Highborn by Yvonne Navarro
Paperback, 384 Pages
2010, Pocket Books
ISBN: 1439191735
Series: Book 1 of Dark Redemption
Synopsis
EVERYONE DESERVES A SECOND CHANCE. BRYNNA MALAK MIGHT BE THE EXCEPTION TO THE RULE.
Brynna is a fallen angel trying to earn redemption. She’s escaped from Hell in search of a new life on Earth, but Lucifer’s deadliest hunters are hot on her trail. Police Detective Eran Redmond is after her for a different reason: he needs Brynna to help him find a serial killer who is terrifying Chicago . . . and the trail leads them right to Hellspawned demons of the most dangerous kind. She’s also got a very human problem: dealing with a stubborn, attractive cop who makes her long for everything she knows she can’t have.
Staying alive long enough to earn a shot at Heaven will mean breaking some major rules in the mortal world, as she learns just how complicated and wonderful being human can be. With so much stacked against her, even Brynna has to wonder if she’s crazy. But she’s not giving in without a fight.
Not a chance in Hell. . . .
Review
Before reading Highborn, I was familiar with Yvonne Navarro only as she had written a few of the Buffy, the Vampire Slayer novels. I had enjoyed her writing based on one of my favorite shows of all time (no small thing, that) and was definitely interested to see what she would do with characters and a world of her own creation.
Highborn was a deeper, more developed story than a lot of the urban fantasy coming out today. Brynna had a nice fish-out-of-water thing going for her that helped make her hardened demon personality understandable and humorous at times. Her character was the highlight of the novel, but almost equally enjoyable was the way the story always had a surprising twist just as things were starting to settle down. Every time it seemed like the story was wrapping up, some other, completely plausible, thing happened to continue the tale. Obviously, all those unread pages at the end of the book should have been my first clue, but it was so easy to get wrapped up in the story that I wouldn't even notice I was no where near the end.
I don't have much interest in reading about demons living in hell and because of this, Highborn's prologue made me wary of the story to come. Luckily, the prologue was short and gave just enough information for the reader to get an idea of Brynna's previous life without giving too much of that information up front. As the story progressed, we learned more about Brynna's experiences, but in bits and pieces as they related to the current plot progression. This did wonders for keeping me fully interested in the modern, Earth-based story.
I never go out of my way to read books about demons, angels, fallen angels or any of the other Heaven/Hell flavors, but I plan on doing just that with the Dark Redemption series. Brynna is a character that I need to follow, need to know more about and need to see how life works out for her. Highborn is a great book.
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