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Gutian Code
The battle is lost. Caelius has won.
Lucian has sacrificed himself by giving his body and mind to Caelius to save Shea and the others. The only obstacle that remains is for Caelius to take Shea’s soul and restore himself to full power.
But Shea isn’t giving up. She won’t rest until she has Lucian back by her side and Caelius is destroyed. Unfortunately, her mother, Molly, is now with Caelius and has no memory of her daughter. Nefertiti is no longer an ally, as she will do anything to protect the children she has left.
Meanwhile, Lucian is being systematically tortured by Caelius, his mind twisted until all his memories of Shea are erased and he only sees Caelius as his one true love and savior.
Will Shea and Lucian overcome the impossible obstacles set in their way and finally kill Caelius? Or will Darkness win and destroy the world and everyone they love with it?
Lucian has sacrificed himself by giving his body and mind to Caelius to save Shea and the others. The only obstacle that remains is for Caelius to take Shea’s soul and restore himself to full power.
But Shea isn’t giving up. She won’t rest until she has Lucian back by her side and Caelius is destroyed. Unfortunately, her mother, Molly, is now with Caelius and has no memory of her daughter. Nefertiti is no longer an ally, as she will do anything to protect the children she has left.
Meanwhile, Lucian is being systematically tortured by Caelius, his mind twisted until all his memories of Shea are erased and he only sees Caelius as his one true love and savior.
Will Shea and Lucian overcome the impossible obstacles set in their way and finally kill Caelius? Or will Darkness win and destroy the world and everyone they love with it?
395 pages, Hardcover
Published March 2, 2022
5 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
December 17, 2020
*I received this as an ARC Copy for a fair and honest review
TW: Frequent blood, gore, graphic violence, torture, magical compulsion for sexual purposes, rape and sexual assault.
This last book wasn't quite what I expected, but I still loved what we got! Things took a completely different path than I thought they would, and it made it exciting and unpredictable.
My favourite thing was the characters and how much more depth we got. They felt real and fleshed-out in the first two books, but somehow this book managed to add another layer again! I was also really impressed with how the secondary and background characters were handled. When the cast of characters expanded I worried that they would end up being flat or getting forgotten, but they were all given enough detail and attention without cluttering up the story or taking away from anything else. I feel like I understand every background character, and by the end of it I loved (or loved to hate) them all.
My main complaint is that there were a few times that the plot skipped too much, and it made the pacing and my understanding waver a little. We would get a scene of a character deciding they would go somewhere at the end of one chapter, and then the next chapter would start mid-battle with no setup or explanation of how we got there. The main reason this didn't detract from my rating is because it paired with a trope I love, an unreliable narrator or a character that can't figure out what's real and what's not. Usually these scenes were paired with that trope and it gave it some sort of explanation, so I didn't mind it nearly as much, but it was a little jarring at times.
Overall I loved this series and I loved this conclusion. There were a few scenes that were a little cheesy for my taste, but after three books of blood and guts and pain and torture I think the characters deserved some cheesy sweet moments. I loved trying to guess what was coming, I loved rooting for the characters, and I really enjoyed my time reading this entire series!
TW: Frequent blood, gore, graphic violence, torture, magical compulsion for sexual purposes, rape and sexual assault.
This last book wasn't quite what I expected, but I still loved what we got! Things took a completely different path than I thought they would, and it made it exciting and unpredictable.
My favourite thing was the characters and how much more depth we got. They felt real and fleshed-out in the first two books, but somehow this book managed to add another layer again! I was also really impressed with how the secondary and background characters were handled. When the cast of characters expanded I worried that they would end up being flat or getting forgotten, but they were all given enough detail and attention without cluttering up the story or taking away from anything else. I feel like I understand every background character, and by the end of it I loved (or loved to hate) them all.
My main complaint is that there were a few times that the plot skipped too much, and it made the pacing and my understanding waver a little. We would get a scene of a character deciding they would go somewhere at the end of one chapter, and then the next chapter would start mid-battle with no setup or explanation of how we got there. The main reason this didn't detract from my rating is because it paired with a trope I love, an unreliable narrator or a character that can't figure out what's real and what's not. Usually these scenes were paired with that trope and it gave it some sort of explanation, so I didn't mind it nearly as much, but it was a little jarring at times.
