Melanie's Book Reviews

Oaths of Blood is the equally amazing sequel to Sacrificed in Shadow, second book in the Ascension series.

Elise finds herself in a risky position when a high profile murder points the finger at her and the ‘Union’ put her at the top of their ‘most wanted list’, forcing her into seclusion & keeping an even lower profile than usual but that’s about to change when Rylie Gresham & Seth Wilder come in search of her with a demon possessed werewolf accompanying them. Hoping that Elise will exorcise the wolf so they aren’t forced to kill her, Rylie promises to help Elise out of her predicament….but when they start to make a connection between both of their circumstances, things get scary as they race against time to stop yet another apocalyptic situation. Elsewhere, James is using Elise’s distraction to set his own plans into action, will he be prepared for the consequences?

So, as I said this was an amazing sequel -The plot thickens in this and the threat isn’t from the usual suspect but causes no less of an impact. Elise’s character is awesome as usual although she did seem a bit weaker (physically) in this, I suppose it’s all part of working out who she is now and her capabilities, book 1 touched upon her feeding habits and that carries across into this book - I like this though, working out what sort of creature she is and I look forward to finding out more because I really do like her character so I’m always curious about the progression. When she is framed, it’s hard to see how she’s going to prove her innocence leading to some close shaves with the ‘Union’ which are good but I’m left wondering how the ‘Union’ know what to do with her? They seem to know a lot so I’m hoping for more insight into this because they are coming across as a formidable force – who is pulling their strings? More murders are involved with tons of graphic descriptions, people sliding about in blood is always an eye opener and made for a great scene that I could just imagine, again this is what makes these books so good, I love that the author isn’t afraid to be graphic, I love the harsh reality that this world is, I love everything about them & I always think that it would make an excellent movie, I’ve said when I was first introduced to Elise that she reminded me of a female Constantine and I still stand by that, these stories deserve to be seen not just read about. I like how the wolf pack needed Elise and how they went in search of her, it gives her an approval in a way, these supernaturals believe in her and her abilities which lends a certain amount of trust to her. I like that Rylie is prepared to lend a hand in return and they make a great pair of kick ass ladies, reading of Rylie in action against proper enemies was cool, I like how her wolf is totally different to her usual character and are sometimes at odds with each other (I really need to read her story) but I always feel Elise is the star of the show. It’s hard not to spoil the plot, there are always multiple threads to each book and all come together perfectly so expect, gruesome murder scenes, spookiness, strange happenings, rituals, exorcisms, collaborations, good vs evil, plots & schemes, battles…. but more questions because let’s not forget, this is only book two and there are lots of things to be worked through before we know all of the details, needless to say I loved this book, the series and this author, you are guaranteed a fantastic story from S.M Reine each and every time, she never fails to hit the mark with her writing for me –EVER!