- Title:
- The Forbidden
- Author:
- L. A. Banks
- Release:
- July ?, 2005
- Format:
- eBook
- Series:
- Vampire Huntress Legend Series #5
I used to hate this book, I always viewed it as a speed bump to finishing the rest of the series, and I really dodn’t know why. There is a bit of (annoying as fuck!) numerology bullshit, but in my head, I always made it out to be 80% of the book, when in reality, it’s maybe a handful of pages here and there. There are a few chapters with cryptic old men being cryptic, talking in circles, and all around being fucking annoying as well.
I’d actually forgotten the last third of this book until my 2020 re-read. I restarted the series in 2018, didn’t finish it until 2019, and that put me in the mood to read it again. I restarted it again in 2020, made it all of the way up to book 5,and then lost interest, as I’ve pretty much done for every read after my initial 2010 – 2011 read through of books 1 – 10. A new member of The Covenant is introduced, a named character is killed off, there are some pretty awesome fight scenes. We finally get some character development for the seriously under-used and under appreciated (until now) Yonnie and Tara.
As I’ve probably commented in every one of my reviews for this series, it’s slow as fuck. The first 14 chapters has the majority of the main cast stuck in an airplane. Granted, 1 – 2 characters aren’t on the plane, and it cuts to Yonnie and Tara every now and then, but goddamn! if it isn’t the most cathartic thing ever when that sack of shit fart tube crashes and burns. Good fucking riddance to that plot prison. 14/28 chapters to be stuck on an airplane is too goddamn many.
That being said, FUCKING FINALLY!!!!! All it took was for Carlos to be burned alive in the sun, turned to ash, and ressurected for the Neteru Guardian team to stop treating him like a puddle of sewer sludge. Fuck me. Our boy finally gets a goddamn break. There are some truly heartwarming moments in this book, such as Carlos using his dying breath to elevate Yonnie to a master vampire, telling him to elevate others who were done dirty and brought into the life on a lie. Or the loved ones of the Neteru Guardians visiting them in spirit form to protect them as the plane goes down. Especially their reactions to it. Carlos getting to see his parents, and brother again.
After the plane crash Dan really steps up as well. It really makes the main cast feel like a tight-knit family that we’re always hearing about them being. The newbies on the team don’t feel like newbies anymore, it’s no longer Damali’s Team and the Covenant, they’re all one large family now, and it’s really endearing.
I like how it goes into the struggles of Carlos and Damali being co-generals now; despite Carlos still cumming into his own as a Neteru. He’s still figuring things out, while Damali is still carrying the weight of the team, with additional new members in the mix. Though I do wish if anything was going to be more drawn out, it would have been that, instead of the airplane ride that lasted longer than the patience of a fucking monk. I wish we’d gotten more scenes inside of Damali’s mind, as she’s struggling to be “The Neteru”, and “The General” to a team of people; half of which are older than her and her partner, while her partner is struggling to find his place in the world. Some of that is expanded upon in the Between the Books chapters; that fucking nobody actually knows about, and the average reader isn’t going to know exists.
If you’re in it for the sex scenes, there’s only one, and it’s about 5 minutes of Damali and Carlos being furious with each other. This book is really more about the team cumming together, recruiting new members, and everybody finding their place in their new, fucked-up world. I was wrong about this book on all of my previous re-reads, and I wish it didn’t take me a decade of reading this series to realize that.
Reviewed on: December 29, 2024.