Warrior Ascended by Addison Fox

The first in the Sons of the Zodiac series and the debut novel for author Addison Fox, Warrior Ascended sets the bar high for the series. Themis, the Greek goddess of Justice has been allowed by Zeus to create 12 groups of 13 immortal warriors to protect humankind from evil. However, he has pitted her against his daughter Enyo, goddess of war.

Immortal Leo warrior Brody Talbot is working undercover as an archaeologist on a mission to translate the Prophecy of the Summoning Stones. He meets Ava Harrison, curator of the stones' exhibit and daughter of the archaeologist who originally discovered the stones, Russell Harrison. Brody is immediately drawn to Ava, despite her horrid gray sweater. He follows her home and protects her from Enyo's warriors, the Destroyers.

Eventually Brody is forced to reveal exactly who and what he is to Ava after his lion tattoo manifests itself in the middle of the streets of London in order to aid Brody in fighting yet another set of Destroyers. She accepts this supernatural aspect of Brody's with much less questioning than I would have, presumably because each time she gets near one of the Stones, she sees visions.

Brody and Ava end up fighting to avert an Apocalypse, and I began wondering how she will top that for her next book! Buffy did it show after show, so I have no doubt that Ms. Fox can as well. I can just imagine the warriors asking Themis what they're going to do and Themis replying "Same thing we do every day, boys. Try to save the world from an Apocalypse," a la Pinky and the Brain.

This was a quick, enjoyable read. I will definitely pick up another one of Ms. Fox's books again in the future. If you like astrology, romance, and the paranormal, you'll enjoy this book.