Shattered Legacy - Legacies [Paperback]

Shattered Legacy is certainly a different albeit more depressing book than most by Lora Leigh. This is a story of four warriors who were blessed with certain powers as well as immortality in order to fight and kill the evil Jonar. Each warrior has been visited by a woman -their future wives- in their dreams, women with their own special powers given to them by Mother Earth.

Chantel, the strongest of these four sisters, is haunted by the knowledge that to conquer evil she must sacrifice her own life as well as suffer knowing her sisters face a similar fate. Devlin, deeply in love with his wife, senses something is wrong, but can do little to stop the inevitable from occurring. Although not a surprise, Chantel's death is horrifying. The book sets up for the next book in the story after Chantel has been reborn to fufill her destiny.

Shattered Legacy is a more complicated story than what Lora Leigh usually writes, but it does get a little slow at times. The knowledge of Chantel's death, as well as her sisters', weighs heavily the entire book and when it happens, it makes for a very sad and depressing ending. However, the story and the characters are intriguing and I will definitely be reading the next one.

England - Spring 1040 A.D.

Devlin looked out over the battlefield of the dead and dying, knowing that today the loss was their worst against their sworn enemy Jonar. A young squire told Devlin where to seek his answers on how to defeat Jonar: from the Wizard Galen who resides in a castle in the Norman Lands. Devlin and his companions, known as the Shadow Warriors, decide to travel to Galen's keep to find a way to stop the evil once and for all. On the
journey, as in the past, Devlin and his men are visited by dreams at night of women with intense passions who seem to be there in their hour of need.

On approaching the Wizard Galen's castle, they are met by a young, blond,
fair-skinned woman named Chantel. Devlin is startled to see she is the woman of his dreams. Chantel is the oldest of the four daughters of Galen, and she is the Mistress of the Earth Mother Crystal. Her sisters are also Mistresses of the powers of the Earth. Chantel tends to Devlin
his first night in her home and lets him know that she is a virgin, but his for the taking. Each of the sisters take care of their own warrior as well.

When Devlin and Galen finally talk after the clash of one of Devlin's men and one of Galen's daughters, Devlin promises that his men will marry Galen's daughters the next day. In return, they will use the castle as their home base, and Galen will tell them how to defeat Jonar. Galen informs Devlin that the way to defeat the evil Jonar is through his very
daughters. They are the key.

Chantel knows many secrets that will cause much pain for each sister and the men who marry them. When the time is right, what path will she choose? The future of all of them depends on what she knows.

Lora Leigh`s Shattered Legacies, a prequel to the contemporary Legacies Series, is a new revised and updated re-issue of the book originally published in 2003. Ms Leigh has crafted a very intricate book that weaves a dark tale of the lives and desires of Devlin and Chantel as they face many challenges. The scene where Devlin and Chantel first come together is so artfully detailed that it scorched my eyes with the intensity of
their desire for each other, and so flaming hot that I was left breathless and well-sated.

The secondary characters are very intense in their stories as well. Ms Leigh's story is so expressive that I can feel the heart-pounding dread, deep-seated fear, and burgeoning love in the very explosive erotic scenes of the married couples. Betrayal, deceit, and fear abound in this book. A warning: there is one part that was difficult for me, a rape scene
which is somewhat graphic, thus showing the reader just how evil Jonar really is. I have enjoyed many books by Ms. Leigh. I am truly hoping that the sequels of Shattered Legacies will have a much brighter future, which is what this story alludes too. I know to the depth of my soul I will not be disappointed in Shadowed Legacy, the next book in the Legacies Series about Chantal and Devlin.

Gene
reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed

I loathe when a series is good and then never finished. The story I most want to read, Joshua/Arriane, doesn't exist. I read on her board that there is intention to finish the series... but that doesn't look like it's going to happen. SO, why read any of it? It'll just leave you hanging, too bad I didn't realize all that before reading the first book and enjoying it so much.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 6 reviews  4.7 out of 5 stars