Enraptured
3.5 Stars

The son of an Argonaut father and a Medean mother with a Daemon alter-ego to boot, Orpheus has always been the black sheep of the family. This all changes when his brother, Gryphon’s, soul is sent to Tartarus and Orpheus swears to rescue his sibling from the underworld with the aid of the Orb of Kronos. Unfortunately, other forces are determined to locate the Orb for themselves and Orpheus will have to deal with powerful Gods, vengeful enemies and a beautiful Siren with a mysterious link to his past.

Once again, Naughton’s research is fantastic and the incorporation of elements from Greek mythology adds a gripping layer to the overall story arc. Sadly, Orpheus and Skyla’s romance is rather dull and disappointing.

Orpheus has been a fascinatingly ambiguous character throughout the series. His scheming machinations combined with an obvious affection for his brother and hints at an underlying current of goodness have made him particularly appealing as a hero. While he mostly lives up to this characterization and the insights into his personality are compelling, Orpheus internal struggle with his daemon lacks detail and is resolved too easily.

Skyla, the Siren assassin sent to kill Orpheus and retrieve the Orb, is simply uninteresting as a heroine. She fails to really stand out in any way and it is even difficult to picture exactly what she looks like despite the necessary descriptions. While she and Orpheus have tremendous potential as a couple, their chemistry falls flat and the resolution to their relationship, which is supposed to be intense and emotional, fails to completely resonate.

In contrast, Maelea with her conflicting forces of light and dark is a far more intriguing character and I’m looking forward to seeing how these are related to Gryphon’s tortured soul in the next book. ( )

This book took me longer than average to read. Most likely cause I was busy but I didn't get into it as much as the others. I really liked Orpheus, and Skyla was a strong match. The story progressed well and I am looking forward to the next in the series. Gryphon's story.

10 days later... Ok so this is the downfall of my kindle.. page numbers are not listed.. I now know that this book was longer than an average book.. explaining why it took longer! :) ( )

I just couldn't get into the plot and some of the characters were a bit annoying, so I was never able to finish reading the book.

Review By: From Me to You ... Video, Photography, & Book Reviews
https://frommetoyouvideophoto.blogspot.com/
https://fromjesstoyouservices.wordpress.com/ ( )

2.5
Meh, entertaining enough, but formulaic and repetitive. ( )

I did not know, picking this up, that it was the fourth in an ongoing series, but am impressed as it worked quite well as a stand-alone, and I got just enough backstory to understand the world without drowning in it.

Orpheus has become an Eternal Guardian upon the death of his brother, even though he is also possessed of a daemon. He's pursuing Maelea, the bastard daughter of Persephone and Zeus, who he believes can help direct him to a way to bring his brother Gryphon back from the Underworld. Only, Maelea doesn't want to stay and chat, she's fleeing him, with the help of a Siren.

Who happens to be Orpheus's past love, in another life. The sexual tension sizzles, and Skyla is herself a wounded creature of sorts. Of course, they will find a way to team up and overcome their past hurts.

An interesting recasting of the Greek pantheon, with Persephone being quite the bitch on wheels, Hades something of a dick (if a powerful one), Athena being head of the Sirens, kind of an Amazon band, and Atalanta having a significant role in this world. My one quibble was about a third of the way in, a lot of names/characters jumped into the story at once, it felt like.

The torturing of Gryphon is horrific - one day being ravaged by hungry vultures, the next day reincarnated to be stung to death by spiders, yet another day to be bitten repeatedly by poisonous snakes.

Really good, really dark, with lots of twists and turns. Definitely going to want to catch up on the rest of the series. ( )