Shadow's Claim: Immortals After Dark: The Dacians

Shadow's Claim
4 Stars

Trehan Daciano, a vampire assassin with a cold temperament and rational mind, finds himself in unfamiliar territory when he learns that his Bride is none other than Princess Bettina of Abaddon - the prize in a tournament in which suitors must fight to the death to win her hand. Can Trehan defeat the most dangerous fighters amongst the Lore? More importantly, can he claim Bettina's heart even if he has to kill the one man she professes to love above all others?

Series note: This is book #1 in the Dacia series, a spin-off of Immortals After Dark. However, it can be read as book #13 in IAD as it takes place in the same world and in parallel to other storylines.

IAD is another series that has been stagnating on my TBR for a while now. Although Cole's world building is detailed and immersive, her characters sexy and snarky, and her stories entertaining, the series lost its charm at some point and the recent installments ended up being passed over again and again for other reads. Well, it seems that absence has made the heart grow fonder and reading Shadow's Claim now has reignited my appreciation for the series.

While the tournament plot is exciting and actions packed, and the romance between Trehan and Bettina's is intense with incredible chemistry, there are one or two minor problems with the book.

First, it includes a trope that I dislike, i.e., Bettina believes herself in love with another man even though it is obvious he is all wrong for her. Moreover, she constantly chooses him over Trehan despite the fact that he is an amazing hero willing to do anything to win her.

Second, the book is overly long. It is unnecessarily drawn out with a number of superfluous scenes that could have been shortened or eliminated entirely.

Nevertheless, this is a fun read and the cameos by Nix, Lothaire and Sabine are an added bonus. Looking forward to continuing with Lanthe and Thronos's book next.

Thoroughly enjoyed.

Great book! thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Thank you very much.

SO it's pretty great? The ML is so kind and tender and Bet's character arc of finding her self-confidence I super enjoyed that. They're both so determined and it melts me. The only downsides are that Bet has pretty much no control over her life and her loved ones trampling all over her autonomy is never really mentioned and the BFF is a dickhead so much so that I was ready for him to die and his shitty behavior is pretty much glossed over. also at one point our sweet weapons master assassin who is nearly a thousand years old has to remind himself that he's using a staff instead of a sword? But I would recommend, a good listen.

I LOVED IT. Somehow I missed this the first time though IAD and I’m so glad I found it! I love the characters and how they grew on their journey. I wanted to give Bettina a hug the whole time and Kresley Cole did a phenomenal job of creating complete characters who come into their own. Loved it!

I liked this much better than I did Lothaire. first because the characters weren't as much a jerk as Lothaire was, the heroine brought a different touch this time around being a little more na?ve than the others were and a little more dependent on the ones around her. Trehan was a fine specimen. Man. The things that vampire said and did were awesome. I liked that there was tension at the end and not the immediate HEA that I was getting the impression we would get. Good, very good. :)