Rebel (The Blades of the Rose, #3) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Oct 17, 2010 Katyana rated it really liked it

Shelves: shapeshifters, fantasy, pnr, historical, steampunktastic

This was yet another fun installment in this series. And I have to tell you, I am chomping at the bit for book 4, Catullus Graves's story. Mmmmm.

Rebel was pretty different in tone and texture than the previous 2 in the series. Firstly, there was significantly less humor. In fact, I can't really think of any at all. Secondly, there was far fewer nifty steampunk inventions. That's particularly odd to me, since Catullus Graves (the inventor) actually plays a major role in this one. And I would be l This was yet another fun installment in this series. And I have to tell you, I am chomping at the bit for book 4, Catullus Graves's story. Mmmmm.

Rebel was pretty different in tone and texture than the previous 2 in the series. Firstly, there was significantly less humor. In fact, I can't really think of any at all. Secondly, there was far fewer nifty steampunk inventions. That's particularly odd to me, since Catullus Graves (the inventor) actually plays a major role in this one. And I would be lying to say that I didn't miss it - something about the tech vs magic in this series is really a lot of fun to me.

We have heard bits and pieces about Astrid Bramfield in the previous books. We know that her husband Michael was killed in Africa, we know that they were doing something with the Primal Source, and we know that the Heirs now have this Primal Source. We know, from the end of book 2, that in the wake of her husband's death, Astrid has entirely withdrawn from the world - she fled to the wilds of Canada to live alone. This basically gives you the tone for this book: Astrid is a wounded woman, her life shattered. She considers herself a husk - she is determined NOT to live without Michael. She's not suicidal, but she considers her life over - joy died with Michael.

Nathan is equally wounded. He's a Native American who was raised by white people. He belongs nowhere - he's not accepted in white society, and the tribes consider him more of a white man than one of them. Nathan lives his life as if it is him against the world, and up until now, it has been.

So Rebel is mostly the story of two wounded, lonely people finding each other. I'll admit that, without the humor (like the previous 2 books) breaking up the drama, the Disney-esque love story got a little anvil-to-the-head for me. I get it, y'all are madly, deeply in love. His love saved her; her love saved him. But this thought is repeated a LOT. Like, a LOT. I still loved the book, but just... fair warning.

This book also does a lot of setting up, and in that respect, it feels like a bridging story. We get some light thrown on the overall plot regarding the Primal Source, and the battle lines for endgame feel drawn by the end of the book. In addition, this book really spends a lot of time setting up Catullus's story in book 4. We get to hear how lonely he is, and we meet Gemma Murphy, the heroine of his book. Honestly, between the overall story arc and Catullus, I am dang excited for Stranger. ...more

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Dec 28, 2010 chanceofbooks rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2010-read, 2010-keepers

Quite possibly a perfect novel--an absolutely gripping love story surrounded by fast-paced action and enough conflict to interest even the most jaded of readers. Out of the four Blades of the Roses books, this one is the most "paranormal," and Hero has certain unique traits that often turn me off to paranormals, however, it totally works here, and Nathan is a hot, multi-layered hero who is totally worthy of uber-independent Astrid who is the most kick-butt heroine of the series, and quite possib ...more

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