eternal syn coverRating: 3.75
Buy Links: 
 Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel

 

Syn is a hundreds-year-old vampire who has a found family of men he considers his brothers. They all work as assassins, helping to protect the innocent by killing the scum of the city. It is perfect work for a group of vampires, who have supernatural strength and abilities — not to mention their targets give them a ready source of blood on which to feed. One night, Syn spots a beautiful young man and finds himself incredibly drawn to him. Syn has never had a reaction like this to anyone, and his attraction to Bowie catches him off guard. All Syn wants to do is to protect and care for Bowie, to help him in the face of so many hardships.

Bowie is a young man who has been beaten down by life. His family is dead, he is homeless and living in an abandoned house, and he works for his abusive uncle. Bowie ended up in prison for attacking his would-be rapist and is now just barely hanging on. When he meets Syn, Bowie can’t understand why this alluring man seems to care about him at all, let alone wants to help take care of him. Bowie has been on his own for so long with no one in his life who truly cares; he is not used to having anyone want to look after him. But when things take a turn for Bowie, Syn is there for him and Bowie finally lets himself accept Syn’s help of a place to stay and recover from his injuries.

As Bowie spends time at Syn’s home, it gives him a chance to get to know the man better. As hard as it is for Bowie to believe, Syn seems genuine in his offer to help care for Bowie with no strings attached. Even when Syn discloses that he and his brothers are assassins, Bowie manages to take it in stride. He has been hurt by cruel men before and seen enough living on the streets that he has no problems with Syn stopping more people from becoming victims. Bowie and Syn end up building such a close bond, one that they would both like to take even further. But Syn still hasn’t revealed the fact that he is a vampire to Bowie, and he has no idea how Bowie will react. Even worse, an old threat to Bowie is rearing back up and it is going to take the effort of Syn, Bowie, and all the vampire brothers to keep him safe.

Eternal Syn is the first book in Mia Monroe’s new Immortal Assassins series. The story takes a darker tale of vampire assassins cleaning up a city filled with organized crime, drug dealers, and other criminals and combines it with a sugary fated mates relationship. It is an interesting juxtaposition and I think it works overall. Obviously, you need to be OK with the sort of vigilante justice side of things here (though, to be clear, the guys are getting paid for their work as hired guns). We get some grisly scenes of them attacking their targets, but Monroe makes sure we know exactly how bad these bad guys really are in the process. I could buy Bowie’s easy acceptance of the situation, as he has been through enough to be hardened and accepting that the world isn’t always black and white or a pretty place.

Bowie has had a rough life and we learn more about just how bad things have been over the course of the story. I won’t spoil things here beyond saying he has been beaten down, but he has retained his optimistic side and his pleasant demeanor. Monroe does a nice job developing Bowie as a character and I felt like I really understood him and how he makes the choices he does during the book. For me, Syn was not nearly as well developed, unfortunately. “Obsessed with Bowie” felt like his entire character. We get a short prologue where we see Syn in his mortal life, but beyond that, we get to know next to nothing about him. I just felt like there wasn’t anything really to him beyond his sudden and total devotion to Bowie. Even the other vampires all have their “thing” (artist, party boy, etc) and Syn just seems to have nothing that really defines him or creates him as a character. This was exacerbated for me by what was, in my opinion, really over-the-top and flowery language from Syn. He is basically obsessed with Bowie from minute one and wants to take care of him and protect him from everything. Just a couple of examples:

“Your existence makes me happy. I need nothing else.” He places his hands on either side of my face, gazing into my eyes. “This isn’t casual for me, Bowie. I want to keep you forever. I need you to believe that everything I do is for your happiness and safety. Everything. You are the sun to my earth.”

Or

“But I want to be clear about something,” Syn continues, while I try to make sense of what’s happening to me. “I want you, desperately. I want to worship your flesh and drown in your essence.”

“Wh-what?”

“I want you so much I would do anything to keep you. I want to be the first man who kisses you, the first to make love to you. I want to be the only man you ever give yourself to.”

I think a lot of how you feel about this book will rest on whether you find Syn romantic and dreamy, or find him too intense and over-the-top. I found that, for the most part, I could go with it and enjoyed the story for what it was. There is a definitely Cinderella vibe here of the poor boy being rescued by the handsome prince sweeping him away to a life of luxury.

Both guys fall hard and fast, and Bowie accepts a life with Syn incredibly easily. Most of the conflict is external, which I think works well for the story and also for giving us a broader sense of these vampire assassins. I enjoyed meeting some of the other men, who are presumably being set up for their own stories. I found the premise here worked nicely overall and I am interested to see how things develop with the other characters. We get a hint at the end of what might be up next, so I’ll be looking forward to following along.

jay signature