An enthralling and rousing vampire tale that will leave readers waiting for the sequel.
A vampire who’s recently escaped unknown captors has an inexplicable link to an emergency room nurse in this erotic thriller.
Vampire Dante Gabriel was 18 years old when he suddenly awakened in captivity. His masked abductors tortured him while a female vampire consumed his blood and forced him to drink hers. Upon somehow escaping, Dante returns to his New Orleans hometown and, desperate for sustenance, raids a hospital blood bank. It’s there he meets nurse Erin Hamilton, and the two have an undeniable bond: He’s drawn to her, and she trusts him but can’t explain why. Dante resists their mutual lust, fearing he won’t be able to control his vampiric tendencies. Reconnecting with his vampire family, Dante confirms what he already suspected: He had been missing for nearly a decade. He also learns his father and uncle went looking for him and never returned. Dante is plagued by memories of his trauma, sometimes hearing the voice of the mysterious female vampire, who called herself his queen. His indecision over Erin is a continuous struggle, as he initiates sexual encounters with her but retreats before either is sated. At the same time, secrets surrounding both of them slowly come to light. In her saga, Hardt (Misadventures with a Rock Star, 2018, etc.) avoids piling on vampire lore, wisely concentrating on the human element. In fact, the story debunks some supernatural conventions, including lethal sunlight and vampire immortality. The book, a collection of three seamlessly connected novellas, persistently teases the couple’s inevitable sex. But interactions without fulfillment are no less steamy, as they’re brimming with bulges, groans, and “wet kisses.” The concurrent mystery is surprisingly sharp, with questions about the enigmatic queen, the couple’s bond, and even how Dante managed to escape. Likewise, intermittent perspective from the queen adds suspense: She’s undoubtedly still watching Dante and, it seems, waiting for something. Unfortunately, there’s no climax, at least regarding the plot, as most questions are left unresolved. But as this installment is the first of a trilogy, answers should follow in later volumes.
An enthralling and rousing vampire tale that will leave readers waiting for the sequel.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-64263-012-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Waterhouse Press
Review Posted Online: July 5, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.
Book 2 of Hearne's latest fantasy trilogy, The Seven Kennings (A Plague of Giants, 2017), set in a multiracial world thrust into turmoil by an invasion of peculiar giants.
In this world, most races have their own particular magical endowment, or “kenning,” though there are downsides to trying to gain the magic (an excellent chance of being killed instead) and using it (rapid aging and death). Most recently discovered is the sixth kenning, whose beneficiaries can talk to and command animals. The story canters along, although with multiple first-person narrators, it's confusing at times. Some characters are familiar, others are new, most of them with their own problems to solve, all somehow caught up in the grand design. To escape her overbearing father and the unreasoning violence his kind represents, fire-giant Olet Kanek leads her followers into the far north, hoping to found a new city where the races and kennings can peacefully coexist. Joining Olet are young Abhinava Khose, discoverer of the sixth kenning, and, later, Koesha Gansu (kenning: air), captain of an all-female crew shipwrecked by deep-sea monsters. Elsewhere, Hanima, who commands hive insects, struggles to free her city from the iron grip of wealthy, callous merchant monarchists. Other threads focus on the Bone Giants, relentless invaders seeking the still-unknown seventh kenning, whose confidence that this can defeat the other six is deeply disturbing. Under Hearne's light touch, these elements mesh perfectly, presenting an inventive, eye-filling panorama; satisfying (and, where appropriate, well-resolved) plotlines; and tensions between the races and their kennings to supply much of the drama.
A charming and persuasive entry that will leave readers impatiently awaiting the concluding volume.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-345-54857-3
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 24, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A tantalizing, otherworldy adventure with imagination that burns like fire.
The third installment of this fantasy series (The Bone Season, 2013; The Mime Order, 2015) expands the reaches of the fight against Scion far beyond London.
Paige Mahoney, though only 19, serves as the Underqueen of the Mime Order. She's the leader of the Unnatural community in London, a city serving under the ever more militaristic Scion, whose government is based on ridding the streets of "enemy" clairvoyants. But Paige knows the truth about Scion's roots—that an Unnatural and immortal race called the Rephaim, who come from the Netherworld, forced Scion into existence to gain control over the growing human clairvoyant community. Scion’s hatred of clairvoyants now runs so deep that Paige is forced to consider moving her entire syndicate into hiding while she aims to stop Scion's next attack: there are rumors that Senshield, a scanner able to detect certain levels of clairvoyance, is going portable. Which means no Unnatural citizen is safe—their safe houses, their back-alley routes, are all at risk of detection. Paige’s main enemy this time around is Hildred Vance, mastermind of Scion’s military branch, ScionIDE. Vance creates terror by anticipating her opponent’s next moves, so with each step that Paige and her team take to dismantle Senshield, Vance is hovering nearby to toy with Paige’s will. Luckily, Paige is never separated for long from her Rephaite ally, Warden, as his presence is grounding. But their growing relationship, strengthened by their connection to the spirit world, takes a back seat to the constant, fast-paced action. The mesmerizing qualities of this series—insight into the different orders of clairvoyance as well as the intricately imagined details of Paige’s “dreamwalking” gift, with which she is able to enter others’ minds—fade to the background as this seven-part series climbs to its highest point of tension. Shannon’s world begins to feel more generically dystopian, but as Paige fights to locate and understand the spiritual energy powering Senshield, it is never less than captivating.
A tantalizing, otherworldy adventure with imagination that burns like fire.Pub Date: March 7, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-63286-624-0
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2017
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