Khara has spent centuries trading places with Persephone. For
six months, she spends the winter months with Demeter who
resents that Khara is not her beloved daughter. For the other
six months, she calls the Underworld home, but even Hades, her
adoptive guardian, cannot save Khara from the evil that awaits
her. When she's ripped away from her home and dropped into the
streets of Detroit, she must find a way to protect herself and
figure out why she is being hunted.
Lucky for her, she finds help from the immortal guardians of
the city. The PC, Petronus Ceteri, are sons of Ares, god of
war, and they protect Detroit from supernatural threats. They
don't know what kind of threat Khara is, but they do know she
is the impossible: a sister who should never have been born.
They will do anything to protect her, but without knowing why
she is being hunted or who is hunting her, her brothers can't
stop the evil as it circles around her.
UNBORN is the first in the Unborn series by Amber Lynn
Natusch. UNBORN is loosely connected to the Caged
series, as they're both set in the same world with the PC, and
after reading UNBORN, I can't wait to read the Caged
series and everything else Amber Lynn Natusch decides to write!
Let me just say that the ending of UNBORN is a completely
unexpected cliffhanger. I flipped the last page back and forth,
hoping that more words would magically appear. Waiting for the
next Unborn novel to come out is like waiting for
Christmas.
Khara is truly a unique character. Her upbringing has made her
emotionally distant. In the Underworld, emotions are weakness
and she's had to learn to distance herself from them if she
wanted to survive. She's formal, reserved, and never speaks in
contractions. This is rather charming and reads surprisingly
easy. The dialog is never stiff or awkward, but flows naturally
between her and her brothers. The developing relationship
between the siblings is sweet and Khara's bafflement at the
easy expression of emotions is endearing. Now that I've used,
sweet, endearing, and charming let me just say that UNBORN
isn't a sweet novel. It is gritty, dark, and graphic. While the
environment reflects this dark view of the world, the character
relationships do reflect a more hopeful outlook.
Khara's reserve could be mistaken for inaction. She observes
and waits. She doesn't express fear because fear is useless
emotion and doesn't change what is. This does make her respond
to external events rather than being the one to instigate the
action. I like this change of tempo because UNBORN is a
character driven novel. Khara doesn't know who she is or what
she's capable of. She's been isolated her entire life. UNBORN
is about her discovery of self, and I have a feeling that when
she continues to discover who she is and what she wants from
life, she will drive the plot with her decisions. The end of
the UNBORN is a cliffhanger because Khara decides to take
matters into her own hands.
UNBORN is one of the best urban fantasies I've read this year.
The world is complex and well-developed. The characters are
unique and diverse, each offering a new perspective to see this
world through. Khara is very interesting and I'm going to love
seeing what she has in store in future novels. You need to read
UNBORN. You won't be disappointed!
Khara has spent centuries discovering everything about the Underworld—except her place in it. But when she’s ripped from her home, solving the riddle of her origins becomes more important than ever. With evil stalking her through the dark alleys of Detroit, she finds salvation from an unlikely source: a group of immortal warriors sworn to protect the city. Khara needs their help to unravel the tangled secrets of who and what she is—secrets many seem willing to kill for. But time is running out, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer necessity binds her to an arrogant fallen angel. Can their shaky alliance withstand that which threatens her, or will her soul fall victim to the unholy forces that hunt her—those that seek the Unborn? From the author of the bestselling Caged series comes a pulse-pounding new romantic urban fantasy series.