Customer Reviews

Immortals: The Crossing

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really liked Mac in his parts in the previous books. I looked forward to his appearances. This book was good, but I think I liked "Mac" more in his side roles in the previous books. I liked the sort of mystery that surrounded him. I'm not sure I liked the supposed "romance" between him and Artemis and I didn't really like her. I understood her motives, but like Mac, wished she had trusted him more and had more faith as he asked. I'm not really happy how the book ended on several levels but can't list them without giving spoilers. All in all I think I preferred him in smaller amounts and with a little mystery around him.

Manannan mac Lir, half sidhe, half god and guardian of all Celtic magical creatures had participated along with five witches and four Immortal brothers to save the soul of the fifth and youngest Immortal,Tain from the clutches and Old One, the demon Culsu. Each of Tain's brothers had absorbed some of the death magic plaguing Tain into their own souls. Only later had Mac discovered a dark stain on his own soul as well. It had aged his timeless visage by several years. He'd been weary and had left Scotland, shirking his responsibilities to pursue wine, women and his unique brand of song on a world tour. That had grown old as well. Something was missing in his life.

His absence has had devastating results as Mac discovers upon returning home. A number of the fairy villages in his care had been skimmed of a portion of their life magic. The last of these villages had contained a rare fairy infant, much too young to sustain the loss. The child was dying and it was all Mac's fault. Their only hope was for Mac to trace the spell back to the wielder. The spell is odd indeed for it appeared to have been a combination of both life and death magic intertwined. This implicated a human, for no other creature could wield both kinds of magic. It would be a rare human indeed, as never before had any been known to possess the ability to use them both simultaneously.

Artemis Black is a witch of mixed magical heritage both light and dark. She is also a mother facing the loss of a child. Hecate, consort to Satan, has a penchant for young souls. Artemis had met her on the battlefield during Culsu's bid to purge the world of life magic. She had inadvertently led the Hecate to her only son. Now her child lay dying in a Philadelphia hospital an empty shell. Her only hope to recover his sould had been to strike a deal with a rival demon. She had come all the way to Scotland to fill her moonstone pendant with life magic, the offering demanded to obtain the demon's aid. She had only until sundown, the eve of Samhain. Unlike mere humans, fairies were brimming with life magic and Scotland was brimming with fairy villages. They are her only hope but in spite of her desperate race against time Artemis cannot live with endangering the life of another child and is compelled to return the life magic to Gilraen's village.

Desperation makes Artemis careless however and Mac finally catches up with her. He's not quite sure what to do with her but is not about to allow her to fulfill her mission. Instead of taking her to Annwyn to stand trial according to the Sidhe law, he decides to takes her home with him. Something in his newly blended soul finds a kindred spirit with the witch. She is desperate to escape and to get what she needs and therefore encourages Mac's attraction. The experience for both is like none other. Mac loses control and plants the seed of his child in her womb, while the desperate mother slips a drop of life magic from the demigod's bottomless soul. Artemis has no time to analyze her feelings of remorse. She must escape and make her meeting with the demon.

Betrayal aside, Mac is drawn to the witch and her plight. The life of his child is on the line and he will defy his own mother, the Sidhe court and even follow Artemis into the very depths of Hell to protect what is his. Think Dante's Inferno. If Mac thought being pursued by fan girls was hell, he's in for a rude awakening.

As the pair traverses the various levels of Satan's domain they are first hand witnesses to the repercussions of living a less than virtuous life. On each level they are exposed to seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Throughout they are faced with division, betrayal, and impossible choices. Help will come from unexpected places. Armed with only love, will the pair prevail? At what cost? For have no doubt, the devil WILL have his due!

Well this was most interesting. With each of the Immortal brother's tales we got some insight to various ancient cultures and their deities. Ms. Nash now flips the coin to give us a modern day version of Hell which in spite of the dire plight of its inhabitants provides a certain amount of humor with pop culture references, etc. Although I've enjoyed the entire series so far, this has been my favorite tale to date.Unlike with the other Immortal's, Mac the youngest, isn't offered the easy solution for taking a mortal as his mate. He makes a true sacrifice and has no moment of regret. For him love is simply enough. ~ Reviewed for PNR Reviews

Manannan Mac Lir is the Prince of Annwyn as well as Guardian of Celtic Magical Creatures for the human world. It makes perfect sense to have a half sidhe be guardian. While Mac is visiting his friends Kalen and his wife Christine and their daughter Elspeth, he learns that someone is going around raiding faerie villages of their life essence. Mac goes to investigate who could be doing this. When he arrives at one of the villages he captures the person responsible. Her name is Artemis Black and she is a witch. Tomorrow is Samhain, the changing of the seasons and Artemis needs all the life essence she can get before Samhain takes place. Artemis is brought before Mac's mother and the rest of the counsel and sentenced to exile. Mac knows he should be pleasure with the sentence Artemis received but instead he feels something for Artemis other then hatred. Mac will travel to heaven or hell to bring Artemis back where she belongs.


I devoured Immortal: The Crossing and enjoyed every morsel of it. It had just the right amount of everything. Though I have to admit that Immortal: The Crossing is the first book I have read in the Immortal series. Now after stating that fact, I am excited to say that I was very pleased with Immortal: The Crossing. Ms. Nash writing style made it so effortless to jump right into this book that I never felt like I was missing anything by not reading all of the other books in the series. Immortal: The Crossing can be read as a stand-alone book. Do be warned though that after reading this book you will find yourself like I did wanting to go back and read all of the other books in the Immortal series. I am proud to say I am now a big fan of Joy Nash.

The five previous books in the Immortals series have focused on five immortal brothers. This sixth instalment takes one of the side characters from the previous stories and focuses on him. Manannán mac Lir is half god, half sidhe, and is pretty bored with his immortal life. That is, until he meets the improbably-named Artemis Black, a very unusual witch who has been stealing life essence from various magical villages.

Artemis is on a mission, one she can't reveal to Mac. But Mac just can't leave her alone, knowing that she's in trouble. As Mac and Artemis travel to the depths of the dark world they have to learn about trust, resourcefulness and immortality.

This book was rather patchy with some exciting parts and some dull parts. Mac is supposedly British but the dialogue was very awkward with him using English slang ('bloke', calling people 'love') but not always correctly. The 'love' part was completely overdone as well. Mac and Artemis continually escape from almost certain death which got rather repetitive and I didn't feel convinced by their romance. This book is probably one to miss.

Originally published for Curled Up With A Good Book © Helen Hancox 200

I read all the previous Immortal books because I'm a huge Jennifer Ashley fan. Now I'm a Joy Nash fan. This book took the story to a whole other level. I loved and was fascinated by the idea of a witch with light and dark magic, since I think in small ways we all deal with that every day. Mac's character got a little more serious, but always retained his sense of humor. I also enjoyed her use of Dante's Inferno. Good story and great characters. I'm sure I will read this again!

The saga of the immortals continues with Manannan mac Lir (called Mac), demigod son of Niniane the Sidhe queen and Lir, god of the sea. Mac realizes someone is skimming life essence from faerie villages and tracks down Artemis Black, a witch who has ancestry in both the life magic and death magic realms. Artemis can weave spells of both life and death magic and is trying to use her power and the stolen life essence to rescue her son's soul from Hell. Mac should haul her before the Sidhe council, but instead they embark on a journey through the nine circles of Hell to save Artemis' son.
I love Mac. He's got the attitude and speaking manner of Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He's got humor, even in the face of insurmountable danger. He's musical and muscled and...just fantastic. I enjoy Artemis as well, although she was a little single-minded (we know, you have to save your son. Right. We didn't get that the first 300 times you said it). I was a little disappointed that, besides a couple of very brief cameos by Kalen and Christine, Mac and Artemis were completely alone in their quest. In the last five books, these people stuck together a little more; helped each other out. This almost could be marketed as a standalone, not necessarily part of the Immortals series.

PJVs QUICKIE POV: A free amazon.com kindle download winner! I love those. Unfortunately it's not listed for free anymore...but I would definitely recommend paying for this one. Sexy, scary, intriguing and a heart-stopping trek through Hell make for one intense paranormal romance and a must read for fans of the genre.

REVIEW: Manannán mac Lir, an immortal Celtic demi-god is in charge of protecting the Celtic magical people from attacks by death magic. After returning from his world tour {he happens to be a very good/famous musician} he finds that in his absence his people have been undergoing a very subtle attack that is sucking their life force away.

He traces the attacks to a witch name Artemis Black. Protocol states that he needs to drag her before the Sindhe Council for death, slavery or power stripping, but something about her has him stalling. He knows that there is a reason she is performing these death magic spells, something she is not telling him and for reasons, unknown to him - he is desperate to find out more about her.

As the two get closer and Mac finds out more and more about Artemis he discovers that he will follow her to the depths of hell. Anything to save her.

A sucker for the more depraved forms of literature, I had a bit of an obsession with Dante during my Catholic School High School years. I thought Nash's portrayal of the circles/levels of hell fascinating and they scarily hit home. How many times have I stated that endlessly searching for a parking spot in a full mall lot is what purgatory would be like? Nash's rich imagination was a pleasure to read - and I think I will have to read some more. Some scenes were a little over the top - typical trappings of the paranormal genre that I usually have a problem with. "Hey we are in a life/death situation...let's have sex in this hallway" kind of things. Which while is very hot, can be a little unrealistic. At least in this novel there was an underlying reason they were copulating in the hallway between hell levels.

RECOMMENDATIONS: Adults only, this is a paranormal romance with a lot of horizontal recreational activities along with some violence and descriptive torture scenes --- but only to people that deserve it.

I'm not like a lot of people here who write a thesis review of a book I'm just your average girl who loves to read so here goes.

Mac was good; he wasn't the usual alpha male type you normally see; he was a little to vulnerable and forgiving. His character lacked something. Artemis got on my everlasting nerves! She made this book bad for me. I am a mother too, but how far and how many people do you betray and not expect retribution? To me she was no better than the demons she was fighting against. I found myself routing for the demons! I understood her motives but Artemis to me was just evil, selfish and conniving no matter what her motives were; She could have asked for help; Mac offered his help; she chose to use him and betray him instead. I hate women like her; in real life and in print. I found myself praying for the last page.

Even after Mac followed her to hell she still betrayed him time after time; she didn't trust him; he was a freaking Demigod, for goodness sakes! She exploited him and he allowed it and to me that made him weak; he gave up his immorality and she really didn't give a damn! She was a selfish bitch in the highest order and I'm sure there are readers who love female characters like her; for me she made this book a waste of time.

I gave it three stars (I really wanted to give it two stars)for two reasons; one because I thought there were some good parts to the book and two this was the first book I have read from this series; I didn't realize it was a series after I downloaded it.

I'm not encouraged to read other books in this series. However if you like lying; coniving, selfish bitches...you might like this book!

I enjoyed this book it had my attention till the end I think anyone that reads this book will want to read the whole series its great

The story line is very good, once you get started you don't want to put the book down until you are done with it.