Overall I loved this series and I loved this conclusion. There were a few scenes that were a little cheesy for my taste, but after three books of blood and guts and pain and torture I think the characters deserved some cheesy sweet moments. I loved trying to guess what was coming, I loved rooting for the characters, and I really enjoyed my time reading this entire series!
December 15, 2020
THE GUTIAN CODE: LOVE AND DARK SERIES
by Hina McCord and Becca C. Smith
REVIEW by Diana Robicheaux
I received this as an ARC Copy for a fair and honest review.
First a brief summary of the Love and Dark series:
Shea Harper is a being known as a Vessel. Born every five hundred years, the purpose of the Vessel is to hold a sliver of the Light on earth. The Vessel is assigned an angelic guardian who is born at the exact same moment as the Vessel and grows up with them, protecting the Light from being devoured by Darkness. Shea’s hunky, very plutonic BFF Aidan is her angelic guardian.
Caelius is Darkness incarnate and the father of all vampires. Imprisoned by Aidan’s angelic brothers for three thousand years, Caelius wants nothing more than to be free to drink the world dry and wipe all of creation from existence. But to gain his freedom he must drain the Vessel and consume her soul.
Lucian is the first vampire ever created, the only vampire created directly from Caelius—or so he thinks. After falling in love with Shea Harper, the Vessel he was sent to secure for Caelius, Lucian discovers he was not the first vampire and everything he had believed since the moment he first woke as a vampire, had been a lie. His first love Nefertiti, whom he thought he killed, is alive and the first true vampire! He has a child with her—a flesh and blood child, and Caelius had kept his family from him. But now Lucian has found his true soulmate in Shea and he won’t give her up to Caelius, or to return to the arms of Nefertiti. But when their attempt to destroy Caelius forever fails, resulting in the permanent death of all Lucian’s “Second Born” vampire children, and most of Nefertiti’s daughters, Lucian gives himself over to Caelius to save Shea.
THE GUTIAN CODE:
(Warning: If you don’t want spoilers for THE GUTIAN CODE before you read it, skip to “The Short Take” at the end of the review.)
Trigger warning alert: This book contains forced sex, manipulation, torture, and violence.
THE GUTIAN CODE is the end of Lucian and Shea’s story. If you hate soggy or unsatisfying endings that make you feel like you wasted your time reading the series, no worries here.
After sacrificing himself to Caelius to save Shea and Aidan, Lucian is relentlessly tortured, sexually abused, and brainwashed by Caelius into forgetting Shea. But as Caelius attempts to tighten his grip on Lucian, he’s losing his hold on Molly, Shea’s mother who is now a vampire enamored with Caelius. But Aidan’s brothers have already juiced up Aidan and Shea with pure Light. When the final showdown with Caelius comes, they will have the power to drive Caelius from his mortal form and force him to become Darkness again.
That’s the plan, but the instructions for the execution of the plan were weak to non-existent. Shea and Aidan are determined to save Lucian from Caelius first. Her love for Lucian drives Shea to trust Nefertiti and meet her to discuss how to get her, her daughters, Molly, and Lucian away from Caelius.
Shea Harper has grown significantly as a character since the first book, but here the character showed the naïve streak that should have been remedied by this point. Shea trusts Nefertiti, her rival for Lucian’s love and a grieving mother who blames Shea for the death of her daughters. Shea walks right into a trap and Caelius’ claws. But Mecky, one of Nefertiti’s surviving daughters, grabs Shea and runs, saving her from Caelius.
After months of brainwashing, Caelius is finally ready to test Lucian’s loyalty. Lucian takes off to find Shea and drag her to Caelius.
For me, I felt this was the best point of the book, both in character development for Shea and Lucian, and the actual writing as Shea’s powers come together to trap Lucian in lava and give him time to detox from Caelius and come back to his senses. Shea’s and Lucian’s perspectives blend so well here, flowing together into two sides of a single narrative bookended by Shea on one side and Lucian on the other. This is a rare happening in dual perspective novels, and it’s something I enjoyed immensely.
The final showdown with Caelius was well executed and foreshadowed throughout the series, but the solution wasn’t evident until the end. Truth revealed the lies Caelius had told himself to justify his isolation, lust, and thirst for destruction. Confronted with the truth that he alone was the true love of the Light, and the rest of creation was just tributes to him, Cealius remembers his time with the Light and their love. He accepts the truth and surrenders his human form, choosing to return to the Light. With Caelius gone, Helena finds a cure to eradicate his blood within all vampires, allowing Shea and Lucian—now La’Narru again, and Aidan and Mecky, to have children and get married. The cure also sets up the premise for the next series—the hunt for vampires who don’t want the cure. I can’t wait to read that series too.
