Hello everybody ! Today, I decided to present you the book « Pacte Obscur » by Bettina Nordet. Having been on vacation for 3 weeks, I had the time to discover this fantastic author. Honestly, I really loved this fantastic book made in France. Obscure Pact is the first volume of 3 of the series « La geste des exilés ».

This book is only available in French on Amazon.

+ Genre: Fantasy
+ Release date: August 1, 2014
+ Number of pages: 417 pages
+ Price on Amazon: 5,99 euros for the Kindle version and 19,90 euros for the paper version (Editions du Chat Noir)
+ Goodreads Rating: 4.15 / 5

Bettina Nordet, French author, was born in Marseilles in 1968. « La geste des exilés » is her first series. The first volume of his second series has just been published by Le Chat Noir.

Book summary …

I’m a cop, and apart from a little quirk and a serious lack of sex appeal that I would do without, my life is quite nice. But one evening everything changes. Hunted by weird guys, I find myself baby-sitted by my new boss, a handsome guy with murderous instincts that are not reassuring. He seems to feel towards me a violent and inexplicable allergy. So, like Alice, I dive into the white rabbit burrow. Except that, in my case, curiosity is not the problem: my undeniable bodyguard pushed me there. Determined to find my life and my family, I will fight my way out, but the echoes of a prophecy older than the world might stop me. I’m going to do everything to get out of this trap, although, I must admit, there are some plus sides: beautiful guys as if it rained. And to say that I complained that my ballroom was empty …

The centerpiece of an immemorial power struggle, driven into a whirlwind of violence and blood, Jana gradually discovers that all she thought she knew was a lure, and that the border between good and bad is perhaps not as decided as millennial traditions say.

My review …

When I started Pacte Obscur, I was not excited:

+ I didn’t like the cover (I admit that I am often oriented by it) and

+ When I read the summary, I thought that the heroine was going to be perpetually saved by her knight … I was going to be pissed really quick (the stories of innocent princess and prince charming it is not my thing).

But, I did well to persevere because I made a big mistake about this book. I was caught immediately in the story and found myself reading the whole series.

1/ Plot

We discover Jana, our heroine, in Marseille where she lives peacefully. One night, her life will be turned upside down by an kidnapping attempt by werewolves and her rescue by her boss, Kell.

From that moment, we live twist after twist. From Marseille to Sydney and Eden, Jana’s adventures will evolve rapidly. Personally, I find that this book is divided into two parts:

+ Part 1: Jana must escape her attackers and discovers the supernatural world. This part is very funny because Jana takes time to understand and accept that the world beside supernatural.

+ Part 2: Jana learns who she really is and needs to get out of the nightmare that stems from her identity. This part contains a lot of action. Through this part, I learned to love Jana and her sense of humor.

The plot of this book surprised me because Pacte Obscur is one of those rare books where there is no boring moments. This book is really a succession of twists and revelations concerning Jana.

2/ Main characters

+ Jana is one of my favorite heroines because she is very funny and she will not be a pushover. Frankly, we can say that the charming blonde is really unlucky. As the book progresses, you will say « oh no ! what will happen to her know ? ». Just for this character, you should read this book. Personally, there is just a passage, when she is in Eden, where I would have wanted to shake her a little (you will give me your opinion).

+ Kell is a character who surprised me because at first he is not at all friendly or in love with Jana. He is a hard character and will be ruthless with Jana for a good part of the book. We learn to love this character by understanding his past.

There are many other characters but not wanting to spoil you, I let you discover them.

3/ Romance

Romance does not fail. But beware, it is not the classic romance. Jana is not going to meet a wonderful man and start a relationship that will evolve throughout the book. Having read all the books in the series, I can tell you that things are much more complicated than that. But personally, I preferred these relationships to instant love. Jana’s relationship will be built up in the 3 books of the series.

4/ Ending

The end of Pact obscur is not a cliffhanger. This book ends the first stage of Jana’s adventures. Honestly, after finishing this book, I started directly the second one. I needed to know the rest of Jana’s adventures.

My conclusion …

I loved this fantastic book that surprised me. Reading a lot of fantansy, I find it increasingly difficult to be satisfied and surprised by a book.

What I liked:

+ The character of Jana

+ The multiple  twists

+ The humor of the book

+ Surprising and complex characters

What I did not like:

+ A passage when Jana is in Eden and gets duped by a pretty face

My rating …

 

What did you think of this book? 

If you are searching for a good fantasy, you can go see my review on The Queen of the Tearling.