{Review} Maxon (Angelbound Offspring #1) by Christina Bauer

Posted by Melanie
Release Date: May 12th, 2015
Finished Date: July 17th, 2015

Publishers: Ink Monster 
Genre: YA, Paranormal 
Source: For Review
Format: eBook

Pages: 400
Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US 

Prince Maxon may be twenty-two years old now, but he’s still haunted by his boyhood abduction and torture in Hell. To deal with his past, Maxon limits his present-day activities to killing demons and seducing women. No long-term relationships. No combat too dangerous. No problem, right? 

Wrong.

Maxon’s life has stalled out. The old thrills aren't there anymore, either on the battlefield or in the bedroom. While staking out his next fight, Maxon meets what seems like just another girl after a good time. What he gets is a close encounter with Lianna, a lady warrior with ties to the mysterious elemental rulers called the monarkki. It’s love at first fight. Trouble is, Lianna’s running from a dark history of her own, and her elemental enemies are closing in. When Lianna gets taken, Maxon realizes that after years of wrong choices and dead ends, the right woman is worth risking it all.

Book contains adult language and sexuality. Can be read as a standalone or after the Angelbound Origins series.

The Review: Maxon is the first book in the ‘Angelbound Offsprings’ series and is a spin off from the Angelbound series.
At the end of the Angelbound series we have already been introduced to Maxon because as the series title suggests, he is the offspring of the H/h of that series and played quite a starring role in that final book. That gives us a connection to him already because I loved his parents story and knew I would like this too. We fast forward nearly two decades to find Prince Maxon is as powerful as everyone assumed he would be and the only thing stopping him from becoming the Scala Heir is that he hasn’t yet fell in love and become Angelbound. Maxon is rather bored with his life of late, he can have any woman he wants, he wins any battle he goes into and at the moment that is all he does but he wants more, he wants some excitement in his life that doesn’t involve staking out demon hotspots…..but it is there that he will find the excitement he so desires.
Lianna is from the elemental world, she is apprentice to a water Monarkki and has been training for some time. The elemental world is in trouble and a lethal enemy is killing off the Monarkki for their power which leads Lianna into serious trouble and straight into the hands of Prince Maxon. After a turbulent first meeting, Maxon is quite taken with Lianna and takes her back to his home to keep her safe but when trouble comes to the door of the Thrax, Maxon has some decisions to make.
I really enjoyed this book, as I said – we already know Maxon and who he is so it was great to see a more mature version of him and see how his life has turned out. I liked that he referenced what happened to him when he was younger, how he still fought the trauma of what was done to him and what he had to do in return – it showed him to be very level headed and aware of consequences, it also endeared him more to me because I know what he had been through too but also gave a new angle as he shared some things we didn’t know that make you understand why this still bothers him. Even though he had a ‘play boy’ image and that of a privileged Prince, I don’t think he came across as arrogant – he actually seemed well grounded for his status. I loved when he and Lianna met, she makes a great impact straight away and I knew I was going to like her. Even though we know from the get go that she is very capable of handling herself, there are times when she comes across as a bit of a doormat and someone who has been or could be manipulated by people of power – thankfully Maxon did not treat her like this, in fact her attitude is one of the things that drew him to her. Obviously they will fall for each other but it’s not instalove, there is a connection, they feel instantly different but that just amps up the tension between them and it took both of them a little while to realise what they were feeling.
The storyline was great and definitely of the same quality of the other series. I really appreciated that the author opened up the world a bit more and introduced more magical people that we hadn’t heard of in the other series, it gave something new to the book with familiar faces so we weren’t starting from scratch. I like the idea of the elementals, they have leaders of the elements - Monarkki – and they give power to their apprentices, teach them in the ways of that element and make warriors out of them. When passing power to others, it goes through a special stone that stores the energy to be taken by others and that is how the enemy is introduced to us. We see straight away just what he is up to and how he will go about doing it but he didn’t bank on Lianna being as adept as she was, then when you factor in Maxon as well…. he has a serios battle on his hands. Lianna doesn’t just have to deal with the guy chasing her, she also has to deal with other issues involving other water users, an ex and being thrust into a position of power. She is constantly trying to evade the man after her power, keep her people well, keep alive and of course… see what her bond with Maxon will bring. There are some great action scenes throughout this, some great use of the elements and magic and I really got into it. I was thankful for a good few cameo appearances from some of our favourite characters from Angelbound but I really missed Myla’s humour. There are a couple of surprises by the end of this that sets up the next book which I will definitely be looking out for.