Rise of the Gryphon by Sherrilyn Kenyon & Dianna Love – a Review

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Description:

In the fourth novel of the bestselling Belador paranormal series, Evalle Kincaid must turn her back on the Beladors to protect those she loves, and the world, from annihilation.

To prevent genocide, Evalle is forced to embrace her destiny…but at what cost?

As an Alterant who fights everything from trolls to demons, Evalle has lived as an outcast among the Beladors, but can now change all that…and find answers to her origins as well. Those answers and a traitor hide within the Medb coven, an enemy poised to destroy the mortal world and all that Evalle holds dear. While her best friends Tzader and Quinn want to help, they have their own conflicts and face unthinkable choices as relationships with the women they love twist in unexpected directions. With time ticking down on a decision that will compel allies to become deadly enemies, Evalle turns to Storm and takes a major step that only complicates matters more when the witchdoctor he’s been hunting now stalks Evalle

Review:

Rise of the Gryphon by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love is the 4^th book in their Belador series.  If you have followed my reviews, you will know I love this series.  I love Evalle, who is one of my favorite kickass heroines.

Throughout this series, we have suffered with Evalle, as the Goddess Macha continues to push her to the brink, not to mention Sen, who is always looking to destroy her. Evalle has always been loyal to the Beladors;  constantly putting her life on the line, and yet she is not fully appreciated.  Because she is an Alterant, she is always threatened to lose her freedom with imprisonment.  WILL EVALLE EVER BE TOTALLY FREE??  

If you do not know, or remember, an Alterant is half Belador and an unknown half, which allows them to shift into a huge fearful beast. VIPER forbids Evalle to ever shift, and if you read the previous book, you know what happened.  Since this is an early review, I will stay away from spoilers, but still try to give you an idea about this book.

In Rise of the Gryphon, Evalle is ordered by Macha to find Alterants and bring them to her before the Medb gets them, but she only has a few days.  Such love for someone who just saved them.  Grrrrrrrrrrrr

Storm, who I also have grown to love, is with Evalle, as they search for Tristan & the Alterants.  Storm makes himself perfectly clear to Evalle….he loves her.  He will do anything to protect and save Evalle.  Does he??   Only time will tell.

The evil Queen Flaevynn is still the major villain in this series, as she leads the Medb in a plot to destroy the Beladors.  Rivaling “Mommy Dearest”, Flaevynn treats her daughter Kizira worse then an enemy.  So much so, that you find yourself feeling sympathy for Kizira, who has been a thorn against the Beladors. But is Kizira truly bad, since she is being compelled by her mother to hurt the Beladors, or is she really in love with Quinn?

The focus of this story is can Evalle find Tristan and all the Alterants, before the Medb take them?  Evalle and Storm will travel to participate in the Achilles Beast Championship, which is a fight to the death; with the winners (all Alterants), then joining Medb, in an offer they cannot refuse.  It is up to Evalle to find a way to stop Medb, rescue the Alterants, and help save Brina and the Beladors. 

Every book in this series is great, but Rise of the Gryphon is the best one so far.  This was such an exciting adventure, filled with tension, bloody fights, various beasts, betrayals, danger, and so many moments you feared for your heroine.  Without giving any spoilers, there was a wonderful part that we have been waiting for…..Awesome. There was also another part of the book that had me very sad, surprisingly so.  When you read this book, you will know what I am talking about.

So many questions were answered:  Why is Evalle so wanted by the Medb?  Does Kizira really care about Quinn?  What kind of powers does Lanna have? Will Storm and Evalle finally come together?  Will we ever stop loving Feenix, our cute lovable gargoyle…….nah forget that, never happen.  I want more Feenix. 

But there are more questions still to come that we will have to wait until the next book.

Rise of the Gryphon was non stop action all the way.  The ending, another major battle, was totally awesome; you never knew what was coming next.  There were so many surprises and twists that I sat at the edge of my seat absorbing it all and then letting the shocks wear off. As I said earlier, so many questions were answered. and so many more new ones opened up.

I loved this book so much, that when the last page came, I kept looking for more, thinking there must be missing pages.  Sigh. Now I have to wait a year.  I will end by saying I love Evalle; love the Kenyon/Love duo; love love the Belador series.  Rise of the Gryphon is great. If you have not read this series, once again, what are you waiting for?

Reading order of the Belador series:
#1 –  Blood Trinity
#2 –  Alterant
#3 – The Curse
#4 – Rise of the Gryphon – Release date: July 30, 2013

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Author