Review: Alterant (Belador #2) by Sherrilyn Kenyon & Dianna Love

Title: Alterant
Series: Belador #2
Authors: Sherrilyn Kenyon | Website
& Dianna Love | Website
Available: Now
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Reading Level: Adult
Source: Publisher (Thanks!)


*Possible Series Spoilers Below*






Synopsis via Goodreads:


From #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherrilyn Kenyon and Dianna Love comes the second book in the Belador series—featuring a league of international warriors with extraordinary abilities who rise up to save mankind from supernatural terrorists.


On the heels of saving mankind from destruction at the hands of the Medb coven, Evalle attempts to convince the Tribunal that she is an Alterant who can be trusted around humans. But the gods and goddess ruling over this Tribunal twist words she’d uttered in the heat of combat and hold her responsible for three dangerous Alterants that escaped their prisons. She is given a choice to either recapture those three who will lose their freedom forever or face the same sentence. Unsure that she can condemn another Alterant to a life she’d die before accepting, Evalle takes on an impossible task only to learn that the entire future of the Beladors rides on her success—and the only person who can help her is the one who wants to gut her.

My thoughts:

Alterant takes us back to an Atlanta bursting with all kinds of preternatural characters. I really liked the first book in this series and was excited to see what adventures (maybe predicaments would be a better word) Evalle would take part in next. 

I'm not sure if it was because of the amount of time that had passed since I read book one, Blood Trinity, but I had difficulty getting invested in Alterant during the first 100 or so pages. The world Kenyon and Love created is unbelievably complex. I found this to be both an asset and a hindrance. There was so very much happening along with a massive cast of characters. I was left feeling a little overwhelmed. Thankfully, events from Blood Trinity eventually started to come back to me, and I was able to remember how everyone was connected. The large cast also possessed an array of unusual names that I found myself stumbling over quite a bit. The ARC copy did have a glossary in the back. I definitely recommend using it. If you visit Sherrilyn Kenyon’s website she has a super cool character section complete with pictures. I referred to it numerous times while reading. It can be found here. 

The Belador series doesn't contain the amount of romance you would typically expect from Kenyon. If you dig urban fantasy you'll eat this up. If you’re more of a paranormal romance fan you might be left underwhelmed. There is a little more smoochy time in Alterant than Blood Trinity.  Evalle's traumatizing past, and the resulting emotional scars, cause her not to be super comfortable with lots of mushy romance. I totally respect that and like her even more because of it. If she forgot all her troubles because a hot guy showed an interest I’d have a problem finding it believable. I love the way the authors have handled the traumas Evalle has suffered and the slow going process of healing . They could rush it and make Evalle fall victim to insta-love, but they chose a pacing that is perfect, consistent and believable. I can't wait to see how her character evolves as this series continues. I have to say I'm not feeling the chemistry with Storm though. A little more Black Ops Isak would make me a very happy girl :)  

While I had trouble initially, I did thoroughly enjoy the last 200 pages of Alterant, but still felt it didn’t live up to Blood Trinity. I will still continue the series because I really like Evalle and am patiently waiting for Isak’s reaction when he figures out she isn’t just a human girl who attracts paranormal trouble. 

My Rating:

Books in this series: