Born of Night (The League, #1) by Sherrilyn Kenyon

In the Ichidian Universe, The League and their ruthless assassins rule all. Expertly trained and highly valued, the League Assassins are the backbone of the government. But not even the League is immune to corruption . . .

Command Assassin Nykyrian Quikiades once turned his back on the League—and has been hunted by them ever since. Though many have tried, none can kill him or stop him from completing his current mission: to protect Kiara Zamir, a woman whose father’s political alliance has made her a target.  

As her world becomes even deadlier, Kiara must entrust her life to the same kind of beast who once killed her mother and left her for dead. Old enemies and new threaten them both and the only way they can survive is to overcome their suspicions and learn to trust in the very ones who threaten them the most: each other.

• Genre: Paranormal Romance, Science Fiction romance, Aliens, Futuristic, Space
• Age: adult
• Source: owned ebook 
• Read from May 07 to 09, 2012, reread on april 07th, 2013

FINAL RATING: ★★★★★/★★★★★

“If I have to die, I’d rather die knowing someone cared about me, just once. Is that really too much to ask?"
"For us? Yes. It is. We are the gutter and the gutter is all we’ll ever be. Don’t reach out for the stars. They’ll burn you until there’s nothing left. "
"Then let me burn.”

Reread this because i needed to remind myself how much i love this series (i actually read all of the books and i am quite up to date with them, but i need to love them again). Not to mention how much i love all characters in it, especially Nykyrian, Syn and Darling & Maris ♥. I also cried again, little less then i cried the first time, but i also laughed like crazy woman on all those hilarious moments. My love for this series is huge, the characters are unforgettable, and it's the ability of Sherrilyn Kenyon to make them so loveable. I seriously love you woman! 

Oh, and one more thing! The author herself said that there were two versions of this book. The earlier one, which has "the" in the title...aka "Born of THE night", and it's different, so i suggest you search for this one (there is a short author's note on the beginning, saying the version is new one).

WORLD BUILDING AND THE STORY:

Sooooooo....let me start with the introduction to the world.

♦ There is the League. They are assassins and they are cruel, vicious and sometimes horrible. They are legendary, they are unstoppable, and they are some kind of law.

♦ The Sentella on the other hand is a organization made to keep the League in the check - but they are all criminals and they are crazy. In a positive way, btw.

♦ Andarions are the race who genetically come from humans, but they refuse to acknowledge it. They are fierce, they are vicious, and are predatorial race that sometimes fed on humans. They are long fanged, have red rimmed eyes, and they always have black hair. And they are scary as hell to regular people.They also value physical beauty only second to physical strength.

♦ There are also many planetary systems, some of them are populated with humans and are empires and such. For example,there exists Caron, a human system, and so on and on....

The story on the other hand is about Nykyrian, a former League assassin - he left the League a long time ago, and they still haven't killed him - because he kills them first. He is a member of Sentella.

And then, one day, Sentella goes on a mission and Syn, one of them, finds Kiara and rescues her. Together with Nykyrian who is in disguise as Nemesis, the scarriest, the most brutal assassin Sentella has.

After they rescued her, Sentella signed up to be bodyguards for Kiara until the danger on her life passes...

CHARACTERS:

♦ Nykyrian:

Nykyrian...Oh Nykyrian... He is a hybrid of two races - he is half human and half Andarion. They are extremely rare, but the problem lies in the fact that Andarions think he is weak and therefore is an outcast, and humans fear him because they think he would eat them and therefore he had been outcasted again. If only it was an easy thing. He once had family, he had status, he had everything, until the day when he was a just a child, when he lost everything - and from that moment on, his life had been nothing but utter and complete misery, terror and suffering. He was trained to be the most vicious, the most lethal, emotionless assassin, until one day he decided it was enough and escaped. And then, he joined Sentella and became one of the most feared assassins, called Nemesis. But even he has a heart, and he has emotions, and deep inside, he is afraid of showing anything, lest he suffers rejection again. He never smiles, he is quite sarcastic and he is sometimes ironic as hell.

