Review: Black Dawn (Night World)

Black Dawn is the 8th book in the Night World series by L. J. Smith. The story starts when protagonist Maggie Neely is awakened at 2.11 am by her mother’s hysterics and finds out that her brother Miles was presumed dead in a  hiking trip. Maggie finds Sylvia’s (Mile’s girlfriend) story suspicious and decides to follow her, still in her pajamas and mismatched red and blue socks. Of course, her investigation  into her brother’s whereabouts lands her in trouble and she ends up in a slave wagon courtesy of Sylvia’s witchy incenses. The slave wagon, with a whole load of kidnapped girls,  is en route to a hidden kingdom in the Night World, where the young vampire prince Delos Redfern just so happens to be her soulmate and a Wild Power. Maggie has to deal with cold Delos who seems so different from the kind version in her dreams, help out her fellow slaves, where among her companions is the most valuable Aradia,  the Maiden of the Witches, and  look for her brother in the meantime. Not to mention baddie Hunter Redfern’s evil plans for his great grandson’s Wild Power.

Slave trade, shapeshifter, witch and vampire trouble, as well as a most cracktastic savior prophecy based on Maggie’s mismatched socks make this a most entertaining read. This one isn’t exactly urban fantasy, since besides the first chapter, everything else that happens once Maggie has been kidnapped by the slave traders is pretty much medieval. I mean, riding horses and falconing? Chamberpots! Most of the action happens in the hidden kingdom, hence the medievalness. Delos is the typcial vampire prince character, cold on outside and soft on the inside (he kind of sounds like ice cream). While the slave abuse and torture is a little clichéd, Maggie’s spunk and compassion comes clearly through and has readers rooting for her throughout the journey. The ending is L. J. Smith’s usual fluff and Maggie does find her brother eventually, with a nice twist at the end. Black Dawn is one of the better books in the Night World series and definitely recommended reading.

See also: Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, Enchantress/Spellbinder, Dark Angel, Soulmate, The Chosen, Huntress, Witchlight

Plot/originality: 4/5

Characters: 4/5

Writing style: 3.5/5

Total score: 11.5/15

Review: The Chosen (Night World)

The Chosen is Book 5 in the Night World series by L. J. Smith and definitely one of the better reads in the series.  The protagonist, Rashel Jordan, is a sassy vampire hunter. When she was a child, she saw Hunter Redfern, master vampire of the Night World, feed on her brother, kidnap him and kill her mother. She ended up escaping unscathed in a most ingenious way, by framing Hunter Redfern for molestation! I loved that scene. I quote, ” “Help meeee! Help meeee! That man tried to touch me!” Poor Hunter Redfern. Serves him right for hunting near a playground.

Rashel grows up to be a  vampire hunter known as The Cat, who leaves her mark on her kills, a cat’s scratch mark using a backscratcher! One night when hunting with a group of other vampire hunters, they capture Quinn, a notoriously dangerous vampire who happens to be Hunter Redfern’s ex-son-in-law and the Redfern heir. Rashel can’t bring herself to kill him even though he is dangerous, and even lets him go, saving him from torture at the hands of the other hunters. She ends up regretting this when she encounters a girl running from vampire slave traders who are capturing girls for a “bloodfeast” event, something like a vampire buffet. Not surprisingly, Quinn just so happens to be involved. Rashel uses herself as bait and allows herself to be captured in order to save the girls. She and the other girls are then taken to an island where the bloodfeast is to be held, and she manages effect a rescue, with the help of Quinn who ends up being converted because (and who didn’t see this coming?) of their soulmate bond. After creating loads of fire and mayhem, they all escape, including Timmy, her missing brother who Hunter Redfern turned (paedo!), leaving Hunter Redfern and the rest of the vampires to roast.

I just love the tension between Rashel and Quinn in all of their meetings, and Rashel is totally kickass and way cooler than all those ‘ordinary girl’ heriones. Quinn had the usual traumatic past, but is way too ruthless and does way too many bad things to be a GaryStu. They definitely deserve each other. I quite liked Hunter Redfern the villain and I wish there had been more focus on him since he does have a sort of major reputation in the Night World.

Read this, it’s good!

See also: Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, Enchantress/Spellbinder, Dark Angel, Soulmate,  Huntress, Black Dawn, Witchlight

Plot/originality: 3.5/5

Characters: 4/5

Writing style: 4/5

Total score: 11.5/15

Review: Enchantress / Spellbinder (Night World)

Enchantress, or Spellbinder in some editions, is the third book in the Night World series by L. J. Smith. This book is basically one big catfight between two witch cousins, brought up to be as close as sisters, which obviously doesn’t count for much when you’re fighting over a guy. Typical good girl vs bad girl. Thea is the goody-two shoes who rescues animals while Blaise is the evil witch who treats guys like toys and is the one responsible for their 5 explusions from high school so far. The book begins with their first day at a new school where Thea rescues a rattlesnake from being stoned and saves a cute boy, Eric Ross, from a poisionous snake bite. Eric is the epitome of do-gooderness, captain of various sports teams, aspiring veterinarian and animal-lover. He also happens to be Thea’s soulmate. When Thea ends up falling for Eric, she (stupidly) tells Blaise, who then like any other self-respecting Night Worlder, feels that she has to protect her beloved cousin from the lower life form (Eric) by getting rid of him. Desperate, Thea ends up accidentally summoning a pissed-off spirit from the underworld who kills her victims in a typical asian-horror flick way, strangling with long hair. Cue mass mayhem and eventually everyone gets caught. Thea has to answer for her actions to the Inner Circle of the witches who happen to be in the area, choosing to have her memory erased so she can live with Eric as a human and Blaise saves the day with iced tea!

While the plot may be a tad idiotic, Enchantress is overall a fun read, with the universal catfight by girls over a guy, witch-style! Surprisingly, or not, Thea ends up causing the most trouble with her evil spirit summoning, which came about in a totally crack! way, while Blaise is totally lovable with her bad-ass persona and human-despising ways. Eric is totally 2D, but he’s not the main character anyway, so it’s all good.

See also: Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, Dark Angel, Soulmate, The Chosen, Huntress, Black Dawn, Witchlight

Plot/originality: 2.5/5

Characters: 3.5/5

Writing style: 4/5

Total score: 10/15

Review: Soulmate (Night World)

Soulmate is the 6th book in L. J. Smith’s Night World series, and by far the lamest. The soulmated pair in this one is Thierry Descouedres, a vampiric Lord of the Night World and Hannah Snow, a girl who seems ordinary in every way other than that she writes notes to herself - notes with disturbing contents such as ‘dead before seventeen’. Of course Hannah isn’t ordinary - she’s an Old Soul, a soul that keeps on reincarnating through the ages, and she’s known Thierry from a long, long time ago (animal skins!! And stone knives! Since we do still wear animal skins).

Their tale isn’t all lovey-dovey, naturally. Hannah has been seemingly killed by Thierry in all her past incarnations, except that it isn’t actually Thierry but Maya, Thierry’s ex, wearing an illusion. Hell hath no fury like a vampire scorned, I must say. Maya also happens to be THE original vampire, and ex-witch, turned that way in her search for immortality (an obvious success!) way back in the near-caveman era via a few baby-killings. Hannah is by far the wimpiest female protagonist in the NW series. She vacillates between believing Thierry and Maya and at the beginning, was actually seeing a therapist to solve her note-writing problem.  An idiotic therapist whose only role in the book is to shoot a couple of bullets and to hypnotise Hannah showing her her past lives. Her disbelief/denial will totally kill you. Even the therapist believed something was going on.

This story is just too contrived and only L. J. Smith’s superb writing style could have saved it from dreariness. The one highlight would be the appearance of the soulmate pairs of the previous 5 books of the series with their interactions really livening up the far-fetched plot. Improbable elements in this book are everywhere, from the whole reincarnation thing to the hypnotism actually working and her past lives are so.. far-fetched! (Three Rivers shaman-trainee? Egyptian priestess? Puh-lease), to Maya’s unbelievable jealousy. I mean if you’re THE first vampire, with the jadedness that the ages bring, I doubt you’ll keep harping on some failed relationship, and be so unhinged as to track your so-called love rival through centuries. I would have just found another expendable boy-toy already. While we’re on this topic,  I doubt it would have really taken Maya a couple hundred or more years to ‘discover’ that vampires don’t reincarnate and hence to break the ‘cycle’, all she would have to do is turn Hannah then stake her. Also, plot resolution was crap, I mean, a random lackey just randomly deciding to betray Maya by telling Thierry their location? and Maya was dispatched with way too much ease, just a casual stabbing by a lump of rock? So much for being the mother of all vamps. Thierry could probably have killed her a few lifetimes ago. WHERE IS THE LOGIC AND SENSE? Not to mention, Thierry is so two-dimensional! All angst and no action.

Not highly recommended, but I guess you can read it anyway, if only because it’s part of the Night World series. Just read it for the few pages of Ash/ James/ Poppy/ Rashel/ Quinn/ Thea/ Eric/ Gillian/ David cameo appearances in Thierry’s cool and really expensive mansion.

