Title:  Unborn
Series:  Unborn series (book 1)
Author:  Amber Lynn Natusch
Genre:  Fantasy
Published:  August 26, 2014
Source:  NetGalley

Story Blurb:

Born into mystery. Shackled to darkness…

Khara has spent centuries discovering everything about the Underworld―except her place in it. But when she’s ripped from her home, solving the riddle of her origins becomes more important than ever. With evil stalking her through the dark alleys of Detroit, she finds salvation from an unlikely source: a group of immortal warriors sworn to protect the city. Khara needs their help to unravel the tangled secrets of who and what she is—secrets many seem willing to kill for. But time is running out, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer necessity binds her to an arrogant fallen angel.

Can their shaky alliance withstand that which threatens her, or will her soul fall victim to the unholy forces that hunt her―those that seek the Unborn?

Read on for my thoughts on Unborn.  No true spoilers, promise.

This one is going to be rough to review.  Let me say upfront that I firmly believe that this novel is setting up the series… in world building and in character development.

Having said that, I think it’s important for anyone who picks up Unborn to know that the action is not as fast paced as you would expect in this type of novel.  Khara is clearly out of her element in the world outside of the Underworld.  She could come off as a bit stiff and unemotional at times.  I put it down to her spending so much time in Hell.  But that was my take on it, I’m not certain that was the author’s choice.

There is some mythology mixed in with paranormal and a bit of urban fantasy – it really is a combination of several types.  So it might be confusing at times when trying to put everyone in their assigned parts of this novel.

I have to say that I liked this first novel in the series.  I do not have a problem with novels being slow building, especially in the first one.  Others do, so keep that in mind.  I’m expecting the second one to move a bit faster since we’ve already done the basic worldbuilding.

Unborn is definitely not for everyone.  I enjoyed it and will read the next novel in the series, Unseen.  I have to give it a 3 outta 5 on my rating scale.  It was good, just not everyone’s type of novel.

Unborn is available at Amazon for the Kindle