Defiance (Rise of the Iliri #3)

2020 | Science Fiction/Fantasy

HER ONLY CHOICE IS TO CHANGE HER WORLD…
Salryc Luxx came to the Black Blades as ignorant of her true nature as the humans who raised her. But the Blades have known who she is from the moment she appeared: a pure iliri female, bred to be an unrivalled warrior and the natural center of a reverse harem -- this one somewhat unusual-- composed of the seven fiercest elite soldiers in the world called Ogun.

As always in Auryn Hadley’s novels, the story is complex, exciting, and beautifully told—at least as compelling as the deep relationships and sweeping emotions we expect from a reverse harem book. Sal, despite her alien birth, is someone we can relate to. She's just like the rest of us—looking for a place to call home. And now that she’s finally found it, she’s determined, above all, to keep it.

She’s come a long way in just a few years, from slave to elite Black Blade assassin, rising rapidly as her extraordinary abilities are revealed. Now she and Cyno, her partner (in war and love), have been entrusted with a dangerous mission: to assassinate the King of Anglia and the five nobles in line for the throne, leaving the path clear for their own leader. Or, from the human-centric point of view, they’ve have been assigned this suicide mission as Parliament’s first pass at discrediting the Black Blades and removing the iliri from the military.

Traveling for months, they’re so far away from their home base that they’re beyond the mental link that connects the pack. And iliri are pack creatures. They remain committed to their mission—and to each other, but, in the absence of their family, unhappily solitary.

But a kind deed, helping what they think is a wounded animal, leads to the discovery of their true nature, to re-energizing their pack, and to a surprising alliance that greatly expands Sal’s growing power. The wounded animal, they learn, is a graour wolf, a species of ferocious warriors with language and traits nearly identical to iliri. Sal recruits them as Black Blades and the iliri are no longer the only mutts in the fight for iliri freedom.

Women readers will thrill to the reverse harem idea that pushes the boundaries of fantasy in this second world series that may remind some of Avatar without the scary beasts; or even Game Of Thrones, but happier, with more color—and a dazzling female protagonist. Fans of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern will find Sal’s planet Ogun a thrilling destination for their next fantasy fix. And reverse harem addicts will fall in love with the deep and complex characters.

Auryn Hadley (Author)