THE GUTIAN CODE ends with an epilogue from Caelius. Ultimately, Darkness could never have been defeated by any amount of force. Instead it took the words of truth from just one person to another: Shea to Lucian, and Lucian to Caelius.
THE SHORT TAKE: (Spoiler-free end thoughts)
Thrill junkies might find the ending of this series somewhat anti-climactic, but it resonated with me. It’s human nature to dwell on our fears and isolate ourselves, believing the worst and ignoring all evidence to the contrary. The ending here is not so much “love conquers all” as it is “the truth of the Light banishes the lies of Darkness.”
Now that the Love and Darkness series is complete, I hope the authors will consider putting out a box set. I would love to have these books displayed on my shelves, and to definitely re-read.
by Hina McCord and Becca C. Smith
REVIEW by Diana Robicheaux
I received this as an ARC Copy for a fair and honest review.
First a brief summary of the Love and Dark series:
Shea Harper is a being known as a Vessel. Born every five hundred years, the purpose of the Vessel is to hold a sliver of the Light on earth. The Vessel is assigned an angelic guardian who is born at the exact same moment as the Vessel and grows up with them, protecting the Light from being devoured by Darkness. Shea’s hunky, very plutonic BFF Aidan is her angelic guardian.
Caelius is Darkness incarnate and the father of all vampires. Imprisoned by Aidan’s angelic brothers for three thousand years, Caelius wants nothing more than to be free to drink the world dry and wipe all of creation from existence. But to gain his freedom he must drain the Vessel and consume her soul.
Lucian is the first vampire ever created, the only vampire created directly from Caelius—or so he thinks. After falling in love with Shea Harper, the Vessel he was sent to secure for Caelius, Lucian discovers he was not the first vampire and everything he had believed since the moment he first woke as a vampire, had been a lie. His first love Nefertiti, whom he thought he killed, is alive and the first true vampire! He has a child with her—a flesh and blood child, and Caelius had kept his family from him. But now Lucian has found his true soulmate in Shea and he won’t give her up to Caelius, or to return to the arms of Nefertiti. But when their attempt to destroy Caelius forever fails, resulting in the permanent death of all Lucian’s “Second Born” vampire children, and most of Nefertiti’s daughters, Lucian gives himself over to Caelius to save Shea.
THE GUTIAN CODE:
(Warning: If you don’t want spoilers for THE GUTIAN CODE before you read it, skip to “The Short Take” at the end of the review.)
Trigger warning alert: This book contains forced sex, manipulation, torture, and violence.
THE GUTIAN CODE is the end of Lucian and Shea’s story. If you hate soggy or unsatisfying endings that make you feel like you wasted your time reading the series, no worries here.
After sacrificing himself to Caelius to save Shea and Aidan, Lucian is relentlessly tortured, sexually abused, and brainwashed by Caelius into forgetting Shea. But as Caelius attempts to tighten his grip on Lucian, he’s losing his hold on Molly, Shea’s mother who is now a vampire enamored with Caelius. But Aidan’s brothers have already juiced up Aidan and Shea with pure Light. When the final showdown with Caelius comes, they will have the power to drive Caelius from his mortal form and force him to become Darkness again.
That’s the plan, but the instructions for the execution of the plan were weak to non-existent. Shea and Aidan are determined to save Lucian from Caelius first. Her love for Lucian drives Shea to trust Nefertiti and meet her to discuss how to get her, her daughters, Molly, and Lucian away from Caelius.
Shea Harper has grown significantly as a character since the first book, but here the character showed the naïve streak that should have been remedied by this point. Shea trusts Nefertiti, her rival for Lucian’s love and a grieving mother who blames Shea for the death of her daughters. Shea walks right into a trap and Caelius’ claws. But Mecky, one of Nefertiti’s surviving daughters, grabs Shea and runs, saving her from Caelius.
After months of brainwashing, Caelius is finally ready to test Lucian’s loyalty. Lucian takes off to find Shea and drag her to Caelius.
