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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific, like the 1st & 3rd books in the series. Jen Ashley brings all 5 brothers together for "The Gathering" in book 4., January 26, 2008
This review is from: The Gathering (Immortals, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
The Immortals Series:
The Calling (Jennifer Ashley)
The Darkening (Robin T. Popp)
The Awakening (Joy Nash)
The Gathering (Jennifer Ashley)
The Redeeming (Jennifer Ashley) Due for release in Sept. 2008
The Crossing (Joy Nash) Due for release in Sept/ Oct 2008
This series needs to be read in order. Start from the beginning to follow the unfolding story. This book, The Gathering, in particular needs to be read after the first three. It's a terrific continuation of the series.
Hunter is known for being "the crazy one" among the 5 Immortals. He loves to live for the moment, future be damned. When he awakens in a cage next to a lion, with no clue as to how he got there, he is delighted to be found by a lovely female animal rescuer. Having a gift for communicating with beasts of all kinds, Hunter appreciates Leda's choice of lifestyle. He also appreciates the fact that she is single, pretty, and attracted to him. Leda believes she has found a crazy man in the lion cage. Not only is he unafraid of the great cat, but he is having a conversation with it as well.
Death magic is taking over the world day by day. The demon leader, Kehksut, seems unstoppable. When Hunter learns of the risk to life magic creatures, he finds and joins his Immortal brothers in an effort to stop Kehksut. Being a witch of life magic, Leda is determined to help. Together, Hunter and Leda travel to Seattle to join the battle.
Adrian has finally located all of his brothers. Darius, Kalen, and Hunter have come to gather their vast powers against Kehksut. Some feel that their youngest brother, Tain, cannot be saved. Each of his brothers has tried on their own to save him. Tain is determined to help Kehksut end all life magic. Adrian will not give up hope. He believes that Tain's mind can be healed if they kill Kehksut. Using every bit of their joined power, and that of the witches they love, the 4 older brothers risk everything in one final effort to save Tain. When chaos breaks out, Hunter must make a choice between taking Leda away to safety or doing his part to save Tain.
Jennifer Ashley has a talent for writing intense tales mixed with plenty of good humor. "The Gathering" was fast paced and exciting. All of the significant characters from books 1- 3 return to join Adrian's army of life magic. Keeping the main focus on Hunter and Leda, Ashley took the best of each earlier book and built a great 4th story. She is writing the 5th edition as well. I'm looking forward to reading Tain's book.
If you'd like to read the whole series, here are the links to the rest of the books:
The Calling (Immortals, Book 1)
The Darkening (Immortals, Book 2)
The Awakening (Immortals, Book 3)
Books 4 and 5 are scheduled for release in fall 2008.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Series, January 28, 2008
This review is from: The Gathering (Immortals, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
: The Immortals: The Gathering is the final book of the series and brings the last missing Immortal into the story. Hunter, son of the goddess Kali, feels the calling and suddenly finds himself staring into the face of a lion. Leda is running the island sanctuary for exotic animals and is stunned to find a gorgeous man in the cage with her lion Mukasa. Neither Hunter nor Leda is aware of the reasons behind the calling and can't resist the sizzling passion between them. With the help of a half demon friend, Samantha, and Leda's connection to the Coven of Light witches, they soon find out how desperate the worlds situation is becoming. Hunter and Leda's fiery relationship will lead them to more dangerous perils as they set out to join Hunter's Immortal brothers. It's non-stop action as all the warriors, their magical women and many of their friends they've picked up along the way, come together for the ultimate battle over the death magic and the demon bent on destroying all life magic. There are sacrifices to be made and possibly loves that may be lost along the way and the explosive climactic ending will blow you away. Who will win this battle? Who will survive?
Jennifer Ashley has done a fantastic job bringing all our characters from the series together and giving us a conclusion of epic proportions. It's a combustible read that will have you sitting on the edge of your seat and breathless in anticipation as the scenes intensify. She weaves Hunter and Leda's romance smoothly into an already building plot and gives the reader an unforgettable ride. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this series and hope that you do too. Totally awesome!!
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
4.5 stars - The grand finale but not the end, Immortals series continues next year,, September 11, 2007
This review is from: The Gathering (Immortals, Book 4) (Mass Market Paperback)
The Gathering wraps up the Immortals series with lots of action and a big reunion. Jennifer Ashley gets the fun job of taking advantage of all the characters we've gotten to know in the previous three books and bringing them together for the grand finale.
The Gathering introduces love interests air-witch Leda and the fifth immortal brother Hunter. Hunter still carries the pain of not being able to save his mortal wife and children 900 years ago. Hunter's coping mechanism is to live in the moment. He enjoys himself and women, but is always on the move to keep himself from ever getting attached to some one again. As long as he lives in the now, he manages to have a joyful, if shallow, existence that he has convinced himself is satisfying. When the Calling drops him in on Leda, Hunter quickly breaks his rules about getting too close to a mortal women and finds himself sharing his past with Leda and deciding to draw things out with her. What was missing is why. This is a problem that I have with vampire romances too. I really needed the author to add a motivation for what was so special about Leda that after a thousand years of one night stands, a twenty six year old captures this ancient immortal's heart. Leda finds herself quickly falling for Hunter, but her motivation is clear - Hunter is immensely likeable, he is playful and sensual - and when she opens herself completely mind, spirit and body to Hunter so that he can remove the taint from her soul, he captures her heart. Even knowing that he will break her heart when he moves on, she decides to savor what moments she can with him until he leaves.
In addition to Hunter and Leda, a final player is introduced as well, Samantha a human Halfling who's dark magic essence was inherited from her demon father. Samantha has a key role to play. In previous Immortals books we have discovered the not all dark magic creatures are evil. There are several Vamps that have become allies. In this book we also learn that while demons are creatures of dark magic they aren't inherently evil. And Samantha's father's relationship with Samantha's mother shows that demons are capable of love.
As the story progresses it becomes clear that it is not a coincidence that the four Immortals have all found love at the same time. Instead it is all the pieces falling into place for the final battle of light against dark with both the Tain's evil Demon captor and the goddess mothers pulling strings behind the scenes. All of the Immortal's witch lovers and all five Immortals must be in place to the complete the circle. I really liked that the five witches - bringing the five magical elements Air (Leda), Fire (Lexi), Water (Christine) and Earth (Amber) and Akasha (Samantha) the power of the universe to unite them - are actually necessary to the battle and that the Immortals can't win without them.
While there is still plenty of steamy love scenes, The Gathering is not as unrelentingly focused on the bedroom scenes. As a result the physical scenes between the lovers are more effective because they are less repetitive than in the previous books. As an additional bonus, this shift in focus actually leaves space for more plot. While I was a bit ambivalent about the Immortal series after the first book , and had a few problems with the twisted demon sex stuff ( there has to be a better way to show that the bad guys are really bad), I really enjoyed The Gathering so I am glad I stuck with the series. I am looking forward to Tain's story The Redeeming (Immortals), by Jennifer Ashley out in Aug. 2008, and Immortals: The Crossing by Joy Nash in Oct. 2008 which I am hoping is Mac's story. The Immortals website also lists an untitled one by Robin Popp, I can't guess about this one, in Nov. 2008 and an anthology by all three authors around Feb. 2009.
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