See also: Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, Enchantress/Spellbinder, Dark Angel, The Chosen,  Huntress, Black Dawn, Witchlight

Plot/originality: 1.5/5

Characters: 2.5/5

Writing style: 3/5

Total score: 7/15

Review: Secret Vampire (Night World)

Secret Vampire is the very first book in the Night World series by L. J. Smith and was published over 10 years ago. It serves as an introduction for us to the ‘Night World’ created by Smith, which is a secret society of vampires, witches, shapeshifters and werewolves that live among human society, with 2 main laws: 1) Never let them find out that the Night World exsists and, 2) Never fall in love with one of them. Secret Vampire (and basically every other NW book), showcases what happens when these laws are broken.

The female protagonist of Secret Vampire is Poppy, a normal teenager who is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the beginning of the book. It is incurable, and she has only  months to live. Poppy doesn’t want to die, and her best friend James, a vampire reciprocating romantic feelings for Poppy, offers to make her a vampire in order to save her life, thus majorly breaking both rules. The  consequences of the rule-breaking is heightened by the fact that James is related to the Redfern family, one of  the most influential vampire families in the Night World. Poppy takes James up on his offer - cue blood-exchanging, activation of the soulmate bond, complications with overprotective brother Phil who tends to walk in at inopportune times, and fake-death planning. Poppy is succesfully turned but holds an illegal vampire status, endangering both her and James. Throw in an inopportune visit by Ash Redfern, Jame’s ruthless vampiric cousin and Poppy ends up tricked and halfway to exposure at a Night World gathering before displaying telepathic powers that save the day. She and her brother Phil are finally revealed to be lost witches on their father’s side, thus having rightful NightWorlder status and they happily go off to live with Poppy’s father.

I loved the characterisation of Poppy, in her journey through her terminal diagnosis and her subsequent choice to become a vampire.  She realistically chooses to become a vampire after careful consideration and balancing the conseuquences of cutting ties with her family, with her will to live coming out top, instead of just the typical MarySue character who just chooses in a flash. Her interactions with her family members as well as descriptions of grief and coping mechanisms are well written. James, on the other hand, shows various Gary-Stu characteristics, such as an overtly noble character, human-loving unlike the rest of his typical human-despising family, and he even comes complete with a  traumatic childhood event! But he does serve as a useful tool to provide insights and information into Night World society. Ash just comes across as the typcial mysterious badboy model vampire that keeps us guessing about his intentions. Forgivable, considering this book isn’t about him.

The plot resolution was a tad lame, considering James’ eventual punishment was hinted to have been pretty dire. They went from exiles-pending death to non-law breakers in a few sentences flat, just based on Poppy’s family tree. Still, whatever works to give the requisite fluffy happy ending. Not exactly the best book in the series, but still recommended.

See also: Daughters of Darkness, Enchantress/Spellbinder, Dark Angel, The Chosen, Soulmate, Huntress, Black Dawn, Witchlight

Plot/originality: 3/5

Characters: 3.5/5

Writing style: 3.5/5

Total score: 10/15

Review: Daughters of Darkness (Night World)

Daughters of Darkness is the second in the Night World series of paranormal fantasy books by L.J. Smith. The story in DoD revolves around Mary-Lynette and pureblood vampire Ash Redfern (you may recognize him from other NW books Secret Vampire and Dark Angel).

Ash’s sisters Rowan, Kestrel and Jade decide to move to Briar Creek to live with humans with their aunt, only to discover that their aunt has been brutally murdered upon arriving on the scene. The sisters struggle with their aunt’s death and fitting into the human community – it doesn’t help that suspicious neighbor Mary-Lynette’s afoot. Daughters of Darkness further explores the concept of soulmates through the connection between Ash and Mary-Lynette, which makes for some interesting reading considering they both hate each other (Ash’s inner strife on becoming soulmates with a human amused me to no end).

The thing I love about Smith’s heroines is that they aren’t two-dimensional – they have their own flaws and quirks. Ash was also characterized well; he just might be the original template for blond, snarky male anithero that’s been done to death in paranormal fiction. There’s jealousy and a semi-love triangle when werewolf Jeremy enters the picture, who, childhood friendship with Mary-Lynette aside,  isn’t as harmless as he seems. The plot resolution was pretty gruesome, but the book manages to end on a bittersweet note. Mary-Lynette (surprsingly) chooses to remain human, while Ash leaves to do some soul-searching with a promise to return.

Definitely one of the stronger Night World books. Recommended as a quick, satisfying read.

See also: Secret Vampire, Enchantress/Spellbinder, Dark Angel, The Chosen, Soulmate, Huntress, Black Dawn, Witchlight

Plot/originality: 4/5

Characters: 3.5/5

Writing style: 3.5/5

Total score: 11/15

Review: Huntress (Night World)

Huntress is Book 7 in the Night World series by L. J. Smith and incidentally, the first Night World book I ever read. I picked it up years ago from a dusty library shelf and never looked back. As a first foray into vampire fiction, the Night World series is really good and I despaired for years not knowing if book 10 would finally appear. Now that L. J. Smith has finally gotten off her ass (10 year hiatus !) and decided to conclude the series with Strange Fate (Book 10 coming out in 2010), I felt an urge to reread the whole series again.

