The Umbra King (Vincula Realm Book 1)

Product Information

The Umbra's theme, Totality, is the term used to say the moment where there is total obscuration of the sun during an eclipse.

The closet comparison I could make is a YA, dumbed down version of the society Crescent City, mixed in with some predictable actions and narratives throughout the story. This is an urban fantasy, forced proximity, enemies to lovers, mistaken identity, female serial killer who's an all around badass and hellbent on revenge story told with fascinating world building complete with thorough history, multiple species with unique abilities and characteristics, well developed side characters that make you care about their story, a logical plot, and a dash of "Who did this to you? The MC is supposed to be this morally grey badass, which is the main reason reason I picked up this book in the first place, but instead we're stuck with a pretty average woman swooning over a complete asshole that is essentially her prison guard. The enemies to lovers is done so well the transition feels authentic and entirely unavoidable as they surrender to their mutual attraction.The worldbuilding of this novel was interesting at times—with the different races and their connecting attributes—but much of it felt like a cheap amalgamation of fantasy and reality. the only good thing about her sex scenes was that they went on forever and i could easily skip 5-10 pages without missing anything of substance. It felt similar to when YA books come up with fake curse words to get around profanity usage (like reading Deep Blue, where badasses are bad-wrasses, a girlfriend is a merlfriend, and money is currensea).

Secondly, she was built up (and admittedly started) as a badass vigilante character hellbent on justice for her murdered sister. Maybe sometimes scenes were awkwardly written and sounded cringe, but that could also be a 'me problem' so I'm still giving it 5 shiny stars! Seriously, whenever anything would anger or hurt her, I was ready to protect and attack because I adored her.Quick premise: Aurora/Rory’s sister was brutally murdered ten years ago, and she has been looking for the killer ever since. The one thing that kept this book from being utterly spectacular is that even though the characters were slightly older, there were aspects of this that felt very juvenile. But when Aurora drops into his throne room, representing everything he despises, they begin a game of cat and mouse, and before long, their hatred turns into something else. A woman serial killer that kills only bad guys gets sent to a prison realm for 500 years when she’s found guilty. When she's unexpectedly caught, she's sentenced to 500 years in the Vincula realm, where our MMC, Caius, reigns as the Umbra King.