman tactics (he, he). The "bad" brother was definitely bad in all the good ways. With the exception of Zadist from Ward's Brotherhood series, Adrik (aka-Warlord) is my favorite "bad gone good" character.

And out of the darkness

This is a wonderful addition to this series. Ms Dodd accomplishes in the first 50 pages what some authors fail to in 400 ...establish sexual chemistry and a connection between the main characters under stressful circumstances, and in a short period of time.

In the beginning the author skillfully captures the hero's need to dominate/possess the heroine while simultaneously cherishing and protecting her in his own way. Meanwhile the heroine is deeply attracted to him, but unwilling to be "enslaved" or kept as anything like a possesion. She is her own person and doesn't compromise on that. Her internal conflict is great as she needs both him and freedom equally desperately. This conflict is a key challenge to their relationship when he starts to atone for his wrongs, but also allows the heroine to remain her own self.

I love Ms. Dodd's ability to create both strong female and male characters, and this story doesn't disappoint. It proceeds at a good pace and has entertaining dialogue. My one critique is the heroine's "uncaring" father's about-face and appearance at the end of the book was a little too convenient, but this didn't take away from my enjoyment.

into the flame

Very good finish to the Wilder series. Recommended read for action, paranormal, romantic enthusiasists.