Unforgiven is the third book in this series after Skin Deep and Heartsong. Unforgiven is Braelan’s story, one of the most complex characters of the series, someone I didn’t think I could ever like, but he surprised me.
The story opens with Braelan, the Fae prince, breaking into an ATM machine to get some money for a taxi to the Grotto, his half brother Cobalt’s tattoo parlor. He’s now on earth in New York City, his second visit to the mortal realm where most of this story takes place, having left Arcadia, the Seelie Court and home of the Fae for good (or so he thinks), even though his father the king planned to step down and he was expected to be the new ruler.
Someone was watching him as he broke into the ATM, a former gay cop named River Jarvis who had been living as a street hustler since he was released from jail after serving 4 years for killing his former partner and lover. River was desperate since he, too, had no money. He was gaunt from lack of food, his clothes were rags that hung from his body, and he had been scrabbling and barely existing using scams on defenseless and vulnerable people to get money for food and rent. That evening while he was in the midst of another unproductive scam he saw Braelan robbing an ATM and he devised a plan to get the money he had stolen. However his mark turned out to be unexpected in many ways.
This is the most complicated story of the series and Braelan changed 180 degrees from the spoiled prince in Heartsong that I met initially; he was so different he was almost unrecognizable. At the end of Heartsong he had rejected the Seelie Court when he saw how corrupt the Fae were, especially his father the king,
The main plot, involving a former as well as a new enemy was well executed, but if violence bothers you you might be well advised to stay away from Unforgiven because the last chapters, while exciting, were pretty violent. This book was very dark and the plot was complex and at times I wasn’t sure of its direction. One major flaw was that the author didn’t explain in detail the motive of one of the villains, and since the stories of the three brothers have now been told I guess we’ll never know because this is probably the last book in the series.
Many of the supporting characters were funny, including Jules the crack addicted whore who lived in Rivers’ building and would do anything to get laid. In addition to Uriskel and Cobalt, two of the characters that I liked from the previous books, Nix and Shade, were back and I really enjoyed their relationship.
The world building of New York City’s decaying and crumbling underbelly was well done and I thought that the author captured the despair, poverty and unhappiness of the people who tried to eke out an existence in that part of the city, which was emphasized by the boarded up buildings and general sense of being abandoned. Best of all was the characterization of River who I thought was very well done and overshadowed Braelan at times because he was so gritty and courageous. Braelan was also three dimensional and extremely brave, and the last scenes almost broke my heart even though I knew he was a paranormal and therefore had a higher pain threshold than humans.
If you have read the other stories Unforgiven is not to be missed.
This is not a standalone book and should be read as part of the series.