Title: Unseen
Series: Rath & Rune: Book Two
Author: Jordan L. Hawk
Publisher: Self-Published
Length: 234 Pages
Category: Historical Romance, Paranormal
Rating: 5 Stars
At a Glance: Jordan L. Hawk is such a master of the mystical, the way he pokes at the things that go bump in the night and makes them show themselves in the light of day, and he plumbs the depths and breadths of that mastery in Unseen.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: Librarian Sebastian Rath and his lover Vesper Rune are tasked with seeking and containing the evil Books of the Bound. But one of the Books has been freed from its prison—and is in the hands of a killer.
As more bodies turn up, Sebastian finds himself tempted to use forbidden magic to locate the Book and stop the murderer. And when an unexpected connection to the necromancers who created the Books is revealed, Sebastian must choose just how far he’ll go to right the wrongs of the past—even if it means endangering his own future.
Review: “The world had almost ended in 1902. That sort of experience changes people, even those who had managed to hide from the worst of it.”
Jordan L. Hawk is such a master of the mystical, the way he pokes at the things that go bump in the night and makes them show themselves in the light of day, and he plumbs the depths and breadths of that mastery in Unseen, a novel of Widdershins and the horrors that befall those who run afoul of those who lust for unspeakable power.
This book picks up directly after the events in Unhallowed and the continued search for the remaining Books of the Bound, which contributes to the chaotic beauty of this installment in the series. The Book of Flesh has fallen into the hands of someone who has become dangerously curious enough to attempt to tap into its horrible power, and the plot thickens as Sebastian, Ves, Noct, and Irene work to convince Mortimer Waite his family, scions of one of Widdershins’ oldest families, is in direct danger of falling victim. As the body count rises and the nature of the murders becomes ever more gruesome, not to mention the motivation behind them, Hawk pulls out all the stops to deliver some truly cringeworthy and adrenaline pumping scenes. The way my imagination worked overtime to picture all the ways I was meant to visually engage with the story was top-tier creeptastic.
That the Books of the Bound are not mere Books gives the delightful Mr. Quinn some welcome page time as his librarians at the Ladyfinger museum work to solve this mystery. Unexpected, unpleasant, and unwelcome surprises manifest in the form of people from Ves and Noct’s past too, and they’re not the only ones who show up to complicate things. Amongst all the mayhem, however, is the building relationship between Sebastian and Ves which has its share of complications, but the way Jordan L. Hawk allows them to be tender and vulnerable with each other is the stuff we read romance novels to see. And there’s a new relationship budding alongside theirs that I’m so, so excited to follow as the series continues.
Unseen delivers all the chills and maelstrom and wonderment I expect from this author, and it has taken its rightful place among my favorites of his many sensational works.
You can buy Unseen here:
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