Forsaken

The World of Nightwalkers, Book 3

By: Jacquelyn Frank

Narrated by: Xe Sands

Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's summary

As a mercenary, Leo Alvarez has signed on for a lot-but he never signed on for his best friend becoming host to the soul of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. Jackson is now inhabited by a Bodywalker, and Leo is forced to grapple with a realm of supernatural beings far more dangerous than anything he's ever encountered. But when Jackson is wounded by an attack from a demon god, Leo must team up with another supernatural creature-a Night Angel-to save his friend from utter destruction. With skin as black as midnight, hair as white as snow, and a body of pure perfection, the Night Angel arouses a burning desire in Leo, even as he refuses to be intimidated by her power-or the power of those who would destroy his friend. An unusual alliance is forged, electrified by sexual temptation, and together the two must unite their strengths to bring down a supreme evil.

©2013 Jacquelyn Frank (P)2014 Tantor Audio

I LIKED IT, BUT SADLY I JUST DIDN'T LOVE IT

JF puts so much into her books - great characters, imaginative plots and a fantastical paranormal world where all sorts of creatures dwell alongside Humans. This is the tale of Leo, a Human who's been tortured by a Body Walker and is still physically healing, if not mentally. He is trying to come to terms with the whole paranormal world and the fact that his friend Jackson has soul-merged with a Pharaoh. A whole new world has been opened up to him and he doesn't like it and resents it, it's inhabitants and it leaves him bitter and angry.

However, when Jackson's life hangs in the balance he sets off on a Quest to help him but he cannot do it alone... he must team up with Faith a Night Angel whose abilities just might save the day or even him. Although Leo initially dislikes her and all the different species and is bitter at the world he's been forced into, he becomes attracted to Faith's dark beauty, her kind nature and white hair then the sexual chemistry starts to sizzle.

There's good characters, an evil God with a plan of world domination, plot twists, danger, humorous and witty dialogue, various tense, thrilling and chilling scenes but I just didn't love this book. I don't know whether I just didn't feel the romance or couldn't relate to the characters.... but somewhere along the way sadly I just didn't care anymore.

Worth a credit? It's a great team of a gifted author and a talented narrator and I have been enjoying this series so far so perhaps this is just a slight 'bump in the road' for me. This is not really a stand alone listen and if you want to listen to this series then start at book 1 as it will give you backgrounds/histories etc. I have to say it's creditworthy as it moves the whole Nightwalker's plot forward with new plans and added threats picks up the series development nicely.

WooF!

I can't get enough of this author and her wondrous ability to enthrall me!! Next!

Not as good as the last two

After having read 8 other Jacquelyn Frank books, I was a bit disappointed in this one. The story, characters, plot, excitement were all great. However, there was a little bit too much of Leo's and Faith's narration. The point of Leo's feelings toward the Nightwalkers/Bodywalkers was way overdone. I think the audiobook could have been about an hour or two shorter if the redundancy was removed. I know you need to repeat yourself to get your thoughts across, but so many times? I found myself fast forwarding quite a few times. I don't really like to do that because I'm afraid I will miss something, but I didn't miss anything. It was just the same stuff repeated over and over again. It won't stop me from reading more of Ms. Frank's books, but this one was a bit painful for me. However, the suspense, thrill, romance was all there. I just wanted to skip ahead to find out if they fulfilled their mission. I just wanted to move on.

Interesting...

Sidebar: FYI: This review is done from a serious Nightwalker Series fan...

Now review:

Very good continuation of the story so far...

We even get some cameo names or rather hints at possible crossover into the Nightwalker Series... (Gideon, Noah and Damien are somewhat mentioned) I so hope the World of Nightwalkers Series goes in that direction...because I am just not loving this series...

I like it, I think it is good... I mean it's Frank and Sands! You really can't go wrong with this author/narrator duo... but.... the Nightwalker series... was just way way better.. and it was left unfinished, as Elana and Gideon's son never came into his power (child of space).

Anyway... Forsaken picks up right after Forever... this time it's Leo, Docia and Jackson's pseudo brother...

So... he was captured and tortured in most of Forever, now he is saved...but still pretty pissed about well everything that took place in Forever. A night angel (new creature for the nightwalker realm) comes crashing in to save the day, just as the guy/gurl bad guy (the male demon god who took over the bad female bodywalker templar in Forever) to seriously lay a hurting on Jackson. Leo and the new night angel have to go and bring back someone to help Jackson.

Now... I liked the book...as I said before Frank and Sands is simply great... I think however, because I enjoyed the Nightwalker Series so much, and this is called the "World of Nightwalkers," I am just expecting so much more out of this series...

The action is definitely there... but the romance... it is either too quick with not enough story to make the relationship plausible (this book), it takes to long to get there (1st book: Forbidden) or this back and forth angsty-ness is annoying (2nd book: Forever).

See what I mean... my standards for Frank is just way to high maybe... Jacob ( book 1 from the Nightwalker Series) is still way up there as one of the number one paranormal romance books of all time... It has that basic romance setup (boy meets girl/ boy saves girl/ drama/ boy can't have girl/ more drama/boy takes girl anyway/ best drama and action/ boy and girl become inseparable/ HEA).

