Review: Lothaire by Kresley Cole

January 15, 2012

Lothaire (Immortals After Dark #12)

by Kresley Cole

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Gallery

Release Date: January 10^th, 2012

Author Website

Lothaire… The Enemy of Old…  Is he evil?  Yes.  Is he ruthless? Yes.  Is he certifiable?  You betcha.   And will you fall in love with him? Most definitely!

Background on IAD

Immortals After Dark is a paranormal romance series that delivers us into an alternate reality of supernatural creatures – vampires, shifters, demons, valkyries, fey, furies, and hybrids of each.  The most time’s vicious world they live in is called The Lore.  Some factions have uneasy alliances to keep some semblance of peace – frienemies if you will. 

However, every 500 years, there is a war they call the Accession whereby all different factions will fight for supremacy.  All bets are off and alliances will tumble.  The stories in this series so far are leading up to the main event – the next Accession. 

Lothaire’s History

So let’s slow down the rush towards the Accession for a minute and talk about Lothaire.  In the midst of all the brewing chaos, Lothaire has a plan that seemingly has little to do with the Accession but all to do with his personal revenge. 

His story deals mainly with his role in the vampire faction of the Lore.  There are 3 breeds of vampires.  The Forbearers that do not drink blood directly from a source, the Horde that do and if they kill, their eyes turn red with Bloodlust, and the Dacians that are never seen and thought by some to be mythical. 

To explain my earlier comment of how Lothaire can be so mean and cruel but you will fall in love with him regardless, I’ll have to say a bit about his history.

 

Lothaire is the illegitimate son of the King of the Horde (Stefanovich) and Ivana (heir to the Dacian throne who abdicated her title to be with Stefanovich).  Despite the fact that Ivana was not Stefanovich’s Bride (true vampire mate), she loved him enough to chose to be with him anyway.  Lothaire is therefore vampire royalty on the Dacian side but not on the Horde.  

Lothaire’s mother, Ivana, shaped his entire inner being like most mothers do for their sons.  She repeatedly assured him he was superior to any other vampire and any other male in all ways.  She convinced him that he was a prince and despite his illegitimate status, he would one day overthrow Stefanovich and rule the Horde vampires.  She swore to him that his Bride would be beyond compare and so queenly that even she would bow down to her.  Lothaire really didn’t have any other choice but thinking himself better than others as he believed every word his mother said to be true.   

That being said, he was still a typical little boy who wanted love and affection from his father, to play with his puzzles and toys and became excited for the possibility of a brother for him to play with.

At nine years old, his mother and he were cast out of the Horde kingdom by Stefanovich, which resulted in his mother’s cruel death.  Since then, his entire life was spent trying to fulfill promises he made to his mother before her death - find his Bride to gain strength he would need to kill his father and avenge her death, become King of the Horde vampires, kill her father, Serghei - King of the Dacians, for not coming to their rescue, and unite both kingdoms under his rule.  A lot to throw at a little kid but there you have it. 

Ok, so here is where dislike for Lothaire comes in.  For millennia, he plotted his revenge using others and earning his title – The Enemy of Old.  He’s a manipulative sociopath without conscience, kills indiscriminately, unprincipled in his dealings with others in the Lore and all around badass that only looks out for himself.  He admitted to creating dire situations for other immortals (unbeknownst to them), then swoop in to “help” and collect a blood debt. And worst of all, he often goes head to head with Nix which is unacceptable for all of us IAD fans. 

All this being said, Cole still leads us in believing there’s potential for him to redeem himself.  Pure writing brilliance! 

Lothaire Now…

Lothaire finds himself an oracle, Balery aka Hag, who tells him who his Bride is and how to find her.  Hag’s advice leads him to Elizabeth/Ellie. A mortal. Disbelieving, appalled yet intrigued, Lothaire watches/spies Ellie grow from a teenager.  When Ellie was possessed by Saroya, the Soul Reaper and Goddess of Death, he pledges to make Saroya his Bride by finding a way to rid Ellie of her soul and turn Saroya into a vampire to rule his kingdom. 

Ellie

But Ellie is not what Lothaire expected. He assumed her being a poor uneducated girl living in a trailer on an Appalachian mountain, she would pose no obstacle to his plan.  Not so much. She’s a self-proclaimed expert in “boys, reverse psychology and law-enforcement evasion” - skills that served her well in figuring out how to handle the big bad Lothaire.  She’s clever, bold, daring, with a strong will to survive what life hands her.  Her mantra is to “think forward, never dwell.” If she started to dwell, then she would scold herself by saying “rubber band snap” to get her back on track.  Her unpredictability and tenacity fascinated Lothaire.  She is definitely one of my favourite heroines of this series.

The story

In the previous books, we read about Lothaire stealing the Ring of Sums from La Dorada, a sorceress and protector of the ring; however we didn’t know the reason why at the time.  With this ring, he would be able to destroy Elizabeth’s soul, enable Saroya to take over Elizabeth’s body, transform her into a vampire, secure the Horde throne and annihilate the Daci and (deep breath..) avenge his mother’s murder.   The ring was stolen and this installment in the series focuses on his search to find it. 

So that’s all I’ll tell you of the plot so not give more away…. 

My Thoughts

How do I feel about this book?  I read it once and immediately started reading it again.  I even delayed writing this review not wanting to remove myself from the world that is Immortals After Dark.  I never do that.

As with all of KC’s other novels in this series, the characters are compelling and wonderfully developed.  Lothaire is the epitome of bad boy and stays true to his character and Ellie is one of the strongest heroines I’ve encountered and able to go toe to toe with Lothaire.  

Aside from the main characters, we meet Hag who’s smart, tough and intriguing. We have another appearance of the gorgeous and naïve Thad (Lothaire’s only friend), and find out more on the history between Nix and Lothaire.  Also Mariketa’s hand – you’ll have to read the novel to find out what I mean by that.

The story is passionate and sexy with some of the hottest and provocative sex in the series so far. 

The epilogue will leave you stunned and feel like you were hit with a thunderbolt!

Bottom Line

This is my favorite novel of the series thus far although each in Immortals After Dark is consistently brilliant.  Its one of those novels that you read like a speed demon, your heart racing with anticipation but then when its almost over, you slow down fearing it will end too soon.  Those novels are rare and I’m confident you will enjoy it too. 

Happy Reading!!

5 Bad Boys – Absolutely Loved It! Must Read!!!!!

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