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Unbound #3
Wild Hunt
Alongside his hellhound brethren, Venge Leidolf was summoned to start the Wild Hunt anew. But in this dreaded pursuit of souls, Venge sought to free himself from his infernal bondage—by claiming the heart of a fierce Valkyrie.…
Geysa never questioned the alluring gifts that set her apart from the other Valkyries, or her hatred of hellhounds—until Venge fell under her spell. Drawing the alpha hellhound so close made Geysa doubt her every instinct. To stop the Hunt, the two blood-born enemies would need to cast aside old vows and allegiances. Only then could no one question the strength of their union….
Geysa never questioned the alluring gifts that set her apart from the other Valkyries, or her hatred of hellhounds—until Venge fell under her spell. Drawing the alpha hellhound so close made Geysa doubt her every instinct. To stop the Hunt, the two blood-born enemies would need to cast aside old vows and allegiances. Only then could no one question the strength of their union….
288 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 2008
19 people are currently reading
246 people want to read
About the author
Lori Devoti
51 books283 followersLori Devoti grew up in southern Missouri and attended college at the University of Missouri-Columbia where she earned a Bachelor of Journalism. She, however, made it clear to anyone who asked, she was not a writer; she worked for the dark sideadvertising. Now twenty years later, shes proud to declare herself a writer and visit her dark side occasionally by writing dark, sensual paranormal romance, urban fantasy and young adult novels.
Lori lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, son, Siberian husky and shepherd/puggle cross.
Lori lives in Wisconsin with her husband, daughter, son, Siberian husky and shepherd/puggle cross.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
March 3, 2016
Right now at this exact moment in time, Venge would have taken on an army of ale-crazed dwarves just for a few more moments in her arms.
This was a good book. By the time I was half-way done with it, I couldn't believe how many things had happened already! And I couldn't imagine all the things that would happen before the end.
Geysa is a Valkyrie. Venge is a hellhound (Risk's son - Risk was the hero in Unbound). Venge is filled with hate for his father and wants to kill him. He wants the ErlKing's horn so that he can control all the hellhounds and send them to murder his father.
Geysa is posing as a barmaid, along with her sister and her aunt. Her mother was slaughtered by the ErlKing in the Great Hunt. She and the other Valkyries are determined to get the Horn and hide it away so that no one else will die.
A Valkyrie and a hellhound? They've always been mortal enemies. But Geysa and Venge start having feelings for each other, even though both are hiding huge secrets...
...
Fun, fun, fun. Devoti weaves Norse mythology into a modern world. It's very entertaining.
This book is exciting, fast-paced, and full of twists and turns. Geysa and Venge both have their dark pasts, and Venge's murderous dark intentions are rather frightening. Geysa has this very curly red hair and I was just picturing her in my mind! Venge is a redhead, too, well, more auburn really.
How's the sex, Carmen?
Sigh.
This is the one place where I felt the book could have done better. It's not as if Devoti can't write good sex. She OBVIOUSLY has the tools and skills to do so. The problem is, she lacks follow through.
For instance, the characters will start kissing. Yay! I settle back in my chair, ready for some good kissing, but then the kissing just abruptly ends before it even really started, and they are having sex. o.O I flip the page back and forth. Did I miss something? Where is the extensive kissing? Where is the foreplay?
Now. If you just want to fuck and you are just going to skip some of the fun stuff, that's okay. I completely understand. Sometimes things just go this way. But this is not 'sometimes,' this is a pattern with Devoti.
I like slow, intensifying buildup with lots of foreplay. Devoti tends to skip this and get right to the (not very described) penis-in-vagina sex. That's not satisfying or thrilling to me.
If Devoti fleshed out her sex scenes a bit more, we could potentially have a five-star-romance on our hands. She's certainly got the plot, excitement, and world-building down pat. However, this is the third book of hers that I've read, and I think I can confidently say that she's got a pattern - and it's not one I particularly enjoy.
Now, is the sex BAD? No, it's not BAD. Nothing bad happens. It's not stupidly written and nothing upsetting happens.
...
Tl;dr - A wild book that moves at breakneck speed. Devoti is excellent at weaving Norse mythology into a modern setting. With longer and more slowly paced sex scenes, this book could potentially be a five-star romance. As it stands, there's something missing.
FOUR ROMANCE STARS, THREE REAL STARS
This was a good book. By the time I was half-way done with it, I couldn't believe how many things had happened already! And I couldn't imagine all the things that would happen before the end.
Geysa is a Valkyrie. Venge is a hellhound (Risk's son - Risk was the hero in Unbound). Venge is filled with hate for his father and wants to kill him. He wants the ErlKing's horn so that he can control all the hellhounds and send them to murder his father.
