"Pain is inevitable, learn to love it."
Guess who got their hands on an early copy of this baby?
AFTER READING:
I started this the other night, the early copy, and read through a span of four hours straight to the finish. It was two in the morning by that point. I then stayed up another two hours just to pick the author's brain on this book, and really, let's all just stop and give London a moment to thank her for Red.
Or Klaus.
Or Niklaus.
All depends on who you are to him, and what you wanna call him.
FYI, total side note here, you might think you know how to say Niklaus, or even just Klaus, but I bet you're saying it wrong. It does not read like it looks, heh. ;)
Small summary of events for you with this novel:
Red. has had a pretty crappy hand dealt to him simply by--or what seems to be at first--circumstance. The book opens up with a scene of him walking with Sarah on the streets of New York. For anyone who has read the Volkov Bratva series before you picked up Red., or if that series was what sent you here to Red., then you know who Sarah is, you sort of know who Klaus is and what happened. He's Mishca Volkov's twin--an unknown brother until those circumstances I mentioned shoved them back together--and Mish, well, he's a Russian Bratva boss, or that's where he ends up getting to. But before that, he was the son of a boss. See, Klaus was mistaken for his brother when he was out with Sarah, taken, and tortured for infomation they thought he would have--information he didn't have.
I think at that point, Klaus lost a hell of a lot more than just Sarah in those few days.
We got to see angry Klaus before--rude, bitter, sharp, and determined to hurt no matter what he had to use to do it. He liked to push buttons, and he really liked to piss his twin off. But here? In Red.?
We get to see Klaus from his own eyes. All he lost, how he came to the Den, and how it all comes to a head when he meets Reagan.
I think one of the most poignant moments for me in this book is when Reagan asks Klaus if he's single, and he's sort of pained for a moment before he replies, "Yes."
It was like that was the first time in years--so many years--that he'd really stopped to think for a moment about his status, and what it all meant.
You're not going to find a hero pining over a lost love in this book. He's already taken the time to do that, and he's killed each and every person he feels had a hand in what happened to him and Sarah. He's taken the time to grieve for her, in his own violent way, so I appreciate that he is already beyond that point.
Doesn't mean it's easy.
Boy needs to stop running.
Seriously, Red, stop that nonsense.
Some of my random thoughts while reading:
I want to cut Mish again.
I might hate Mish again.
Mish is his father's son. (I will say this til I die, London)
YAY BABY SACHA.
LUKA FOR THE WIN.
Luka is hurting people--I like when Luka hurts people.
I haven't talked much about Reagan, but she's pretty integral to Niklaus from the moment they meet. No, it's not instant love, but it's ... "Hey there."
She caught his attention in a time when he was trying to remind himself that he was human, not just a man-made weapon. And that was important. More than I can explain.
Reagan is Irish-American. She's a young girl just trying to get through life, frankly. Working her butt off, and not showing much for it. When Red steps into her diner one night, everything changes. He's not angry with her. He's less bitter. I think more than being human, she reminded him that sometimes he has to just be a man. Smile, put on the charm because no need to go killing everyone now, and put some effort into something you want.
That's what she did. And no matter how many times he went away, Klaus kept coming back. Until he finds Reagan in a bit of a situation with some Irish mob, and all the walls come down.
Some of the best lines in this book came from Luka, which really, that's not a surprise if you know Luka. *hugs him so hard*
“It’s been a while since I got shot so…”
and
“First, I��m Albanian—different, yes?"
And Klaus can sometimes be ... *winks*, Klaus.
On the other hand, maybe it was just the way her ass looked in that skirt. Either way, he needed to get laid."
I'm going to close this rambling mess out by saying ... read the book. Get a look inside the head of a mercenary and how he got to be where he is. Thank London for the proper Epilogue, and just for Red. Demand Celt. Demand him now, fast, and proper.
And also ... Kingmaker, CODA ... It is much more than it appears.
Red. is to-the-point, and you can't stop reading until the end. Thank you, London, for giving him that voice.