Vengeance Born by Kylie Griffin


I grew up reading fantasy and I have a weakness for the fantasy books of the 1980s and early 90s written by women. Books like The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. These were fantasy adventure quests with a spice of romance. Vengeance Born fits into this tradition but adds a touch more romance.

The world building is good (including a twist I didn’t anticipate — no spoilers!). The characters and their motivations are clear. The writing is smooth, never jerking me out of the world Kylie creates.

The book’s strongest theme is prejudice: suffering it, confronting it, destroying it. There is a happy ending (believe me, I’d warn you if there weren’t. I insist on happy ever after), but there’s no rainbows and kittens dreaming. The happiness is earned and will continue to be fought for. I think that realism is what makes the fantasy world work.

There’s also an interesting spin on the fantasy tale because of the significant role the Lady’s religion plays in events. This is difficult to discuss and keep to my self-imposed rule of no spoilers. It’s definitely intriguing in how religion is used to define groups and impact the action (and that’s as much as I can say).

This is a well put together quest story with a clear cast of characters. Enjoy.

[Kylie is a fellow member of Romance Writers of Australia.]


5 responses to “Vengeance Born by Kylie Griffin”

    • Thanks for dropping by ๐Ÿ™‚ I'm enjoying the hell out of AWW12, but really finding reviewing a stretch. I'd gotten really comfy giving a one or two sentence opinion on Goodreads and leaving it at that. Writing for AWW12, I feel I have to pull my socks up ๐Ÿ˜‰ On the plus side, I'm enjoying reading others' reviews … off to do that now! and sometime before Saturday (when I try to put up a new review) I have to get my thoughts ordered for Cordelia Fine's "Delusions of Gender" – recommended by Toni Jordan (another AWW12 reviewer) and brilliant! Not many books make me re-assess my life.

      • Unlike everyone here, I am not in love with both guys. I am team Derek fully and colleptemy. I don’t care for Lucas at all. A lot of the times he annoyed me. Yeah Lucas is hot and all but his personality and the way he acts just doesn’t attract me. And on top of that his pack and family only want werewolf in their bloodline which Kylie is not. It’s just too much drama and it will only cause drama. Even if he did choose Kylie over the pack it would cause strain on the family, stress Lucas out, and therefore cause their relationship to struggle. He also did not defend Kylie instead of fredericka. Ellie even called him out for it and told Kylie she chose the wrong guy and that Derek would never do that to Kylie. I agree with Ellie one hundred percent. It doesn’t seem like Lucas knows what he wants. On the otherhand, Derek is colleptemy head over heels for her and even told her. He’s so sweet and caring and accepts Kylie no matter what. He knows how to deal with her better than Lucas does. He understands more and even though he can feel everything she does (which could get annoying at times) it’s still better in the long run. Kylie to me seems more attracted to Derek anyways. They go better together and its like I can feel how she feels when she’s with him. Kylie cares a lot about Lucas but I think it’s more in a friend way but then there’s passion thrown onto it just cuz she thinks he’s hot. But that’s not enough. Derek is cute, sweet, caring, and just so much more attractive and mature. Even though he left Kylie and rejected her that one time, I still feel like he’s more mature than Lucas just on the fact that he can handle anything Kylie has to offer. Lucas kept pushing for wanting Kylie to be werewolf and it pissed me off and got me really annoyed. Lucas is nice if you want a hookup but Derek is the one. I swear if CC does not have Kylie choose Derek I will die and be so disappointed in the ending of the books. This series is amazing but if the ending isn’t what I want it will ruin everything. So go team Derek!!!(:<3

    • Me too! ๐Ÿ™‚ and Kylie's book is good … if only spoilers didn't exist, I'd rave about a couple of things. I guess self-control is good for a new reviewer like me, but still… Happy reading, Kate!

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