In a Wolf's Eyes (The Saga of the Black Wolf #1) by A. Katie Rose

In a Wolf's Eyes is the story of Wolf, a slave and gladiator and Ly'Tana, a princess and bribe to be to the Crown Prince Broughton a.k.a Brutal. After the current King ends up dead and Brutal dadly beaten Wolf and Brutal's magician pet have to flee, bacause they are the ones who killed the King. In the whole chaos that follows the attack Ly'Tana and her people manage to escape too, but Brutal won't let her go that easy. He manages to capture Bar, Ly'Tana's griffin right in front of her so he can place a trap to get her back and finally conquer her Kingdom.

What I really loved about this book is the characters. Both the main characters and the secondary are truly brought to life. Haunted by their pasts, fighting for their freedom, falling to their knees and getting back up. Real-life characters. And my favorite: Brutal. Yes, he is the villain, but you love to hate him. And trust me I hated him ever since the first couple of chapters and a very infuriating horse scene. He is truly the perfect villain. He had me wishing for his painful death, while at the same time hoping he would keep living so I would keep hating him. Perfect bad guy material. 

Another thing I liked was the wolrd building and the characters' past. That made everything more real. They come from different places with different stories and through out the book you get to see bits and parts of their memories and of the history of their world.

On the other hand, I felt like the story didn't move as fast as I wanted it too. Yes, there was a lot of action, but just when I was all hyped up and lost in sword fights the main characters had to start thinking about every little detail in their future plans and what brought them there, it was a bit distracting. Also I thought that up until the moment the two main characters met the book was slow, fortunately their meeting didn't disappoint.

★★★★☆

book 30

book 7