Unbinding (World of the Lupi Book 11)

The World of the Lupi series has been a wide and varied world following mostly the story of FBI Magic Unit Special Agent Lily Lu and her Lupi mate, Rule Turner. Occasionally, however, the author allows some of the other characters from the large cast to take the center stage. In this installment, the author takes a break from the series arc story line to have a reunion with recurring characters, Kai and Nathan.Kai and Nathan first appeared in the novella, Inhuman, from the anthology, On the Prowl. Next, they are encountered in Night Season when Cullen and Cyenna adventure in the Faerie realm, and finally in the previous installment, Ritual Magic where they antagonized a god of chaos and he is now set on revenge.The World of the Lupi has always struck me as Urban Fantasy for the analytical. If the reader loves to explore all the detail and explanation behind the supernatural world (or should I say worlds since there are many realms) the author created, then this series hits the spot. The author has the talented ability to pair detailed explanation with rich worldbuilding, sharp and exciting action and intrigue, and characters that are deftly painted so that they layer with flaws and strengths that make them feel like real people and not some perfect and perfectly talented supe who will always do the right thing and save the day.This book, Unbinding, not only is no exception to all the above, it is also moreso than many in the series all about the details and explanations. I notice when the author brings in the Faerie realm that it tends to be like that. This story also takes a slight detour from where things are going. Lily and Rule are off scene, but all the other usual suspects are around to help Kai and Nathan take down a mad god.The story poses internal conflicts along with the external. Kai is having what is closest described as an identity crisis. She has been living in Faery with Nathan and trying to develop her magical gift, but now back in the human realm she doubts herself, doubts her relationship with Nathan, and has no idea what is to be next for her. And she very much doubts that she can help with the problem at hand let alone survive it particularly when Nathan has closed her off and has his own hunt afoot. Nathan, like a typical male, is in protect mode and will do what he feels is best to keep Kai safe and take down the big baddie for good. As to the external conflict, as is par for the course with this author, it got pretty desperate and intense, enemies had the good guys on the run, and there were some big twists before the end came about. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, rug went out from under me and not just once.Like with the usual stories, I love the camaraderie of the group who fight off the bad guys and was glad that they were not missing for this side trail with Kai and Nathan. Benedict and Arjenie along with Cullen and Cyenna, Isen, Nellie, Acklesford, and Ruben. Loved that hint of a secret about Cullen and I can't wait to see if I guessed that one right in further stories.In summary, it was another cunning Urban Fantasy adventure and I highly recommend this series to other UF fans who love getting the 'hows and whys' along with all the excitement.

Unbinding by Eileen Wilks is the 11th book in her World of the Lupi series. I am a long time follower of this series and Unbinding didn't disappoint.One aspect about the World of the Lupi series that stands out as unique, is the authors ability to shift the story to other characters while maintaining a fluid story line. It doesn't happen regularly, as most of this series does focus on the Lilly and Rule, but when she does it, it is done beautifully. It creates a new depth and allows us to break away from Lilly and Rule's individual feelings and see bits of the world from others perspectives.Unbinding is told from Kai Tallman Michalski's point of view. Kai is not a new character and Nathan, although not as well-known was not a complete stranger either. Kai and Nathan individually had such beautiful and intriquing back stories. Especially since Nathan was...or is...a hellhound. What to do when your love is honor bound to serve the Queen of Winter? Kai has no idea either. I truly enjoyed their story and all it added to the overall world story in the series.Wilks also did a very tricky thing in this book. (DAMN HER) She created the uber evil bad guy, but then managed to make your heart and soul weep for his past and what had led him on the path to be what he is now. HOW DID SHE DO THIS. One should not become emotionally vested in the evil god of chaos! It creates conflicting emotions that I honestly didn't want to evaluate, but she forced me to. Again..DAMN HER. Wilks is beyond brilliant and this is an Urban Fantasy that is easily a series re-read for me. This is one I proudly display on my shelf and I surely hope one day I can stalk her down so they can be signed.I would not recommend reading this book as a stand-alone. I think Kai and Nathan's story would probably stand somewhat on its own, but there is soooo much to the world and history that the information alone has a high potential of becoming information overload, if you had not read the previous books. (My review for Mind Magic (World of the Lupi #12) will be posted a little later this week!)

