boeklogboek: Jessica Andersen

The fourth book in the Nightkeepers series, published April 6, 2012.
Genre: paranormal romance
Cover: love it

Ancient prophecy holds that 12/21/2012 will bring a global cataclysm. Mankind’s only hope lies with the Nightkeepers, modern magic-wielding warriors who must find their destined mates and fulfill old legends to defeat the rise of terrible Mayan demons.
All his life Lucius has been an outsider. He years to be strong, to be a warrior like the Nightkeepers. And when the Prophet’s magic begins to change him, Lucius finds himself becoming the sort of man he’s always wanted to be.
Held back by her lack of a warrior’s magic and the strictures of her bloodline, Jade longs to break out of her supporting role. Determined to prove her worth among the Nightkeepers at any cost, she won’t let anything stand in her way – especially petty matters like love.
When Lucius and Jade are charged with rescuing the Mayan sun god from the underworld, they ignore their growing attraction. But unless they can confront their demons and accept that love isn’t a weakness, even destiny might not be able to save them.

Of course, the dreaded date of December 21, 2012, has passed, so the Nightkeepers have obviously succeeded in saving the Earth. But I still want to know what they had to do to achieve that goal, so I will keep reading the books. 4 more to go, and if they are all this good, I will enjoy that journey very much.

This part of the series focuses on Jade, the Nightkeepers librarian and spellcrafter. So far her magic is weak, she is the only one without the warriors mark. She wants more for herself than always being in the background, but her winikin has always stuffed her with duty and diligence, and tries to hold her back. But Jade knows she can be more. She needs to be more to help the Nightkeepers. So far, after six months, the human Lucius has not found his magic needed to open the Library after having undergone the Prophet spell. Of course he is happy that he is no longer possessed by the evil makol, and that he seems to be growing in his body. Finally he is looking like the jock his father and older brothers are, instead of the geek he is.

And so Jade offers the King to try sex magic with Lucius. It is not as though they never had sex before, even though that one time was not only awesome but also very disastrous. It could help both of them to find or enlarge their powers.
At first it seems to work, but then the magic takes them to the Underworld, where they witness the sungod Kinich Ahau being held prisoner by the makol. They plan to sacrifice him at the next solstice, and put Akhenaton in his place. Somehow, there was still a god left on earth, and they would have to free him. The Nightwalkers would need him in the coming fight.
Then the magic brings them back to Lucius’ cottage, only to whisk them away again. But this time, Jade ends up in the barrier, and Lucius in the Library he has been looking for. Only getting back might not be so easy. Nor is returning again, especially with the warnings his predecessor left him.
Jade meets her ancestors in the barrier, and gets some conflicting advice. But her powers are growing, and she is determined to pursue her relationship with Lucius. Only he seems to have second thoughts now, having been rebuffed by her all those months ago. Does she only want him for his new buff body? His new powers? Or does she really love him, and can he admit to his feelings for her? After all, the thought of her kept him sane, all those months captured in the Between.

Anna is determined to live the best life she can have in the remaining two and a half years, she is convinced that the Nightwalkers cannot succeed. There should have been hundreds of them to fight the demons, not just the handful of warriors they are! And she never wanted her seer powers, so she cannot help them either. Strike is of course not happy with this, but he cannot force her.

Rabbit is up to something, his girlfriend has put the thought in his head, that he wants to find his mother. Perhaps not all of the Xibalba are evil, like Iago and his cult of followers. The Nightkeepers do personal bloodsacrifices to raise the magic, but the Xibalba sacrifice others.

Time is running out, they have to find access to the Library again, and they will have to free Kinick Ahau. The Nightkeepers will have to do all in their powers to achieve those goals.

Again, a totally fresh story. I enjoyed the fact that their enemies did not really show up this time, apart from one scene. I really loved Jade and Lucius together, I have had a soft spot for them since the first book. I am not so sure what to think about Lucius body changing like that though. Is he a Nightkeeper after all?

Patience is getting tired of being separated from her children. She wants to see them, to know for sure that they are safe, but Strike won’t budge. His priority is to keep the boys safe, and not to make Patience happy. The relationship between Patience and Brand is deteriorating as well, as it seems that Brand keeps choosing Strike’s side in this. And so Patience sets out to find out her children’s location on her own, doing whatever she needs to do to find them.

A lot of story threads, and I can’t wait how it all will play out. I really love this series. Even though they are all working to the same goal, to stop December 21, 2012 from being the disaster for the world and humanity as is prophesied, every story is different. If you want to start reading this series, do so in the right order. You will miss out on a lot otherwise, even though you can read it for the romance part alone. It is the awesome use of mythology in this book that captivates me, the action and of course the finding of love. Love is the most important thing in the universe, not power, and is needed to win the war.

9 stars.