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!