While Huntress follows L.J. Smith’s generic formula of the everlasting conflict between the dark and the light, concepts represented in the Night World by various ‘Circles’ to which supernatural creatures such as vampires, witches, shapeshifters and even humans belong too, (all of which are mostly youthful and hot/pretty), there is also talk of a final battle, of which the fate of the world will be decided by four Wild Powers, who are mentioned in prophecy and are thus naturally wanted by both sides of the conflict.

Note: If you follow the series sequence and read, you will find that the Redferns (the top vampire family) are a recurring theme in the books, with most main characters somehow related to them. They also somehow have a predisposition for the Soulmate ‘curse’.

Huntress revolves around Jezebel Redfern, a half-vampire who turned her backs on the vampire gang she once led once she found out about her true heritage. She eventually ends up joining Circle Daybreak, the general ‘good guys’ in the series that advocate inter-species harmony and is tasked to find one of the Wild Powers mentioned in prophecy the could change the fate of the world. Unfortunately she isn’t the only one after the elusive Wild Power and the resulting course of events brings her face-to-face with Morgead, her ex-gang-second-in-command and requisite love interest. The tension between them is wonderfully portrayed, and the emotions both feel are very complicatedly human, with Morgead’s natural hate for humans, betrayal, hurt, love etc. I just love their relationship. L. J. Smith has  very successfully created a both realistic and magical ‘Night World’ with their clubs and secret flower symbols, enmeshing it seamlessly with the human world we know. Jezebel’s conflict as half-vampire could have turned out trite and cliched, but didn’t, and for that I am grateful. In fact, it was quite humourous to follow her attempts to balance her nightly ‘business’ with normal human life, with the dead-ghoul-in-bedroom-scene  just to die for. Action-wise, the fighting scenes are nicely written and not too gory. Fluff-wise, well, every L.J.Smith book has a happy ending (or so it says on her website). It’s true though, this is a feel-good book. I recommend!

See also: Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, Enchantress/Spellbinder, Dark Angel, The Chosen, Soulmate, Black Dawn, Witchlight

Plot/originality: 4/5

Characters: 3.5/5

Writing style: 3.5/5

Total score: 11/15

Review: Dark Angel (Night World)

Dark Angel is the fourth in the Night World series of books by L.J. Smith. It was released… a long time ago. Long before the whole paranormal realm frenzy caught on, actually. Most of the Night World books so far have been short and sweet – it has nothing on epic length novels like Angels & Demons and The Lord of the Rings and well, pretty much most of the books out there. Each Night World book focuses on a fresh pair of characters, so don’t be getting yourself attached, now. :p

Dark Angel is centered around Gillian Lennox, a chick with some serious self-esteem issues. Her life changes when she dies after falling into an icy creek, and she meets her very own guardian angel. The guardian angel (“Call me Angel,” he says. Pfft. You can’t make me!) brings her back to the land of the living and takes it upon himself to change Gillian’s life by making her pretty and popular and oh my god your hair is like so awesome!!one sans the gay.

Of course, under his tutelage, Gillian manages to come out of her shell and gets all she’s ever wanted – the makeover, the in-crowd friends, and the guy (who is lame, but I’ll get to that later). Meanwhile, it seems that the guardian angel has an agenda of his own; he’s intent on making Gillian come into her witch heritage by swaying her towards dark magic. Somewhere in the midst all of this witchery Gillian decides to grow a spine and realises that her beautiful guardian angel/fashion consultant/social secretary is not as he seems – he’s just some dead guy related to her that’s got some unfinished business.

I wouldn’t call this a bad read, though it’d certainly get a higher score if the guy Gillian crushed on wasn’t such a wuss. That’s right. David Blackburn is on my hit list. He is a shallow, useless piece of crap that rebounds like nobody’s business. He is so utterly unimpressive that I just may be impressed with how unimpressive he is. Whyyy does he not die in this series. Why? WHY. (spoiler alert: he makes a cameo in another NW book. GAH.)

I do like Dark Angel, though. It was my first ever Night World book – quite possibly my first paranormal book, ever – and it left its impression. I’d definitely recommend this as a fluff book (there’s no real violence in it to speak of, really), so it’s pretty decent as train/bus reading material.

See also: Secret Vampire, Daughters of Darkness, Enchantress/Spellbinder, The Chosen, Soulmate, Huntress, Black Dawn, Witchlight

Plot/originality: 3.5/5

Characters: 3/5

Writing style: 3.5/5

Total score: 10/15