Review: Cronin’s Key III, by NR Walker (Rating: 4/5)

Cronin’s Key III, by N.R. Walker (Cronin’s Key Trilogy)
Publisher: Self-published (September 18, 2015)
Page Count: 193 pages
Genre: Gay (M/M) Paranormal/Horror, Romance

Rating: 4 out of 5

* I received an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review. *

This is the conclusion to the Cronin’s Key trilogy, so you should definitely read the first two before starting this one. I love this series; it’s definitely a guilty pleasure, because it’s a bit ridiculous and a lot of fun.

Alec really is a bit too perfect in many ways; as a human, he was a Detective with the NYPD, attractive and talented… and with a photographic memory that helped him advance in his job. As a vampire, he’s the fated one, a Key with immense power and every Talent ever known to vampire history. But in this book, he finds an enemy who has powers he can’t affect, and suddenly things aren’t so perfect anymore.

I really liked this concept of a balance between light and dark. It’s very Harry Potter-and-Voldemort… they exist to balance each other.

As always, Walker brings in mythology and historical facts and adds a paranormal twist to make them fit this world. She actually ties the mythology together for all three books (which means Egyptians, Genghis Khan, and now the Catholic Church) in a way that would make any conspiracy theorist proud.

“This is a hill or a mound, yes? I couldn’t help but wonder if, ten thousand years ago when it was built, if it was a pyramid.” (PDF page 37)

I think Cronin must be the most patient husband ever, though. I mean, Alec starts off as a human with crazy emotional back-and-forths, and then almost gets himself and everyone else killed, and kind of disrupts everything. It’s true love, soulmates, etc, but Cronin’s basically freaking out for the entire book because Alec is about to get himself killed (again).

Final conclusion: this series is awesome and ridiculous and I love it. Where else are you going to vampire mummies, vampire Genghis Khan, evil time-controlling gargoyles, and a bunch of scorching hot gay vampire sex? It’s cheesier than a bag of Cheetos, but it’s also a blast to read, and I was making grabby hands at my computer screen when I saw this third book announced.

A very fun series from start to finish. If you want a fun paranormal romance series to read, something you don’t have to take seriously, then you should definitely check this trilogy out!