Author: Vanessortia

This was my favorite book in the series. There was no virginal female being chased, stalked, or groomed by a much more sexually experienced and physically powerful man, and after reading four books that followed that script it was so refreshing. I loved that the love interests were on an equal footing, both physically and mentally. 

Brandon King, younger twin brother of Landon, has felt inadequate for his entire life. He has always felt like he was living in the shadow of his much more artistically talented brother. Lan creates sculptural masterpieces, and Bran feels like his landscapes aren’t even close to being in the same league, even though his family, friends, and professionals in the field tell him that his paintings are indeed very beautiful. Bran’s confidence has also taken major hits over the years as women have used him in order to try to get closer to Lan, making him question any woman who says she wants to be with him. Bran loves his brother deeply, but he also feels inadequate by comparison, for many reasons. He has created a very scheduled, organized, normal life in order to try to fit in and keep his inner demons at bay.

But when Bran receives an anonymous text stating that he needs to go to the Heathens initiation to save his brother, his love for his twin overrides his fear of confrontation and violence which is what is to be expected at the event. As he runs through the woods alongside actual hopefuls trying to become members of the exclusive club, he decides hiding is better than trying to reach the finish line. Unfortunately, the most unhinged of the Heathens finds him and takes a great interest in him.

Nikolai is an absolute menace. Future leader of the mafia that his parents are current leaders of, he enjoys fighting, drinking, and sex. He is covered in tattoos, loves to annoy people, and has serious anger issues. Nikolai only knows who Bran is because Lan is the head of the Heathens rival club. And even though he hates Lan, he finds himself absolutely enamored with Bran. Nikolai begins inserting himself into Bran’s perfectly organized life, which irritates him to no end not only because it disrupts his schedule, but because Bran insists that he is neither gay nor bisexual and has no interest in becoming Nikolai’s next one night stand. But Nikolai is annoyingly persistent, as he starts to insert himself into all areas of Bran’s life. 

From the beginning, we can tell that there is something disturbingly wrong with Bran. He seems to suffer from some kind of mental health issue, something very serious. He is hiding something, that’s why he has organized his life so strictly, he is trying to hide who he really is, but he also seems to have a secret beyond the fact that he is actually attracted to men. It takes the entirety of the book for that secret to come out, and it is a traumatizing event from his past. I definitely did not see that trauma coming, but I think it suited the story. 

This book may be the only one in this entire series that I ever read again. There was so much passion between Nikolai and Bran, I really enjoyed it. Their intimate scenes were also very spicy, they are quite vocal. And these two are the definition of opposites attracting. Bran is basically the definition of posh boy from a good, wealthy family, complete with a wardrobe of khakis, polo shirts and button downs, who spends his free time volunteering. Nikolai is basically an obnoxious, tattooed, mafia brat, wearing jeans and a leather jacket, when he does wear clothing, who enjoys his motorcycle and nights at the fight club. If it’s not obvious, I find this very cute. I’m hoping I can find more MM romances as good as this one in the future.

Mia, one of the younger twin sisters of Jeremy, looks like goth Barbie, clad in head to toe black, with blue eyes, blonde hair, and blue ribbons in her hair. She doesn’t speak, not because she was born unable to, but because of a traumatic event in her past that resulted in her having a petrifying fear of speech. We see glimpses of Mia in God of Malice, Pain, and Wrath, and in God of Ruin we find out that she is not someone you want to cross. When Lan, head of the Elites, kidnapped her brother, it made her furious, and this story begins with her getting revenge. I liked seeing one of the female leads in this series take action, but my delight was short lived.

Lan is yet another overly aggressive, overly controlling, closed off man. He has more kinks than Killian, Creighton, and Jeremy combined, and they are all on the far end of the BDSM spectrum. This is the man that the author decides will make the perfect romantic interest for Mia, who just happens to be a virgin. Surprise, surprise, says my inner monologue with extreme sarcasm. 

I just wanted one female main character in this series to be on the same level as the male she was paired with. The imbalance of power, physically and politically, combined with the extremely sexually experienced males and virginal females, screamed of an author who is an advocate of erasing women’s rights. It was just too much for me to fully enjoy the first four novels in this series, the patriarchal themes were always in the back of my head, irritating me constantly. Yes, the intimate scenes are spicy and exciting. But that alone is not enough to hold my interest or make me consider recommending this novel and the rest to others. 

Besides getting sucked into a six book series in which five of the books focus around my least favorite trope, the reason behind Mia’s voluntary mutism makes absolutely no sense. Mia is a mafia daughter. Her parents and their associates are some of the most powerful and wealthy people in the country, if not the world. She could have bodyguards on her twenty four seven, she has no reason not to tell her parents or anyone else the identity of the person who caused her to go silent. She herself has admitted that she refuses to speak out of fear, and that the only way to let go of that fear would be to name the person or kill them, and yet she does nothing. She truly believes that the person who did this to her is unable to be found. I find that logic to be lacking. 

I am trying to be optimistic and stay excited for the fifth book in this series, God of Fury, which is the only male/male romance in this series. I am hoping that the two men that they pair together have at least somewhat of an equal footing. 

We finally have a female main character who stands up for herself and doesn’t let a man push her around. Cecily might end up being my favorite woman in this series for that alone. After two books of very submissive female main characters, Cecily’s character was an overwhelmingly welcome relief.

Cecily has been labeled the prude of her friend group, they regularly tease her about not even wanting to verbally call body parts by their actual names. But we find out immediately that there is a reason behind her shying away from all things sexual. After having a terrifying experience with her ex boyfriend, she hasn’t been involved with any men for two years. Until Jeremy. We know all about Jeremy from God of Pain, about how protective he can be, as well as controlling when it comes to the safety of his younger sister, and about how much he has to live up to as he prepares to take the place of his father in the mafia one day. Cecily the homebody, who only seems to be confrontational when it comes to men trying to control women, certainly doesn’t seem like the type of girl who would ever want to be involved with a future mafia lord. The girl who hopes to become a therapist one day hardly seems like she would want to be in a relationship with a man who blackmails and tortures others for a living. There are even rumors floating around campus that he has already killed a man. But the two share a very uncommon kink, and this is ultimately what intrigues Jeremy enough to pursue Cecily.

As the relationship began between these two I thought I was going to be reading what would basically be a God of Malice or God of Pain sequel. But there were finally some differences in the plot that I actually really enjoyed. Both Glyndon and Annika ultimately let the men do what they wanted, that being have the final say in all things. They may have tried to fight them, but they both ended up letting their lovers have complete control over them. Cecily actually put her foot down and set ground rules. And Jeremy actually listened. I loved how she stood up for herself and what she believed in, she didn’t change in any major ways to be with him and she didn’t let him bully or coerce her. Jeremy is not Mr. Perfect. But he actually ends up being quite reasonable, relatively, he listens to what she has to say and he backs off when she tells him to. This makes Jeremy my favorite male main character so far as well, because he actually seems like someone who could really exist. Killian and Creighton were too brutal, too unforgiving, too overpowering. I know these stories are fiction, but sometimes you can take it a little too far. The unrelatability is what made me not enjoy the overall novels. 

So if you have read the first two books and you thought to yourself I don’t know if I can pick up another book in this series, I can’t read the same story again, God of Wrath is different. Or, if you read my other reviews and didn’t feel compelled to pick up either of those books, every book in this series is a standalone, so you could choose to read just this one. And while all these books are standalones, they take place in the same universe and all the same characters are at least mentioned in every story. I am actually working on creating a timeline that I think I will post after I finish the last Legacy of Gods book. All these stories happen around the same time, and I am finding it an intriguing project to map out when all the major events happen.

Almost exactly two years ago I started to read the Legacy of Gods series. Back then, there were only four books released, now the entire six book series is out in print. I wonder, did I not continue reading the next few books on purpose because I knew the series wasn’t finished, or was there another reason? To try and figure out what that other reason might have been I did go back and re read God of Malice, the first book in Legacy of Gods. I did enjoy it, although there were several things that frustrated me. I am going to update the post I wrote for that book in my original post, of which I will have a link for you at the end of this post.

God of Pain begins around the end of the events of God of Malice, pre epilogues. Both novels are standalones, but the characters of focus in God of Pain are introduced to us in God of Malice. Creighton, younger brother to Eli and second cousin to Glyndon and her brothers, is the strong and silent type, emphasis on the silent part. He is a says less, means more kind of guy, only speaking when he deems it worthy enough to do so. This is beyond frustrating for Annika, the new roommate to the Royal Elite girls, who is a socialite and a chatterbox. She is drawn to Creighton the first time she meets him, with his beautiful dark blue eyes and powerful presence. She just wants him to open up and show some interest in her, but he is stubbornly resistant to her charms. Just when Annika is ready to give up on Creighton, he breaks into her room one night, the same night that someone sets fire to a building outside of the mansion she lives in with her brother and the other members of his club, the Heathens. The Heathens and the Serpents, rival clubs at the American King’s University, are also in a tandem rivalry war with the Elites, the club belonging to the English Royal Elite University. After the events of God of Malice, the three clubs have been fighting constantly, and anyone associated with the clubs, including friends and relatives of the members, are either in danger or could potentially be so. 

Why was Creighton in Annika’s room the night of the fire? Was he the one who started it? What changes after that night, after weeks of nothing, that causes Creighton to finally show interest in Annika? This is just the beginning of a very dangerous, forbidden affair. The story escalated in ways I could have never imagined. I was ready for Annika’s older brother Jeremy, leader of the Heathens, to oppose his sister dating a guy whose brother and cousin are leading members of the Elites. I wasn’t prepared for yet another book in which an inexperienced, cloistered virgin, immediately participates in very aggressive, violent sexual acts with a man she barely knows, a man who has vastly more experience in both the world at large and in the bedroom. It was thrilling to read, but also mildly irritating. I don’t believe that anyone goes from being untouched to immediately ready for BDSM, which is pretty much exactly what occurs between Creigh and Anni. And the overly controlling man trope was tiring as well. Anni gets it from both ends, from her brother forcing her to stay with him at his mansion rather than her dorm with the girls, to Creighton having similar tendencies to Killian. It becomes incredibly unreasonable and irrational, an example being when he won’t let any other man touch her, including men that are gay. Annika has craved freedom her entire life, Creighton doesn’t exactly give her any. Why is she ready to commit to a man that treats her almost exactly the same way her brother and father have treated her for her entire life?

I was hoping that the next book in this series would be better, but I’ve already read the first few chapters and I think I’m going to be mentally grumbling again. It looks as though this will be yet another story that follows a similar vein, and even more frustratingly so that this will be the third book in a row in this series that focuses on my least favorite trope, the female virgin who gets swallowed up by a much more experienced man. I predict that our female main character will get sucked into a situation that is more than she bargained for, but she somehow ends up either liking it or just going along with it, and she doesn’t think she has any means of bargaining with the man or ending the relationship, and so she throws her morals out the window. Come back next week if you want to hear me both complain about that while simultaneously gloat about how spot on I was with my predictions.

God of Malice by Rina Kent