A creature out of folklore. And nightmare.
January 1889. When a Romanian village suffers a series of brutal attacks, occult investigator Anne Lawrence is dispatched to the forests of the Old Country to hunt the killer – only to vanish without a trace.
The trail leads her mentor Vivienne Cumberland deep into the Carpathians to a remote monastery. As a blizzard rages outside, trapping them all with the pricolici, Vivienne risks sharing the fate of the woman she came to find. But is the culprit truly a werewolf … or something even more dangerous?
A man bent on revenge. And a love that was never meant to be.
Imprisoned in a decaying castle, Anne finds herself ensnared in a web of dark enchantment, at the mercy of a mysterious captor with a beast inside – and a memory as old as the ancient legends.
As the weeks pass, Anne learns his real identity, and slowly uncovers a complex and deeply passionate man. But is she willing to pay the price for falling under his spell?
More info on Goodreads......
Review:
A Bad Breed is the third novel in Kat Ross’s Gaslamp Gothic series and is a passionate and whimsical tale of murder, mayhem and magic with a Beauty and the Beast underlay that sweeps readers up into a delectable Victorian world full of adventure.
After a Romanian village suffers a series of brutal attacks, occult investigator Anne Lawrence is sent to investigate the deaths. When Anne soon disappears herself, her mentor Vivienne Cumberland follows her footsteps to the Carpathian mountains in search of her missing ward and to a remote monastery. Tales of Pricolici abound, a creature of folklore more beast than man and as a blizzard traps Vivienne in the monastery, she faces the same fate as those unlucky enough to come across the creature. Is the perpetrator truly the creature of legend or is he something else entirely? Imprisoned in a rotting and decaying castle, Anne finds herself victim of a magical enchantment. Held prisoner by a man whose drive for revenge sees him determined to use her, Anne is determined to escape but as the weeks pass and Anne comes to learn more of her captor, will her heart leave her unable to do what must be done? Or will she find a way to reach a man whose inner beast is set to destroy everything Anne loves?
I’ve always loved Kat Ross’s novels and A Bad Breed is definitely no exception. Having read both her Fourth Element and Fourth Talisman series’, I was somewhat perplexed to see that A Bad Breed was advertised as being a retelling of Beauty and the Beast given the Gaslamp Gothic’s ties to Ross’s ancient Persian tales. And yet I should have known Kat Ross would do the impossible and weave threads of the classic Beauty and the Beast tale into her Victorian era world of necromancers, daeva’s and magic effortlessly.
A Bad Breed unfolds in the third person and follows a number of characters including Vivienne, Alec, Anne and Balthazar. I’m really enjoying following Vivienne and Alec in this series having known them since the beginning when they still went by the names of Tijah and Achaemenes. It feels like being reunited with old friends and I’m finding it highly entertaining seeing how they’ve changed and evolved over their centuries together. They’re very much different individuals than when I knew them in the Fourth Element novels and are more products of their current Victorian times, but at their base and in their essence they’re still the Tijah and Achaemenes I’ve always loved.
A Bad Breed sees a Beauty and the Beast element interwoven into the series in the form of Anne and Gabriel who are prisoner and captor respectively in an old dilapidated castle. Anne’s story of imprisonment takes place over a manner of months and Ross stays true to much of the classic timeline but also adds her own flavour to the story. I liked both Anne and Gabriel; daeva and necromancer together is the kind of forbidden romance that I enjoy seeing. Anne is very capable and worldly while Gabriel tormented and like many Ross heroes layered and complex. Gabriel is portrayed as somewhat of a villain but he has human emotions behind his tortured and tormented role.
This novel is more visually explicit than other Kat Ross novels I have read. Though Nazafareen and Darius were intimate during their relationship, Ross didn’t their sexual exploits with the same depth and description she does with the few shown in A Bad Breed. Younger readers may want to be aware of the sex scenes that are adult in nature, although they definitely serve a purpose and reason within the novel.
Fast paced, well written and very enjoyable reading, A Bad Breed is a luscious and vivid tale that ends too soon for my liking. I love Kat Ross’s storytelling and her characters who are multilayered and intricate personalities and who often blur the line between good and evil. A great read, A Bad Breed can definitely be read as a stand alone but leaves me very keen for more!
Rating:
Source: Sent for review by Xpresso Book Tours and the author (Thank you ladies!)
Publisher: Acorn
Format: Kindle ebook
Release Date: May 31st 2019
Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | iBooks | Google Play
Final Thoughts: Another great read from Kat Ross--I can't wait to see what she releases next.
Great review, Rachel! The Beauty and the Beast aspect sounds so unique and well done! It sounds like a really cinematic and well written read!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Rachel! I was moving house the week of the tour (what timing) but I'm so happy you liked it, and I just finished Necromancer's Bride this week, can't wait for you to read the follow-up! :)
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