I love this series, and it has always been one that I have to slow down and take my time to read because the "Science and magical explanations" are so intense. I love the characters and the story but I sometimes struggle with the magical explanations. In this book Rule and Lily are on their honeymoon and Kai and Nathan are trying to stop the God of Chaos. This book had more explanations then the previous books and it really slowed it down for me. It took me 3 days to get through this book which is a really long time for me. Usually, I finish a World of the Lupi book in one setting. I really liked Nathan and Kai, especially Nathan. At first, I wasn't sure I was excited about reading about those two characters since they really only had a minor role in the last book and I didn't know much about them. I was drawn in right away though and loved reading about these two characters. I really enjoyed the scenes with Nathan and Benedict and seeing him interact with the other Lupi. In fact Nathan quickly became one of my favorite characters. I would have liked a little more backstory on how they met, fell in love since they were already established in this book but it didn't take away from their relationship. I enjoyed this book but the pacing was an issue for me. The action scenes were great but there were just too many scenes of magical explanations. Still I enjoyed the book, and ended up loving the change of characters to Nathan and Kai and really hope to see more of them.

I missed Lily and Rule. I like the other characters but it's not the same without them. The story was fine but I want my MCs back.

The world of Lupi is wonderful and the characters are amazing I love reading these books can not wait till next one.

Note: this is the 11th book in the “Lupi” UF series and the world building alone is so vast that missing the previous installments probably makes it very hard to get into the story. So I think that this is not a good place to start and if you're new to this series, I recommend to start with “Tempting Danger”.Review:It's been a while since I've read the last “Lupi”-book, so I was afraid that I would have to struggle to get back into the pretty intricate world. But I needn't have worried: E. Wilks gave the most important points to remember the end of the last installment and I was immediately immersed in the Lupi's world. And this book starts soon after the occurrences of “Ritual Magic”.The Knife the Sidhe God of Chaos wanted to use to get back a body and enter the human realm was recently destroyed and Lily and Rule are on their Honeymoon in France. And when I realized that they wouldn't play any part in this story, I was really disappointed. I liked Cullen and Cynna, when they were the POVs in their books, and Arjenie and Benedict were ok in their's, but I always preferred Lily and Rule. And I was right that when this time it was Nathan the Hunter, former Hellhound and Wild Sidhe and his partner Kai the mindhealer, who shared the POV, it didn't “click” the way it did with my preferred couple. I actually don't know why, because they're both likable enough and what I immensely appreciated was the focus on the UF part of the series and no mate-bond and fated lovers stuff, even though Kai and her Hunter undoubtedly love each other.And the plot is fairly good and mind-boggling which is a good thing for me: the Knife was destroyed, but obviously the Chaos God using it, was not. He'd even gotten stronger somehow and he is after Kai and Nathan for reasons not really known to them [and they're revealed late in the story – and showed that nearly everyone had it wrong. That was marvelous.]. He tries to snatch them away to his “Godhead”, a magical place that is his demesne and I was delighted that a fair amount of time the story takes place there. So we have some of the people trying to solve the case in San Diego in the human realm with the Unit 12 and the FBI in tow and some have to deal with the pretty much invincible God in his magical realm. The realm reminded me of the old “Star Trek” series, when the crew is on a strange and unknown planet and for lack of money, they had the studio equipped very scarcely. But even so, the scenes felt strange and intense. Or maybe it was because of that scarcity. Anyway: it was just the same here. The scenes in the Godhead had an eerie feeling to them, which I liked very much. The foreignness was palpable.The riddle of how to end the God's reign of terror was very well devised and surprisingly solved and this whole case made me nibble cuticles. All of these components made this a really good piece of UF. And I won't hold it against the protagonists that I have a preference for Lily and Rule, since Nathan and Kai are good characters to read about. The only thing I do hold against the story, are the rather long passages of discussing and describing magic. I get it that there are implications for the case, but it was so much page time temporarily that it impeded the story's flow for me. But that doesn't make this less of an impressive example of inventive and well devised UF and I will read on, as long as this series continues.

Eileen is a great author. very emotive, and imaginative. I've never regreted reading one of her books