Review

Ecstasy Untamed is the sixth installment of Pamela Palmer’s Feral Warriors series and is just as good as the others.  Fans of the series MUST read Hawke and Faith’s story but new fans may be slightly lost in the fantastic world Palmer has created but will still enjoy the romance.

For those unfamiliar with the series, the Feral Warriors are a group of shape-shifters charged with protecting the Therian, a race of people who co-exist with clueless humans and who are under attack by evil mages.  The warriors each have a unique animal familiar they can shift into when fighting the evil mage and are named after their familiar.  Our hero here is Hawke who, in the previous book, was nearly separated from his hawk when caught in a Mage vortex.  He has been rescued by the other warriors but returns to the feral fortress unable to control his hawk.  Other familiars have found their Therian hosts and are being drawn to the fortress and one such brings along his supposed mate, Faith.  Faith is Therian but like most, she has no animal familiar and so, can’t shape-shift and while she thinks it’s fate that she mate with Max, she and Hawke are inexplicable drawn together.

First, I will admit I adore the Feral Warriors series and have read each the day they were released.  The hero of Ecstasy Untamed, Hawke, has always been my second favorite of the warriors (in case you’re wondering, Wulfe is my crush—can’t wait for his book!)   I am so pleased that Hawke’s book didn’t disappoint me.  Hawke was always the erudite, intellectual warrior who was kind but very controlled.  It was lovely to see him meet his mate in the warm, loving Faith.

Having crushed a bit on Hawke, I was worried that Palmer couldn’t find a heroine I would approve of but Faith is truly splendid for Hawke.  I loved how warm and down-to-earth she was, including her vagabond appearance and blue-tipped hair.  She was generous and honest in her dealings with others.  I admired how Faith dealt with her quasi-relationship with Max in the face of her incredible attraction to Hawke.  Faith had her own self-confidence issues but her strength and self-determination enabled her to grow and even help Hawke with his animal familiar. 

I will admit, however, that readers who are haven’t read the previous Feral Warriors books will likely be lost with the plot.  The plot focuses on the Feral/Mage war and really moves that storyline along which new readers will likely find confusing.  However, fans of the series MUST read this book to know what big developments happen.  I can’t say too much without spoiling it but let’s just say we have some new Feral Warriors to love—and in my opinion, that’s a terrific thing.

So since I loved the leads, the sexy romance, and the action-packed plot, why not five stars?  Because of the cliffhanger!  I suppose given what happens in the story with the old and new Ferals the ending makes sense but it felt very contrived.  The last two books also ended on plot cliffhangers so I really shouldn’t have been surprised but this one had me rolling my eyes, saying, “of course this happened!”  But Faith and Hawke clearly have their relationship together so don’t worry on that account. 

Fans of the Feral Warriors series will gobble up Ecstasy Untamed but new fans should start at book one, Desire Untamed, and by the time they get to Hawke’s story they’ll be excited to read it too.

Reviewed by Janine