Although, for serious Frank fans, or Nightwalker fans... you will be left feeling like it just wasn't enough... you are still satisfied, because this book only adds to the Nightwalker world that Frank continues to add too.

It is well worth the purchase, a good credit, buy or sale... Just remember... this series is not a squeal to the Nightwalker Series. This is a brand new series, hopefully to add to the Nightwalker world... expanding it... from what we know. As of yet there has been no crossovers...but like I said... this book is a definite foreshadow of that as a possibility...

Narration was perfection! I don't think Xe Sands can narrate a book any better than what she currently does.. She is my all time favorite narrator...

Overall this book should be:
a 5 for narration,
a 3.5 for plot and story and
a 4.5 for overall-ness!!!

Careful of flying horses ~~~~~~~~

Where does Forsaken rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I thought it was a well written book.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Leo, because even when he tries, he cannot stay out of trouble, whether due to his temper or acting too quickly

What does Xe Sands bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Xe Sands has a dependable habit of bringing personalities to each character and shadings to their environment.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

I love a REAL internal battle...

A real internal battle is what Leo went through in this book 3 of the Nightwalker series. Not the typical, "my childhood was crappy so it's hard for me to trust" battle but something with real scars that takes a hero and herone stronger than someone you can relate with to get through. Loved this book and great book three of this series.

Helps the series along

Genre: PNR

Main characters: Leo Alvarez & Faith

Faith: A Night Angel, which is a powerful paranormal being who rescues Jackson and goes on the journey with Leo to help save Jackson's life.

Leo: Human male and adoptive sibling to Jackson and Docia, he is unable to reconcile the fact that Jackson and Docia are hosts to body walkers. He feels hatred against nonhuman beings, but his loyalty to Jackson and Docia and his integrity to help those in need wars with him and he is unable to walk away.


Synopsis:
This book picks up right where the last book leaves off. Leo is now safe from the continuous torture he endured at the hands of the Templars, however, he is battling immediate prejudice against all nonhuman beings. When he comes face-to-face with Faith, he is rude and harsh in his accusations even as he is attracted to her. Faith is intuitive to Leo's thoughts and her attraction to him confuses her. Her kind generally doesn't get involved in the war against the Templars and the Politics, but she understands the stakes and helps with finding a way to save Jackson/Menes against an even greater threat than the previous nemesis (even as the body is the same).

What does this book have?
This book is a signature Frank novel, but without the cohesive construction of the plot. The journey the main characters take lead them to a fork in the road where they must decide between a rock and a hard place. This seemed gimmicky to me and down-graded the romance from naturally flourishing to characters fulfilling fate. Without giving too much away, this book is a good continuation of the series, but is not a favorite and will be a forgettable one, IMO. Frank is a talented writer in how she spins a romance tale- sexy, sensual, and with a lot of worthy undertones, however this book just lacked the paranormal magic that I'm used to in Frank's novel. I will be continuing the story because I have read every novel in this series and the other spin-off series and I am hoping to see more of the other beloved characters in this paranormal world.

Narration
Narrator: Xe Sands
Performance: 4/5
Speed: 1.25x
Consistent in tone and volume. I listened while in the car, through the speaker in my portable device, and through earphones and had no trouble with the narrator's pitch or volume.

Every author has an "off-day"...

Frank is that rare author in this genre whose imagination, plot, pacing and research is in top 10th %ile.

This book was not there, and I think she had an "off-day" with this one.

There were way too many distractions--new creatures, new "births" of various entities, new characters, too many subplots so that we don't get the cohesion or focus on the story. I set this book down for a couple weeks at about 1/4th of the way in. I wasn't engaged or involved. I've read/listened to about 10 books since and after picking this one up again for another 5 hours I'm finding it hard to stay with it or be interested in the two leads. I loved the prospect of intersecting with her other nightwalker groups (demons, vamps, shadowdwellers) but not enough to continue further.

I love J. Frank's work, and continue to re-listen to so many of her previous nightwalker books, but this series doesn't stick with me and doesn't engage me. I can never remember much of the plots or details of the previous two books in this series, whereas I can remember minute intricate details of the shadowdwellers and demons (ok, maybe because I've listened to them multiple times and still don't grow tired of them).
I'm gonna pass on this series but definitely won't pass on the author. She's spectacularly creative. This just isn't her best work or series, and Sand's top notch narration can't elevate it.
This will be a good bargain listen, but save your credit.
-tina

Ties up several threads but it could be edited a bit better

I feel like the story is disjointed; I can’t believe that a man who helped raise a young girl to adulthood can be so absolutely callous to the woman he loves, even near the end. The constantly questioning stream of consciousness when the answers are sooooo obvious, the detailed torture scenes that keep popping up, and the incongruous humor that springs up yet fades for no reason interferes with my enjoyment of the story. I feel that about a third of the filler could be cut.

The performers are great and make tired dialogue worth listening to.