Dark Deceit by South African-born & Sydney-raised author Lauren Dawes is 1st in her Dark series of paranormal urban action fantasy novels with strong romantic elements involving a conflict between the Norse Aesir and the dark elves, both of whom are living incognito amongst the humans, this installment starring a retired Valkyrie targeted by a dark elf assassin, free courtesy of publisher Pan Macmillan Australia's Momentum imprint.
The customer reviews note that this has a somewhat high-ish level of violence, and a fairly twisty intrigue-riddled plot which apparently makes heavy use of not-entirely-factual Norse mythology, alongside the aforementioned strong romantic elements (TBH, these probably straddle the borderline of PNR and UF, leaning more towards the PNR side), so caveat the more sensitive Gentle Reader.
This is apparently being made free to promote the upcoming 2nd in series,
Dark Desire, which is slated for release on the 25th.
Currently free @
Amazon (not available to Canadians, but free in the
UK),
Kobo &
iTunes (both available to Canadians, and DRM-free at Kobo). It's also listed as free
directly from the publisher's webstore (DRM-free ePub/Mobi bundle available worldwide), but the "Add to Cart" button is currently MIA, though I'm sure they'll get that fixed eventually.
And this has been the selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.
Because I have this inordinate fondness for cultures which produce dragon boats (even if the particular myths this one draws from predates the actual Viking-ish dragon boat construction era by a bit, and from the sound of it depart somewhat from the originals). And quite frankly, it's rather rare-ish to see Norse-derived UF/PNR (compared to all the shapeshifting vampire witches and Celtic-inspired stuff), so, novelty value as well. Also, valkyries are awesome.
<-- it turns out we have an elf smiley, though it's not particularly dark, much less assassin-ish
Enjoy!
Description
The time of Odin is over. The Aesir gods now live among the humans in their bustling modern cities. Their brutal dominion over the other gods and their eradication of the entire dark elf race may have ended, but their actions have not been forgotten.
Korvain is one of the last full-blooded dark elves, and is feared like no other. His ruthlessness and cold heart are legendary, but when he is given the task of killing one of the most fabled goddesses of all time, he is left with an undeniable desire to make her his own. Failure in his task means only one thing: death. Will he follow his orders, or will he follow his heart?
Bryn’s whole world crumbled when she left Odin’s service to protect the other valkyries. Now living with the humans, she is the only thing standing between them and total destruction. But her beliefs are about to be shaken to the core when she meets Korvain a volatile, completely irresistible dark elf who threatens to take away more than just her innocence …