Search - Burning Alive (Sentinel Wars, Bk 1)

Great read! I have a new 'must have' author.

I loved the opening with decrepit Miss Mabel whacking our hero with her walker because she thought he was hurting our heroine. The setup, secret warriors guarding the world from evil monsters, is not new but the author makes it her own.

The hero's people are born with a tattoo of a tree [lifetree] which grows and matures as they do. As they move through life, their bodies suck up power and store it. This power is meant to be used by their mate to fuel their magic. Unfortunately most of the women were killed [no details yet on how] 200 years ago leaving the men unmated. The power builds up causing extreme pain and slowly destroying their lifetree and their soul.

Our hero, Drake, finds Helen who takes away the pain and refreshes his lifetree and he mates her. He does not force her but he doesn't tell her all the repercussions, either. In his defense, when he tried to walk away he went into convulsions and would have died without her.

Helen has serious issues learning to use magic as the first thing they want her to do is call fire and Helen is terrified of fire. [She has a repeated vision of herself burning alive while a man, who turns out to be Drake, watches.]

One thing that I had trouble with - although I'm not sure how else the author could have handled it - was the monsters. There are several different types [none of which have common analogues in our culture] and they all look weird and have strange names. I really wanted a glossary - or at least a scorecard!

There are a lot of strings left for future books. There's a creepy little kid [who isn't a kid] who has visions, a plot by the Sanguinar [they don't like to be called vampires] and not much explanation of the source of the monsters.

There is also a teaser built in for the next book which leaves you hanging...

Sentinel Wars
1. Burning Alive (2009)
2. Finding the Lost (2009)
3. Running Scared (2010)
4. Living Nightmare (2010)

This was a great read. I had a hard time putting it down. The storyline reminded me a lot of Christine Feehan's Dark Series but the female counterparts were not as weak here.

I loved that Helen had to learn to fight and it wasn't natural for her to be the typical warrior. It was great to actually have a character that feared fighting. She seemed more real.

I read Zach and Lexi's story first. It wasn't difficult to read them out of order but I would recommend you do just to have a smooth storyline.

This story also made me understand why Logan and his "vampire" friends have their own agenda. The Sentinels really were awful to them. In the later books, that's not as evident.

Fun world she created. Would recommend.

I am typically not a big fan of the para-normal. I usually find then silly and far-fetched. But, I was actually believing this could happen! The story was good, as were the characters. A great kick-off for the series.

LOVED IT!!!!

I'm getting ready to start book two and I can't wait!!!!

I was not sure when I started the book but about a 4th of the way in it grabed me and it hard to put done. If you like the Carpathians books you will love this. I will be starting the next book soon so I can find out what happens.

Where can I find a sentinel of my own?!?! Drake and Helen are excellently written, I found both the main characters and the peripheral characters to all be likable, realistic, but super romantic without being goofy, silly, or cheesy.
I LOVE the intensity! Drake is HOT and Helen is a great counter balance for him. I was thrilled to be introduced to this series and have passed it on to many friends who are equally grateful to have been immersed in Butcher's world.