Customer Reviews

Skykeepers (Final Prophecy, Book 3)

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

 

 

STORY BRIEF:
This is the third book in the Final Prophecy series. It is set three years before doomsday. At that time the lords of the underworld (demons) (Banol Kax) will pierce the barrier and take control of the earth. The Nightkeepers are humans with magic powers who are sworn to protect mankind from the Banol Kax. Iago leads a group of enemy Nightkeepers who court the powers of the underworld. The Nightkeepers gain strength and knowledge through a skyroad to their gods. Prior to this book, Iago's group battled with the Nightkeepers which somehow closed the skyroad. Now both the Nightkeepers and Iago's group are searching for the lost library of their ancestors which will increase their fighting magic and might reopen the skyroad so they can communicate with the gods again.

Sasha's father knew where the lost library was. He was killed. Iago kidnaps Sasha because he thinks she knows where the library is. She doesn't. The Nightkeepers rescue her from Iago and hope to work with her to find the library.

Michael is a Nightkeeper who has an inner demon. When the demon comes forward, he has powerful killing abilities. Michael can usually keep the demon suppressed, but when Sasha is near, the demon becomes active. Michael and Sasha are drawn to each other, but Michael stays away from her because he fears his demon will be unleashed and hurt her.

REVIEWER'S OPINION (WITH MILD SPOILERS):
Most of the story is the Nightkeepers fighting Iago's group and trying to find the lost library, with a romance on the side. I would have liked a little more romantic development, where the couple learns about each other and develops a relationship through interaction. Their romance is almost anti-romance because of Michael's kiss and flee habit. There is a powerful sexual attraction between the two. The few times they kiss, Michael feels the demon inside him waking up, so Michael stops the kissing and leaves her. Sasha's reactions vary from hurt, to confusion, to anger. She labels him as having "commitment issues." The typical romance novel has a couple getting together, having a fight/separation and then getting back together in the end. I'm ok with this formula, but I find many authors are unable to come up with a good or logical reason for the separation, which was a problem with this book as well. The heroine simply changes her mind about the relationship - twice: once to cause the separation and later to get back together. I would have preferred something more substantive.

This book was not easy to read. I felt like I had to work and concentrate to keep track of the many complicated rules. Sometimes the magic works, many times it doesn't. There is always some new reason for it not working - the location they are in, a mark on the skin is interfering, someone else's magic is interfering, the skyroad is closed, or the person hasn't yet learned how to use their magic. A sexual bond or a slave bond also affects how magic will work. I don't mind suspending belief when reading fiction, but some of this was a little too much for me. For example, about once a generation someone is born with a unique killing ability. Sometime during their life the gods will send a message to that person with a task to be done. That person must do it within 9 hours or suffer a penalty. (What's with the 9 hours?) Also, since the skyroad has been closed, there is no communication with the gods. So, it didn't make sense to me that the gods were able to get a message to this person. Also, why wouldn't the gods themselves strike the target dead? Why assign this task to a human? Why create a human with this ability that will only be used once in the human's life? Ok, I know this is fiction. I'm fine with the existence of magic, demons and gods, but I need a little more believability and logic than I'm getting.

DATA:
Story length: 454 pages. Swearing language: strong. Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: 3. Total number of sex scene pages: 15. Setting: 2008 and 2009 Yucatan, Everglades, Florida, Virginia, New Mexico, Texas. Copyright: 2009. Genre: fantasy romance (more fantasy than romance).

Time is winding down for the Nightkeepers - the end of the world as we know it is coming, and unless these magical warriors can find the hidden library of their ancestors, there won't be anything they can do to stop the demonic plague that is going to be unleashed on the world.

Sasha Ledbetter has come to the Yucatan jungle to search for her long lost father. She hasn't seen him in eight years, and while she knows in her heart he is deceased, she refuses to give up until she finds his body. And find him she does, but with him comes a world of hurt - Sasha is kidnapped by Iago, an enemy of the Nightkeepers and an Xibalban. Held captive and tortured, Sasha is no help to Iago; she has no idea where the famed library of the Mayan is hidden. After almost a year, rescue comes in the form of Michael Stone, a man whose soul is divided - a man she learns to love.

Michael Stone is living a lie. Covertly trained to be an elite killer, he learned years ago how to repress his Other side, the side of his personality that is a cold-blooded killer. When given the assignment to rescue Sasha Ledbetter from Iago in his Florida hideout, Michael just wants to do what he is told. He doesn't count on the feelings he will possess for this beautiful woman - and with just one kiss their sexual energy is enough to bring back powers which were thought to be lost. But with those powers comes another, more destructive power - Michael's ability to kill with precise, animalistic accuracy. Michael is ashamed of this Other side of himself and refuses to allow anyone to get close to him - not his king, not his winiken, nor the woman he loves - Sasha Ledbetter.

SKYKEEPERS begins where book 2, DAWNKEEPERS ends. The Nightkeepers are unable to link their power into the sky, and because of this, their powers are waning, and the Xibalbans are becoming more powerful. In order to tap into their powers, or rather, in order for them to know how to tap into their hidden powers, they must search for and find an ancient Mayan library - a library that Sasha's father knew about but died before telling anyone where it was hidden. Their only hope is that Sasha knows where the library is located.

With Sasha's rescue comes many surprises - readers will be wide eyed with the information that is revealed in SKYKEEPERS. Possibly the fastest paced of Ms. Andersen's three novels, SKYKEEPERS will knock you off your feet, keep you on the edge of your seat, and totally captivated from beginning to end. Tons of questions are answered in this exciting novel, and the reader is taken on an emotionally gripping, highly suspenseful, and action packed foray into the ancient world of Mayan prophecy. Thank goodness the Nightkeepers are on my side because they are a group of fighters unlike any I have ever known. Don't miss SKYKEEPERS - it is a satisfying and addicting novel - and a worthy installment to Ms. Andersen's Final Prophecy series.

Natalie S.

...is brought shockingly into focus through the tireless research and masterful writings of Jessica Andersen. I would not categorize myself as a real fan of the Romantic genre,yet, Ms. Andersen's incredible talents have prompted me to purchase all of the 'Keeper' series. The thoroughly researched data contained within each, above and beyond the more than intriguing tale wrapped around it,is not only worth your money, but well worth your time.

Chef Sasha Ledbetter grew up with tales of the Nightkeepers, a group of mystical warriors who are fighting the forces of evil in conjunction with the Mayan clock countdown. The tales came from his father, Ambrose, whom Sasha thought to be losing his mind. After one particularly brutal ritual with Ambrose several years past, she cut off all contact with him. Now she is in the rainforest, searching for him. But Sasha gets more than she bargained for when she is captured by evil forces, forces which hope she has the key to where Ambrose has hidden the library, which will help them further their quest for domination.



Michael Stone is a very complex man. As a member of the Nightkeepers he is battling the forces of evil. But Michael has a past that none of his fellow Nightkeepers know about. He fights daily with an unseen force that threatens to take hold of him, and turn him into something that he doesn't want. When he sees a photo of Sasha he is obsessed. When he helps his fellow Nightkeepers free her from her captors the spark between them is magical, and he knows he has to have her.



But Michael is afraid of what is inside him, and refuses to endanger Sasha with it. When Sasha finds out her father's stories are true, she's amazed. But even more secrets await her, ones that will show Sasha her destiny, and, hopefully, help her keep hold of Michael, the man that she loves.



Skykeepers is the third book in the Final Prophecy series by Jessica Andersen, and it packs a wallop. Ms. Anderson has penned a fantastic novel that draws the reader in and keeps them enthralled page after page. The world of the Mayan countdown clock is fascinating, and I loved the way Ms. Andersen portrayed it, giving the reader glimpses of a culture that has long been mysterious.



Sasha is an independent woman who refuses to allow herself to be used. I loved her spirit and the way she fought for what she wanted. In the tragic hero department, Michael is perfectly cast. His secrets made my eyes widen, but Sasha's love for him, and the way they came together, tore at my heartstrings.



The world of the Nightkeepers is wonderful, and I love visiting it. It is intricate, magical and absolutely fascinating. I eagerly await the next outing, and I Joyfully Recommend Skykeepers to all lovers of Urban Fantasy.



Step inside the Nightkeeper world and prepare to be swept away. I am sure that, like me, you won't be sorry that you did.

Amelia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

Sasha Ledbetter desperately searches for her vanished Mayanist father Dr. Ambrose Ledbetter. She is shocked when she locates his remains in an ancient temple. However, she has no time to mourn her loss; as Xibalba worshiper and high chieftain Iago capturers her. He tortures her seeking information about those who oppose his effort to bring back the demon Banol Kax into the world.

