In Hallowed Games we follow Elowen, a young woman living with a dangerous secret. Nine years earlier she was cursed with deadly and forbidden magic, and ever since her very touch has been lethal. Her secret is known only by a few, and Elowen will gladly live out her days as the Baron's personal assassin as long as the little orphan boy she cares for is safe. But when she is betrayed by Lydia -the Baron's daughter and Elowen's former best friend - she is captured by witch hunters and thrown into a deadly game for survival. A game that will only leave a single person standing in the end.
Against all odds she finds herself intensely attracted to Maelor, the head of the witch hunters, and he returns her interest. By any logic he should not be able to touch her, but to Elowen's great surprise her touch does nothing to harm him. That is because Maelor has a secret of his own: He is a vampire, and thus immune to her lethal touch. Elowen does not understand why the Maelor has taken such an interest in her, or why he seems determined to help her overcome the deadly trials that await her in the games, but slowly she finds herself relying on him. He might be the only one who can help her reunite with Leo, the little boy whose life and safety depends on her. But can she really trust the man known as the Raven Lord - a man who has devoted years of his life to hunting people with magic like her?
Whenever I read a synopsis of a book that mentions a deadly game with a single survivor, I immediately think of The Hunger Games, and my expectations automatically goes through the roof. One part I really liked is that Elowen takes the time to get to know some of the other pentinents, because it leads to her leading her own little ragtag bunch of misfits. None of them are there because they want to be, and so it makes sense for them to team up to get through the first couple of challenges. While I found the first trial to be really high-stakes and exciting, the second trial was a bit of a let-down. It was basically just Elowen being horny as fuck. It would have been a lot more interesting if the authors had chosen to have her hallucinate about unleashing her powers instead, because that could at least have lead to some interesting character development.
I did like the chemistry, pining and sexual tension between Elowen and Maelor, but it did lead to some questionable decisions made by said characters. They literally sleep together for the first time while on the run from people who wants to kill them, and by that I don't mean that they are racing across a vast world with their enemies following in their footsteps. No, the enemy is literally within the same freakin' castle walls going from room to room looking for our main couple, and Elowen and Maelor just decide while hiding in a tiny storage room that this is the perfect time to get down and dirty. What the heck? There's a time and place for everything, and this was probably not it. It just seemed like such a stupid decision made by otherwise smart characters.
As for the story itself, it does have a rather exciting twist near the end. Former enemies will have to team up to take down the main villain, and I am interested in seeing how these relationships will develop in the next book. Because of where the first book leaves off, I am a little worried that we might have to deal with a love triangle in subsequent installments in this series. I might be way off base on this, but there are a few times a certain other character reacts rather strongly to Elowen's obvious dislike of him, and I fear that his reactions might hint at some complicated feelings lurking beneath the surface. I really hate love triangles and changing love interests from one book to another (looking at you, Sarah J.), so I really hope I'm just imagining things. It was also strongly hinted at in Hallowed Games that this character knows exactly why Elowen was cursed in the first placed, and I was kinda frustrated that specific question was not answered in the first book. Just gives me another reason to check out the next one when it's released, I suppose.
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