Implosion review

Implosion, the second book in Berinn Rae's Colliding Worlds trilogy, is even better than the first book! I was riveted from start to finish with the characters and the action.

Implosion is the story of Nalea's kidnapping by Roden that readers witnessed in Collision. Nalea's secret that is alluded to in Collision comes out in Implosion - and boy is it a doozy! Nalea remains the kick-ass Sephian I enjoyed in the first book but she becomes more well-rounded and gets a new depth as the lead character in Implosion. Her emotions and reactions were so human that I forgot that she was a Sephian several times!

I honestly wasn't sure what to think of Roden - even after Implosion ended. One minute, I'm cheering for him and wanting him to win thinking he's the "hero" and the next I'm wanting someone to kill him off because he seems like the "bad guy"! His actions, plotting, and maneuvering all made perfect sense but at the same time, left me seeing him very ambivalently. There's one scene - and I won't spoil it - where his rationalizations were much like those of a serial killer. And yet, you can see how Nalea could love him. That's the dichotomy that is Roden and I suspect not many authors would be able to do such a great job writing such a flawed character.

Much like in Collision, the action in Implosion is fast and furious throughout much of the book. It flows well and the vivid descriptions of battles and their aftermath are sometimes a little too vivid.

Several questions remain after Implosion that I'm hoping are answered in book three, Explosion. I'm looking forward to Jax's story and hope we get to see more of his friend Ace as well! If you enjoy paranormal romance, I definitely recommend Rae's Colliding World's trilogy but you need to read them in order or it might be confusing.

Synopsis

A cataclysmic war is brewing… Sephian warrior Nalea exists only to kill Draeken, and she’s good at her job. That is, until a particularly bloody battle, she finds herself captured by Roden Zyll, a Draeken commander known for his good looks and heartless brutality. Her tormentor ignites a passion she believed impossible, and she despises him for it. Worse, she fears he has no intention of letting her go.

Desperate times call for desperate schemes... Meanwhile, a tyrant has devised a plan that threatens to obliterate life on earth. Roden has spilled plenty of blood in his time, and he cares little for humans. But when he realizes his leader’s plan could lead to his people’s extinction, he plans a war of his own, a war that needs Nalea to succeed. But does earth stand a chance if its survival depends on Nalea opening her heart to the man who’d enslaved her people?