For me, I felt this was the best point of the book, both in character development for Shea and Lucian, and the actual writing as Shea’s powers come together to trap Lucian in lava and give him time to detox from Caelius and come back to his senses. Shea’s and Lucian’s perspectives blend so well here, flowing together into two sides of a single narrative bookended by Shea on one side and Lucian on the other. This is a rare happening in dual perspective novels, and it’s something I enjoyed immensely.
The final showdown with Caelius was well executed and foreshadowed throughout the series, but the solution wasn’t evident until the end. Truth revealed the lies Caelius had told himself to justify his isolation, lust, and thirst for destruction. Confronted with the truth that he alone was the true love of the Light, and the rest of creation was just tributes to him, Cealius remembers his time with the Light and their love. He accepts the truth and surrenders his human form, choosing to return to the Light. With Caelius gone, Helena finds a cure to eradicate his blood within all vampires, allowing Shea and Lucian—now La’Narru again, and Aidan and Mecky, to have children and get married. The cure also sets up the premise for the next series—the hunt for vampires who don’t want the cure. I can’t wait to read that series too.
THE GUTIAN CODE ends with an epilogue from Caelius. Ultimately, Darkness could never have been defeated by any amount of force. Instead it took the words of truth from just one person to another: Shea to Lucian, and Lucian to Caelius.
THE SHORT TAKE: (Spoiler-free end thoughts)
Thrill junkies might find the ending of this series somewhat anti-climactic, but it resonated with me. It’s human nature to dwell on our fears and isolate ourselves, believing the worst and ignoring all evidence to the contrary. The ending here is not so much “love conquers all” as it is “the truth of the Light banishes the lies of Darkness.”
Now that the Love and Darkness series is complete, I hope the authors will consider putting out a box set. I would love to have these books displayed on my shelves, and to definitely re-read.
December 16, 2020
I received this as an ARC Copy for a fair and honest review.
The conclusion to the trilogy was not (as suggested by my rating) better than the previous two books.
As always I felt unconvinced by the characters' arcs (they showed no progress whatsoever) and motivations (I never felt their reasons for doing anything were in the least believable), and slightly confused with the plot that consisted of an endless back and forth between the opponents (and without any sub-plots driving and sustaining the "main" plot).
However, I will confess to enjoying this series as a whole, in the way one enjoys a soap opera; for the drama of it all. I loved how tortured Lucian is and some of his scenes were very touching. I don't think I will retain the details of the story for long, since it was both irritatingly simple (with a single, straight plot line) and convoluted at the same time (because of the weak motivations and constant repetition) but I enjoyed it while it lasted.
The conclusion to the trilogy was not (as suggested by my rating) better than the previous two books.
As always I felt unconvinced by the characters' arcs (they showed no progress whatsoever) and motivations (I never felt their reasons for doing anything were in the least believable), and slightly confused with the plot that consisted of an endless back and forth between the opponents (and without any sub-plots driving and sustaining the "main" plot).
However, I will confess to enjoying this series as a whole, in the way one enjoys a soap opera; for the drama of it all. I loved how tortured Lucian is and some of his scenes were very touching. I don't think I will retain the details of the story for long, since it was both irritatingly simple (with a single, straight plot line) and convoluted at the same time (because of the weak motivations and constant repetition) but I enjoyed it while it lasted.
January 17, 2021
Disclaimer:
I received an ARC copy of this book. This advanced reader copy is given in exchange for a fair review.
The character arcs in this series are really good. I feel like the characters grow into themselves as the series progresses and I thought the ending was the best one the characters could have hoped for. All felt pretty balanced and well earned.
The pacing was good and the story had one or two little surprises that were very enjoyable. If you are a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you'll love this series
I received an ARC copy of this book. This advanced reader copy is given in exchange for a fair review.
The character arcs in this series are really good. I feel like the characters grow into themselves as the series progresses and I thought the ending was the best one the characters could have hoped for. All felt pretty balanced and well earned.
The pacing was good and the story had one or two little surprises that were very enjoyable. If you are a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you'll love this series
January 5, 2021
I received this as an ARC Copy for a fair and honest review.
What a fantastic way to end the series an absolutely enthralling read. One of my favourite things about these books is the two authors distinctive voices working together to tell one fantastic story!
If you want a great series to curl up with and read this is the one!
What a fantastic way to end the series an absolutely enthralling read. One of my favourite things about these books is the two authors distinctive voices working together to tell one fantastic story!
If you want a great series to curl up with and read this is the one!
June 6, 2021
I freaking love this book and can't have enough of this series.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews