The Penton scathe is back, baby! I feel like it's been forever since the last Penton Legacy novel so I was thrilled to get my hands on an eARC of ALLEGIANCE as part of the author's tour. This time, the focus of the novel is on Cage Reynolds, who you may remember from previous Penton books, and Robin Ashton, the feisty eagle shapeshifter from STORM FORCE (review here). ALLEGIANCE takes place after the events of STORM FORCE but you don't need to have read the spinoff to understand everyone's backstory in ALLEGIANCE.
For me, the best part of the book was definitely Robin. I loved her in STORM FORCE and she's great in ALLEGIANCE. She's so unapologetic and bold and funny. And Cage is a surprisingly good foil for her. It's not a love connection I would have anticipated, partially because there's been no lead-up the way there was for, say, Will and Randa, but also because Robin and Cage are so different. This made their romance more interesting for me as a reader.
Generally speaking, it was also great to just be back in Penton. Sandlin's a talented writer and I really love the world she's built for this series. In ALLEGIANCE, we get to check in with the previous romantic pairs and also see just how Matthias' brutal efforts have affected the community. In REDEMPTION, Penton was very Eden-like in some ways and now it's literally a shell of its former self, with burnt out buildings and community members leaving. Penton's now also plagued by random vampires who want to join for all of the vaccine-free blood, not because they want to be a part of what Aiden and co. have built. Aiden's new position of power seems to have more negatives than positives at this point and I'm very curious to see if Penton will be able to hold together in the face of old and new adversaries.
On that note, I have to mention that there are some very interesting new threads being woven into the larger narrative. I can't say too much about one since it involves some major reveals but I think I can safely talk about one of the others: what drinking from a shifter does to a vampire. Obviously, it's going to be a significant issue for Robin and Cage, given how bitey Sandlin's vampires get in sexy moments, and I'm curious to see how things will play out over the long-term since shifter blood is different from human blood.
ALLEGIANCE is another welcome entry into the Penton Legacy series. Robin and Cage aren't my favourite Penton couple but their romance is full of chemistry and I liked reading their story. I hope you will, too.
i loved Robin too^^ and yes Cage is good for her but i love even more when she annoys Mirren^^;; can't wait to see the training take place and see how it goes
ReplyDeletebut allegiance was also a lot darker that what i expected
a series i recommend!