The Vullens' Curse by Natasha House

Wow. There is so much packed into not a lot of pages. The line drawings that accompany the story are a wonderful addition. The author had a visual of what her characters would look like and had the forethought to avoid confusing things with descriptive narrative. So much was portrayed by these simple line drawings that I was immediately able to see these characters in my own mind as I read. I've seen full-blown art in some books that, while beautiful work, actually got in the way of my enjoying the story. Inevitably, I would find myself trying to figure out where that image fit within the story.

The world created by the author is inhabited by several intelligent species, the Wolfinic, the Vullens, and humans feature predominately in the story. This first book does a great job of introducing each of these. As the title suggests, the Vullens are cursed. To go outside of their territory can have fatal consequences. Asha, a Vullen mother, doesn't want her newborn daughter to grow to love death the way most Vullens do. To protect her, Asha takes her daughter into the forest and hides Deilia in the nook of a tree.

The Vullens are gifted (or cursed) with a special magic. Through their songs, they can heal or kill. It is the death song which Asha wanted to keep her daughter from learning. The death song is taught from a young age and stirs a lust for death in the singer(s) as its victim dies. Young Deilia is found wandering in the forest a few years later, kidnapped and taken to King Lowen. Desperate to save his wife, the king buys the kidnapped Deilia. The question is, can she?

There is nothing slow or lackadaisical about this story.The story moves quickly. I was pulled in from the very first line. When I finished the book, I went to my bookseller for the second one. Unfortunately, it wasn't available for Nook yet. I found it to be well written and very enjoyable. I was gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 4 stars

This book is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords.