Forgiving The Unforgiven

   

   Title: The Unforgiven: The Watchers, bk. 1

    Author: Joy Nash

    Publisher: Dorchester Publishing

     Rating:

 

 

    There are descendants of angels walking amongst mankind, and they are in a war for supremacy. The Nephalim are the children of the original 200 Fallen, who ignored the divine law of not laying with the daughters of man. For clan Samyaza, their only recourse, after a brutal massacre at their stronghold, is to send newly adept, Cade Leucetius to Israel in search of one of clan Azazel’s unaware dormants and to enslave them, thus claiming the magic as their own. Not only is Madeline Durant a dormant, she also believes she has inoperable brain cancer. She has enough on her plate without the strange vibes the handsome, new laborer is sending.

   I have read and vastly enjoyed earlier works from Ms. Nash, and I am an unquestionable fan of dark romance.  That being said, there is such a thing as too dark.  The Nephalim, or Watchers, as they prefer to be called, have a bleak and depressing 120 years of life and then it’s off to Oblivion. No chance for redemption, no possibility of Grace, and this is generally through the sin of just being born. They could live the most devout and pious life imaginable with no acknowledgement. That doesn’t lead to a whole lot of happy, happy, “love your brother” attitudes. Even with this hanging over them, though this doesn’t cause most of them to lead excessively evil lives. They love their clans and their children, they don’t for the most part go around committing heinous sins against humanity. So, I’m thinking, somewhere they should catch a break. I mean it’s only fair.

  I thought Maddie might turn out to be a pretty good heroine, but then she did the whole, creepy “I’m in love with my father thing”. She really, really, really embraced her evil side to the Nth degree. A little too quickly for my peace of mind, and justified her betrayal because of Cade’s original intention to enslave her. OK, that was bad, but he didn’t do it and even confessed to it. Sooooo, Maddie’s actions were just unforgivable.  Evidently not to Cade, I mean it is a romance after all. I am glad I read this book because I think the series shows promise, but it needs to have some lightness to it, some loophole for these poor Watchers who are just trying to have a decent life. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.