Geysa is posing as a barmaid, along with her sister and her aunt. Her mother was slaughtered by the ErlKing in the Great Hunt. She and the other Valkyries are determined to get the Horn and hide it away so that no one else will die.
A Valkyrie and a hellhound? They've always been mortal enemies. But Geysa and Venge start having feelings for each other, even though both are hiding huge secrets...
...
Fun, fun, fun. Devoti weaves Norse mythology into a modern world. It's very entertaining.
This book is exciting, fast-paced, and full of twists and turns. Geysa and Venge both have their dark pasts, and Venge's murderous dark intentions are rather frightening. Geysa has this very curly red hair and I was just picturing her in my mind! Venge is a redhead, too, well, more auburn really.
How's the sex, Carmen?
Sigh.
This is the one place where I felt the book could have done better. It's not as if Devoti can't write good sex. She OBVIOUSLY has the tools and skills to do so. The problem is, she lacks follow through.
For instance, the characters will start kissing. Yay! I settle back in my chair, ready for some good kissing, but then the kissing just abruptly ends before it even really started, and they are having sex. o.O I flip the page back and forth. Did I miss something? Where is the extensive kissing? Where is the foreplay?
Now. If you just want to fuck and you are just going to skip some of the fun stuff, that's okay. I completely understand. Sometimes things just go this way. But this is not 'sometimes,' this is a pattern with Devoti.
I like slow, intensifying buildup with lots of foreplay. Devoti tends to skip this and get right to the (not very described) penis-in-vagina sex. That's not satisfying or thrilling to me.
If Devoti fleshed out her sex scenes a bit more, we could potentially have a five-star-romance on our hands. She's certainly got the plot, excitement, and world-building down pat. However, this is the third book of hers that I've read, and I think I can confidently say that she's got a pattern - and it's not one I particularly enjoy.
Now, is the sex BAD? No, it's not BAD. Nothing bad happens. It's not stupidly written and nothing upsetting happens.
...
Tl;dr - A wild book that moves at breakneck speed. Devoti is excellent at weaving Norse mythology into a modern setting. With longer and more slowly paced sex scenes, this book could potentially be a five-star romance. As it stands, there's something missing.
FOUR ROMANCE STARS, THREE REAL STARS
September 2, 2008
Quoted from review @ http://misscz.wordpress.com
The horn has long been the tool of the ErlKing, used to call his pack to the Wild Hunt. The Erlking and his pack would steal and destroy the souls of fallen warriors meant for Valhalla. The last victim of the Hunt was a Valkyrie. After her death, the ErlKing disappeared and the Hunt was no more. Now, someone is using the horn, and the Valkyrie — guardians and keepers of the souls at Valhalla — are determined to get the horn and stop the Wild Hunt forever. The only problem: they can’t hear the horn. Their plan: follow the hellhounds and spy on them.
Venge Leidolf is a hellhound, formerly bound to the witch, Lusse. Life in Lusse’s kennel was horrible for her pack, particularly for Venge, who was brought into existence to be used against Risk, her pack’s alpha and Venge’s father. Venge has known only rejection, humiliation, and torture. Even when he was made aware of the fact, Risk had little choice but to show no interest in the fate of his son. He wanted Venge to live and eventually be free of Lusse, and he couldn’t allow Lusse to use that weakness against him. With this background, it is no wonder that Venge cares for nothing and no one, with only one goal in life: killing Risk. Venge goes from place to place among the nine worlds, not caring if he lives or dies, acquiring skills and weapons he hopes will help him achieve his goal. When he hears the horn’s call, Venge answers it more out of curiosity than anything else and sticks around just in case the horn can be of use in his quest to commit patricide.
Geysa is half-Norn, half-Valkyrie. Norn are fortune-tellers, but Geysa’s never shown talent in that area like her sister, Runa. Though she has the inborn talent of the Valkyrie, the ability to lure men’s souls, Geysa doesn’t feel much like a Valkyrie, either. To complicate matters more, the luring ability has an unexpected effect on the hellhounds, so Geysa must keep her emotions shielded. In an unguarded moment, she snares Venge.
Venge frustrated and confused by Geysa. One moment he’s irresistibly drawn to her and can smell her emotions, and the next — he still finds her attractive and her scent compelling, but he can’t read her at all. Venge still finds himself falling for her, something he’s never felt for anyone else, and is afraid to admit those feeling or dare to hope that the feelings are returned. For her part, Geysa feels guilty for entrapping him, not realizing that his desire for her — after the shields are back in place — is real. Geysa’s mother was the last prey of the Hunt, so her hatred for hellhounds is more personal than the general enmity between the two races — yet she still wants to be with Venge, even if it means never returning to Valhalla.
I really enjoyed this book. The world building, based on Norse mythology, is fun. I have to say, hellhounds are not very observant — I mean, they weren’t a teeny bit suspicious of the fact that only Nordic warrior women seemed to live in the town. ;-) I loved the ending, and it seems that Lori left a few plot lines open for her future books. I think we haven’t seen the last of Sigurd or the Valkyrie.
The horn has long been the tool of the ErlKing, used to call his pack to the Wild Hunt. The Erlking and his pack would steal and destroy the souls of fallen warriors meant for Valhalla. The last victim of the Hunt was a Valkyrie. After her death, the ErlKing disappeared and the Hunt was no more. Now, someone is using the horn, and the Valkyrie — guardians and keepers of the souls at Valhalla — are determined to get the horn and stop the Wild Hunt forever. The only problem: they can’t hear the horn. Their plan: follow the hellhounds and spy on them.
Venge Leidolf is a hellhound, formerly bound to the witch, Lusse. Life in Lusse’s kennel was horrible for her pack, particularly for Venge, who was brought into existence to be used against Risk, her pack’s alpha and Venge’s father. Venge has known only rejection, humiliation, and torture. Even when he was made aware of the fact, Risk had little choice but to show no interest in the fate of his son. He wanted Venge to live and eventually be free of Lusse, and he couldn’t allow Lusse to use that weakness against him. With this background, it is no wonder that Venge cares for nothing and no one, with only one goal in life: killing Risk. Venge goes from place to place among the nine worlds, not caring if he lives or dies, acquiring skills and weapons he hopes will help him achieve his goal. When he hears the horn’s call, Venge answers it more out of curiosity than anything else and sticks around just in case the horn can be of use in his quest to commit patricide.
Geysa is half-Norn, half-Valkyrie. Norn are fortune-tellers, but Geysa’s never shown talent in that area like her sister, Runa. Though she has the inborn talent of the Valkyrie, the ability to lure men’s souls, Geysa doesn’t feel much like a Valkyrie, either. To complicate matters more, the luring ability has an unexpected effect on the hellhounds, so Geysa must keep her emotions shielded. In an unguarded moment, she snares Venge.
Venge frustrated and confused by Geysa. One moment he’s irresistibly drawn to her and can smell her emotions, and the next — he still finds her attractive and her scent compelling, but he can’t read her at all. Venge still finds himself falling for her, something he’s never felt for anyone else, and is afraid to admit those feeling or dare to hope that the feelings are returned. For her part, Geysa feels guilty for entrapping him, not realizing that his desire for her — after the shields are back in place — is real. Geysa’s mother was the last prey of the Hunt, so her hatred for hellhounds is more personal than the general enmity between the two races — yet she still wants to be with Venge, even if it means never returning to Valhalla.
I really enjoyed this book. The world building, based on Norse mythology, is fun. I have to say, hellhounds are not very observant — I mean, they weren’t a teeny bit suspicious of the fact that only Nordic warrior women seemed to live in the town. ;-) I loved the ending, and it seems that Lori left a few plot lines open for her future books. I think we haven’t seen the last of Sigurd or the Valkyrie.
August 29, 2013
I don't know what it was about this book, maybe it's that I've always been rather a fan of fantasy, and I love Valkyries, but I really enjoyed this book. It was my free book from Harlequin to try out the Paranormal Series, and I'm pretty sure I"m going to subscribe to the series now. :) The characters, shockingly, were believable, and the relationship between them was realistic within their world. I really enjoyed this book and hope to read more by the author!
Read
June 3, 2008This is a continuation of the Unbound Series. This is the story of Risk's son Venge. He is a hellhound. He is on a hunt when he meets a Valkyrie. They fall in love and have to figure out how to make their forbidden relationship work.
August 3, 2010
An age-old story of mortal enemies falling in love against all odds. Hellhound Venge Leidolf and Valkyrie Geysa have the fight of a lifetime on their hands - quite literally. An interesting story of the intricacies of the fabled wild hunt.
October 4, 2010
I really enjoyed the plot going on in this book and the leads were great.
dnf
September 7, 2011Quit at page 58 because I suspect this is connected to the hellhound/underwater space station/spandex roller derby book, by which I've been traumatized enough.
April 24, 2022
I don't know what it was about this book, maybe it's that I've always been rather a fan of fantasy, and I love Valkyries, but I really enjoyed this book. It was my free book from Harlequin to try out the Paranormal Series, and I'm pretty sure I"m going to subscribe to the series now. :) The characters, shockingly, were believable, and the relationship between them was realistic within their world. I really enjoyed this book and hope to read more by the author!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews