Destiny Kills by Keri Arthur
(Myth & Magic #1)
Piatkus Books (May 2011)
Paperback, 384 pages
Paranormal Romance
Destiny wakes up on a beach, naked, with no memory of who she is and the dead body of a man next to her. No clothes, no money, no memory and nothing but an unusual ring, Destiny know she’s in serious trouble. She also knows she’s not quite human.
Destiny Kills follows Destiny’s journey as she keeps running and searching for answers. I’m trying not to give too much away here, so I shall not say too much more on the plot. As a lot of the journey of the story is wondering at first what Destiny is, what has happened and who is running for. I had my suspicions initially and I got it completely wrong! I enjoyed that it kept me guessing for a while.
Trae comes to Destiny’s aid, a master thief it soon becomes clear that he is helping Destiny for his own reasons, and that she’s not quite sure if she can trust him. Despite a little slipperiness, I liked Trae from the start. He bristles with sex appeal, fun and roguiesh charm.
Arthur has created an interesting and new supernatural world in Destiny Kills with a species (see trying really hard not to reveal any spoilers here!) that I’ve always had a bit of a weakness for. I was a little disappointed that more wasn’t done with Destiny’s memory loss. Everything seemed to come back to her quite quickly and conveniently, and I think it could have been used more to add to the mystery element of the story. But there is definitely some strong, rich world building in the novel.
In terms of the writing style, some of the storyline did feel a bit obvious, like they were added in as a plot device, without always sitting there comfortably. This meant occasionally parts of the story felt clumsy. For example Trae’s sister is in trouble, he and Destiny part ways so he can go and help her. But then suddenly he has a convenient excuse for not having to go to her so that he can help Destiny instead:
“But what if something happens to your sister when you’re here helping me? Could you live with that?”
“No.” He thrust a hand through his hair, and blew out a breath. “I rang my mother and asked her what she was feeling about Mercy. She still feels she’s in trouble, but it’s not life or death type trouble.”
It kind of made me roll my eyes a little bit, albeit in a slightly affectionate way.
The love story is a good one. I thoroughly enjoyed the blossoming romance between Trae and Destiny. It had lots of spark, whilst having the cosy, warm feeling of love I enjoy. I also liked both Destiny and Trae as characters. The book is packed from action, mystery and love to personal tragedy it moves at warp speed and dots around a lot. You really don’t have time to get bored. Arthur has almost tried to do too much, but yet manages to pull it off, if a little by the skin of her teeth. But all this aside, I did enjoy the story, it was fun, pacy and sexy, with an exciting ending.
VERDICT:
Ok, I did have a few issues with this book, some of the writing was not as slick as it could be. It was still enjoyable, interesting and sexy. I plan on picking up the next book in the series.
RATING: 
KERI ARTHUR ONLINE
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BOOKS IN SERIES ORDER
- Destiny Kills
- Mercy Burns
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11 Comments
Now I am intrigued by the species! Must read!
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I was trying not to give too much away!
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The plot of this book sounds interesting, with waking up next to a dead body! Would make a brilliant crime novel setting rather than paranormal romance in my opinon!
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You’re right it would make a great crime novel!
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Hmmm. I want to read this just to figure out what she is!
Great review.
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I wasn’t trying to be mysterious lol, just trying not to give too much away!
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Great review, as always!
I think this must be a trait of the author as the book I read had similar issues with the characters doing things out of character on order to advance the plot.
Not sure if I’ll pick this up
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Thanks Gemma!
Yes there were a few convenient things in the plot definitely…
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Glad you enjoyed this one, hope the next book is just as good or better. I wish I’d had a better experience with this author though as I was looking forward to reading the Riley Jensen series but now I don’t think I will.
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I did enjoy it, but I have seen that both you & Gemma have had issues with her writing, so it will be interesting to see how the next one goes. I hope it’s better as you say
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Seems like a good read. Picking up soon!
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