And then...he meets Kiara, who changes his perspective on the world...or not. She also many many times misunderstands him, and therefore, she hurts him again, and again and again. But he couldn't help eventually falling in love with her (which took half of the book) and he decided that he could change...for her. But, he doesn't trust easily, he doesn't open easily and he certainly doesn't feel like he needs someone. He is so much used thinking that he was alone, that he doesn't see the truth; people care about him, Sentella members especially, but he doesn't notice it.

“In your palms, I’ve placed my life, my secrets. I give you freedom to leave me at any time. I’m not easy to love. No one ever has. All I ask is that you always keep your silence, if not for me, then for the families of the others you’d destroy.”

Reading about his past always destroys me. I seriously wonder how he stayed sane through it all and how he turned out to be a seriously wonderful, gentle and sane person... It's a wonder.

♦ Kiara:

Kiara has everything - she is rich, spoiled, she has normal family, she is loved, she is famous, she is a dancer. But then again, is she good human being? Yes. She is, though sometimes she can be utter and horrible bitch (still i don't blame her). She doesn't think about the things she says, she thinks she knows it all, and she is quick to judge. I wanted to strangle her - and i wonder how Syn didn't do it already xD

“Everyone has a choice. (Kiara)
No, princess, they don’t. Choices aren’t always up to us. Life and circumstances can shred even the stoutest soul. No matter how pure and untainted you think you are, I promise you that you, too, can be shoved into the darkness, just like we were. (Syn)”

But, then again, she is wonderful, she is nice and she is total match for Nykyrian. She falls in love with him slowly, especially after she slowly cracks his shell... She finds out that life can be a bitch, that not everyone lived the same way as she did and it made her understand how happy she actually was and is in her life and in her skin.

“I wish I could take away your pain. I wish I could go back to when you were born and take you somewhere safe. Far away from all the people who’ve hurt you.”
His eyes were liquid emeralds. “You’re doing that now.”

♦ Sentella members:

The Sentella memebers are unique. They are all criminals, that is true. But - they are good - they are never bad and they have never been bad, but it doesn't make them less criminal. Everyone judges them before they even met them, and all of them hide some deep and traumatic pasts (not sure about Hauk though). They are batshit insane and crazy and funny as hell.

“What the hell was that action?” Syn asked him.
“I think it’s something called ‘paternal concern.’ ”
Syn scowled at his bland explanation. “What . . . ? You sure? I thought that crap was a myth.”
Nykyrian shrugged. “No, really. I watched it once in a documentary. It was fascinating. Believe it or not, there are people out there who actually have feelings for their progeny.”
“Get the fuck out. No way. You’re screwing with my head again, aren’t you?”
“No. I swear. You just saw it with your own eyes. I did not make that shit up.”
Syn shivered. “Yeah but it’s really messing with my concept of the natural order of the universe. Paternal love? What’s next? Limb regrowth? Genetic splicing reversals?”

Hauk is an Andarion, he is funny, scary and awesome (he is not interested in humans). Syn, one of my fav characters is crazy SOB who drinks himself almost everytime, not to mention that he considers Nyk his best friend, and he was always there for him. And his sense of humor is fascinating. Darling...oh god..Darling - i fell in love the moment i first read about him. He is a redhead(yes i had to say it), he is scarred, and he is...well...just fantastic (especially after you read his book). I always hated his situation with his family, and it hurt me every time :((

♦ Other characters:

All of the families in this series are insane! We have some overprotective fathers, dead mothers, dead sisters and unknown daughters, ignorant parents, psychotic brothers and lots and lots of killers. Well, let's just say, there is a long list of people/charaters i wanted to slaughter.

OVERALL:

Anyway...I fell in love with the dancer and the assassin. Just reading the synopsis for the first time grabbed my attention + it was Sherri, so could i ask for more? I think i love this series more than i love her Dark Hunters. And also, her ability to produce tortured heroes is amazing (even heroines). If you like science fiction, with good world building, romance, action and hotness, and if you love tortured heroes and great characters, than this series must be read.

The rest of the league books...Bring it on!!!

MY REVIEW ON GOODREADS