There is an evil Queen, and the King seems to be ill/bed-ridden. No one has an issue with the fact that the Queen is literally doing all sorts of cruel things right in front of everyone. I honestly would have enjoyed to read about some kind of rebellion. In the aftermath of the Last Great War,that happened long ago, now every mageborn(those born with an ancient and now outlawed magic) should surrender their magical abilities to the Crown,or be destroyed. Wow, wow, wow! ... A showstopping book that was hard to put down … An addicting adventure you will not want to miss out on.’ NetGalley Reviewer In Mageborn, the symbiotic partnership of Grace and Bastien made them both stronger, however in Nightborn this isn’t the case. Grace is by far and wide the stronger in the partnership and at times Bastiens role as the ‘damsel in distress’ becomes annoying.

I will be providing a *SPOILER FREE* review for now.... The moment February 18 hits. I am editing this review and you can bet I will unleash my true ranty feelings about all the characters♥♥♥ This is a fantasy / romance adventure in which tempestuous couple Grace (warrior and reluctant mage) and Bastien (reluctant prince and even more reluctant mage) have to fight political pressures, hordes of evil, and their own inner demons, to be with each other and save the kingdom that they have both devoted their lives to serving.Grace, an orphan, is part of an elite corps of soldiers, fights corrupt or hollow Mageborn..Bastien is seneschal to the Mageborn, as well as the King's cousin, monitors Mageborn, punishes those who will not submit to the crown. Interesting are the side characters and the villains in the story. Ellyn is the trusted friend and soldier, Daniel is, maybe, the naive and in love guy, ready to do anything for the people he cared about. I really wished the author would have developed more Ellyn's and Daniel's characters, because I really liked them and I hope the next one will do, because I need to know more about Daniel's family, Misha and Kurt and Ellyn's. Mageborn is the first book of The Hollow king saga and it's a complex tale of magic, love, adventure, intrigue and power. There are some new characters and as with the regular ones you’ll love the goodies and you’ll love hating the baddies. I started reading Mageborn not knowing what to expect and now, after I finished it, it blew my mind. This is the perfect book for those who are a fan of fantasy, romance, a great world-building, an intricate magic system, and plot twists that will shake you to the core!

Thorne does such a great job of getting the reader invested because there really is always some nefarious person right around the corner with plans to use him. He's loyal, protective, and will do just about anything for those he considers 'his people' which is a huge weakness with the pit vipers surrounding him. The Hollow King isn't a bad book. In a lot of ways, it is a good book. A noble vampire on a quest of vengeance who uses the souls of his people as a weapon. It's a premise that comfortably carries the book on its shoulders, and is aided by John French's easy prose. There were plenty of villains in this story, new and old - but more often than not the main characters were their own worst enemies! There was so much self doubt that it was heartbreaking and a torture to read from Grace and Bastien's POV. Cado Ezechiar is a wanderer who has outlived the memory of the age that made him. A Soulblight vampire who accepted the curse as his people and kingdom fell to Chaos, he now roams the Realm of Death and beyond seeking retribution and salvation for the ones he failed. There's romance and magic (the costly kind, not the nice twinkly kind) and quite a lot of violence. The pace doesn't let up right until the end. It's a brilliant fantasy adventure that gallops along.Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an electronic version of this book in exchange for an honest review. Again i loved the character development direction that Grace Marchant was heading and i wanted more and i was curious! But again was cut short on several occasions and it felt like a hiccup and it was really frustrating because it was undermining all the buildup her character got so far. The Lord of Thorns is feared by his people and that fear does not come from anywhere. His powerful magic is his blessing as well as his curse. With it, comes great responsibility and temptation. He was supposed to be the protector of the mageborn but he could also be the one person that would bring a terrible fate to the kingdom. Midway through the book, I was bored as I wasn't invested enough in anything to read further. This is a fantasy romance, but before reading it I did not know that. I had assumed it would have high focus on the magic and magic system but that is not the case here. If she played a strong role before, Grace steals the show in this book, and I am delighted by that. This is a case of me liking a character at first, but then really appreciating them the more that I get to know them. Grace is headstrong without being overconfident, and she is not immune from feeling the obvious fear that someone might feel when there is an ancient and powerfully magical force taking over you. She's more than willing to sacrifice herself for those she loves, but it's not a blind sacrifice. She wants to find a way to end what is potentially going to ruin an entire group of people, rather than blindly throw herself to the mercy of whatever god might make this happen and hope for the best. She was very human in her weaknesses and strengths, and her love for Bastien—and their relationship, in general—is not just stronger, but more deeply felt, and I couldn't help but connect with it.