I have read a number of books by author Shelly Laurenston
but this is the first of her "Call of Crows" that I have
had a chance to read. It took me a while to figure out the
gist of this but apparently a Norse goddess gives women who
have met violent ends a second chance to live. As one of
her Crows - a group of vicious, sometimes to each other,
fighters against evil.
In THE UNDOING, Jace Berisha is just such a woman, after
her husband killed her and was caught trying to bury her
she came back as a Crow. Now she is part of an interesting
group of women who are about as different as any team can
be. The other Crows are trying to pull Jace back into the
world, make her open up, not realizing she just wants peace
and quiet and be able to read. To her that is her reward
for doing her job.
The Protectors were one time enemies of the Crows who are
now working together to stop a goddess from entering the
world and destroying it. Danski "Ski" Ericksen finds Jace
intriguing, even when she does her berserker thing. Nothing
can frighten a Viking. So when some books are found that
might hold a clue to stopping the goddess, but they are in
Russian, Ski turns to Jace. At first she says no ... then
when her interfering 'sisters' start planning her life for
her she changes her mind. At least she can be near books.
But can she fight off the growing attraction to Ski or the
camaraderie of the other Protectors?
THE UNDOING is a complex, funny, sexy read by an author who
knows how to coordinate chaos extremely well. It did take
me a bit of reading to understand who belonged to whom and
why they were part of the story, but this book is filled
with characters that are varied and some are so much fun
you can't help but keep reading. I loved Ski for how he
worked out how to get close to Jace and I certainly felt
for Jace as the story of her former life unfolded. Some of
the Crows reminded me of women I have known over the years,
some catty, some sweet and helpful, others you aren't sure
are friends or foe, but when it is time to work together
they manage really well. The guys are sexy, mischievous or
nerdy ... yep guys you could see anywhere, except they are
dangerous and deadly. I have to say this was an interesting
read because no one was quite what they were expected to
be. As you read you will find nuns who aren't quite the
average nuns, a grandmother that I would be afraid to have,
and dogs and a cat that are just plain scary. I really
can't wait to see what else Ms. Laurenston has up her
sleeve for this world.
No one would ever accuse Jace Berisha of having an easy
life--considering her husband…you know…killed her. But that
was then! Now she fights for mighty Viking gods with the
spectacular and vicious Crows.
But things are turning very bad, very quickly because a
vengeful, ancient goddess has come into the world with just
one thing on her mind--ending it. And the only way they can
hope to stop her is if the Crows join forces with their
one-time enemies, the Protectors. A Viking Clan created to
do nothing but kill every Crow they see.
Thankfully,
Protector Ski Eriksen is a peace loving kind of guy. Because
the woman he is desperately trying to get close to is the
beautiful and not-very-chatty Jace. Battling Nordic clans?
Unkillable goddesses? Jace's mean-spirited dog? None of
these things would ever get in the way of a true Viking!