A first-rate outing in a consistently enthralling series.
The fourth entry in Hardt’s (Undaunted, 2018, etc.) erotic supernatural saga finds a vampire struggling to control the darkness within himself as he and his human lover search for missing friends and family.
Lately, Dante Gabriel has felt a dark energy pursuing him, but he’s come to realize that he is that darkness. However, the ever present ghost of the vampire’s father, Julian, convinces him that he can learn to control his inner evil. Dante believes that his greatest asset in this task is Erin Hamilton, the woman he loves and with whom he shares a blood bond—one so strong that he may not be able to live without her, and vice versa. Dante regularly consumes Erin’s blood for his sustenance and their sexual gratification. Now, he begins experimenting with BDSM in the bedroom—a riding crop is involved—as a way to embrace his dark energy without allowing it to take over. Meanwhile, some of couple’s loved ones have gone missing, including Erin’s best friend, Lucy; Dante’s pregnant sister, Emilia; and his uncle (and Julian’s twin), Brae. Dante’s cousin, River, and Erin’s brother, Jay, who are partner detectives, aid in the couple’s search, but they believe that answers may be found in the seemingly untranslatable Vampyre Texts. Dante’s paternal grandfather, Bill, knows the book’s secrets, but he’s inexplicably mum, and finding another copy is an exhausting task. It’s soon apparent that the being who’s responsible for people going missing is also leading rogue vampires who’ve targeted Erin. That leader is likely the same female vampire who, for a decade, held Dante captive for unclear reasons. Hardt’s latest installment shows some definite character and plot evolution. Over the course of the series, Dante and Erin’s sex has progressively intensified, particularly in Dante’s aggressive demands. But this book has added new suspense, as there’s a strong possibility that he could lose control and hurt Erin (without her permission). Dante also shows frightening signs of an elitist mentality; for the first time, he may see vampires as superior to humans. The mystery proceeds well; the investigating group identifies at least one of the rogue vampires, and Erin finds a prime suspect for the vampire boss. Dante’s former captor has been an enigma since the series’ beginning; this time, the author treats her readers to a big reveal, although this is most certainly not the final series installment. Hardt also centers on her characters’ human traits, eschewing vampire conventions such as immortality and lethal sunlight, but her narrative makes sure to showcase other supernatural elements. Dante, for example, continues to gain new powers, and Julian possesses an ability that could have a serious impact on the world at large. As in preceding books, the plot maintains a brisk, steady momentum courtesy of Hardt’s condensed descriptions and rapid-fire dialogue. At one point, for instance, Dante equates Erin’s “irresistible” scent with a bevy of images and senses: “Dark coffee, dark chocolate, the richest, darkest blackberry, the richest, darkest Merlot.”
A first-rate outing in a consistently enthralling series.Pub Date: Jan. 29, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64263-085-5
Page Count: 382
Publisher: Waterhouse Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.
Cormac McCarthy's The Road meets Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in this frightful medieval epic about an orphan girl with visionary powers in plague-devastated France.
The year is 1348. The conflict between France and England is nothing compared to the all-out war building between good angels and fallen ones for control of heaven (though a scene in which soldiers are massacred by a rainbow of arrows is pretty horrific). Among mortals, only the girl, Delphine, knows of the cataclysm to come. Angels speak to her, issuing warnings—and a command to run. A pack of thieves is about to carry her off and rape her when she is saved by a disgraced knight, Thomas, with whom she teams on a march across the parched landscape. Survivors desperate for food have made donkey a delicacy and don't mind eating human flesh. The few healthy people left lock themselves in, not wanting to risk contact with strangers, no matter how dire the strangers' needs. To venture out at night is suicidal: Horrific forces swirl about, ravaging living forms. Lethal black clouds, tentacled water creatures and assorted monsters are comfortable in the daylight hours as well. The knight and a third fellow journeyer, a priest, have difficulty believing Delphine's visions are real, but with oblivion lurking in every shadow, they don't have any choice but to trust her. The question becomes, can she trust herself? Buehlman, who drew upon his love of Fitzgerald and Hemingway in his acclaimed Southern horror novel, Those Across the River (2011), slips effortlessly into a different kind of literary sensibility, one that doesn't scrimp on earthy humor and lyrical writing in the face of unspeakable horrors. The power of suggestion is the author's strong suit, along with first-rate storytelling talent.
An author to watch, Buehlman is now two for two in delivering eerie, offbeat novels with admirable literary skill.Pub Date: Oct. 2, 2012
ISBN: 978-1-937007-86-7
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Ace/Berkley
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2012
At Buckkeep in the Six Duchies, young Fitz, the bastard son of Prince Chivalry, is raised as a stablehand by old warrior Burrich. But when Chivalry dies without legitimate issue—murdered, it's rumored—Fitz, at the orders of King Shrewd, is brought into the palace and trained in the knightly and courtly arts. Meanwhile, secretly at night, he receives instruction from another bastard, Chade, in the assassin's craft. Now, King Shrewd's subjects are imperiled by the visits of the Red-Ship Raiders—formidable warriors who pillage the seacoasts and turn their human victims into vicious, destructive zombies. Since rehabilitating the zombies proves impossible, it's Fitz's task to go abroad covertly and kill them as quickly and humanely as possible. Shrewd orders that Fitz be taught the Skill—mental powers of telepathy and coercion possessed by all those of the royal line; his teacher is Galen, a sadistic ally of the popinjay Prince Regal, who hates Fitz all the more for his loyalty to Shrewd's other son, the stalwart soldier Verity. Galen brutalizes Fitz and, unknown to anyone, implants a mental block that prevents Fitz from using the Skill. Later, Shrewd decrees that, to cement an alliance, Verity shall wed the Princess Kettricken, heir to a remote yet rich mountain kingdom. Verity, occupied with Skillfully keeping the Red-Ship Raiders at bay, can't go to collect his bride, so Regal and Fitz are sent. Finally, Fitz must discover the depths of Regal's perfidy, recapture his true Skill, win Kettricken's heart for Verity, and help Verity defeat the Raiders. An intriguing, controlled, and remarkably assured debut, at once satisfyingly self-contained yet leaving plenty of scope for future extensions and embellishments.
Pub Date: April 17, 1995
ISBN: 0-553-37445-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Spectra/Bantam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1995
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