Nightkeeper warrior Michael Stone learns where Sasha is and leads a successful rescue mission. Michael and Sasha are attracted to each other, but he tries to ignore his feelings because he fears passion will ignite the dark side of his nature while Sasha wonders if her disbelief in her late father's theory of Nightkeepers enabled her to disavow that she might be one of them. However, both recons finding a missing critical Mayan depository which comes before their desire for one another, as Iago is not waiting for love to uncover that same ancient library.

As Michael discovers new powers that he must learn to use, the doomsday clock is ticking against the Nightkeepers warriors as the demon and his adulating horde push the end of days. Michael and Sasha are a terrific pairing who may be in love, but each wonders whether the Final Prophecy's kismet leaves them no choices; their feelings for one another may be predestined and disturbingly to both neither can say no. Fans will enjoy the latest exhilarating Mayan Final Prophecy urban fantasy thriller (see DAWNKEEPERS and NIGHTKEEPERS) with the philosophical debate of free choice vs. predetermination while time is running out on those who want to save the planet from Xibalba.

Harriet Klausner

With each installment, Jessica Andersen ramps up the action and excitement in a thrilling ride that takes the reader on unexpected turns! In Dawnkeepers, we have--oh horrors!--Rabbit killing the three-question nahwal and the loss of the skyroad and thus, the Nightkeepers' communication with the gods. We see things getting bleaker and bleaker for the Nightkeepers as their powers waned. How then are they going to save the world from the end time? What's in store for them as the days keep counting down to the zero date?

Skykeepers opened with a bang as the Nightkeepers staged a hostage (Sasha Ledbetter) rescue, as she is their only hope of recovering the missing library (knowledge that the Nightkeepers desperately needed) that her father had ostensibly transferred to a safer location. Attraction sizzled between Sasha and Michael Stone, but while Sasha is all too willing to develop the relationship, Michael held himself apart from her, because he feared the thing, the monster he called Other that lives inside him. As much as Sasha's presence gave Michael a measure of peace, she also seemed to incite this Other to greater violence, and he was finding it harder and harder to keep it contained within him, and he feared the havoc it could cause should he let it loose.

Exciting stuff happens! Who is Sasha Ledbetter? Of whose bloodline is she? What is her talent? These questions and more are answered in this book! (Cannot give them away though. Wouldn't want to spoil things for you.)

I like the little touches that Ms. Andersen gave her, like the fact that Sasha loves to cook and that she treats her plants and herbs like her babies. I was totally charmed at the scene when Sasha saw them again after so long.

"Hello, she breathed, knowing she should probably feel like an idiot for talking to her plants, and not giving a crap. "Do you remember me?"

I like that these small things serve to give Sasha character yet at the same time, these very qualities are important to her role as a Nightkeeper. Suffice it to say, I like Sasha better than Alexis (Dawnkeepers) because the former is so refreshingly uncomplicated. Her scenes with Ambrose (both at the temple and later, at Skywatch) were done rather well, in my opinion, bearing a bittersweet, poignant quality and bringing Sasha the needed closure without the scenes being mushy.

And Michael, wooh! He totally owned this book, with his pain and anguish and conflict, in his striving to be a better man. Who couldn't identify with that? Especially toward the end, when he needed to cross the river again. I could feel his ambivalence and his pain. Heart breaking and soul crying out... Should he cross or not? A return to what he was (which he hated) or to reach for his desired future and sacrifice a teammate? In the end, there was no choice, not if he was to be true to what he is at his core. But I suffered with him, cried with him (oops, he didn't cry, but maybe in his heart he did) as he made the irreversible decision.

Jessica Andersen sure knew how to put readers through the emotional wringer. But I love love love Michael Stone, more than Nate and even maybe Strike.

Though the end of the world events still surround and interweave with Sasha's and Michael's romance, they didn't overwhelm. Though we still see Rabbit trying to help, there wasn't anything of Anna's problems with her hubby. As for Lucius, we only see him for a short time at the beginning and toward the end. So, this book is really all about Sasha and Michael, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And I'm looking forward to Demonkeeper, because Lucius is one of my favorite characters. I've been waiting for his story since Nightkeepers (book #1)!

Reviewed by Silver
for The Romance Reviews

The book arrived in great condition. This is the third in a series an I was happy to order it the day it came out.

I loved this book. This one was definitely the best of the three. Not only was there more romance and interaction between Michael and Sasha compared to Dawnkeepers Nate and Alexis,the story line with the other characters was great also. I love Rabbit! I hope he gets his own story and HEA cause he deserves it. I highly recommend this book. It was a great read.

I'm not one for long reviews myself. So, in short...I loved this book. It is my favorite of the series so far and I highly recommend it.