Helpful Score: 22
Nightwalker is a debut novel by Jocelynn Drake, and the first book of the Dark Days series. This urban fantasy has vampires, or nightwalkers as they call themselves, as the main supernatural creature. Our protagonist Mira is an over 600 year old nightwalker, not a newbie to the scene, the guardian of the city of Savannah, with the special ability with fire that no other nightwalker has. Although the descriptions of scenery sometimes tends towards dramatic metaphor, the book has a great, suck-the-reader-in beginning, and the action just keeps coming. I felt like the book shines during the action, and there is a lot of action here. At the start of the book Mira is following a vampire hunter who has been killing off some of the younger vampires in her domain, but that doesn't seem to be the whole story. After facing and fighting Danaus, the hunter, she learns about the possible return of the naturi, creatures the nightwalkers banished from the world about 500 years ago in a face off that still gives Mira nightmares. Danaus and Mira have an uneasy alliance as they work together towards fighting the naturi. Both are bent on killing the other once this task is done. I found the book quite a page turner and I expect it to do very well. There are a lot of interesting characters and factions involved with the story, plus some dark creatures to battle, so I think the author has plenty more to write about. The book was enjoyable and I'm looking forward to the rest.
Helpful Score: 14
This was not a book on my wish list, but I picked it up at the book store and thought, "Well if I can get it off the swap, I'll give it a try."
I'm glad I did. I was surprised at how much I actually enjoyed it. So much so that I was ready to go pick up "Dayhunter" (book #2) and pay retail...something I never do. I didn't buy it retail but I did go pick it up as soon as I had a coupon.(gotta love Borders rewards!)
Mira is not your typical lead female. She is an admitted killer and she is perfectly OK with it. She might not do it all the time, and she might only make justified kills but she doesn't apologize for the enjoyment of it. She accepts her responsibilities, but on her terms and she knows she has enemies because of it. She's happy in her ordered world and wants to stay there. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and they do so with a smack in the face.
Then there is Danous, the male lead. He's hard, sexy and something of the silent type. He's also a little narrow minded but his confusion when he's shown that things aren't necessarily as he's been told is almost amusing, before he hides it. He and Mira don't like each other but they do have chemistry and are thrown together as reluctant allies. At one point, Mira makes a humorous observation (paraphrased) "I was spending so much time imagining how I was going to strip the skin from his bones I forgot how sexy he really is." The books has similar moments of humor that lighten the otherwise dark storyline.
Drake has crafted a world with it's own unique characteristics and twists. This is not a romance although there is the chemistry between the leads and Mira is a sexual creature. The biggest flaw I saw in the story was that sometimes it just bogged itself down in details and I found myself rushing through this to get to the next confrontation or dialogue. It kept me interested despite the slow moments and forced me to find time to read--and lately I don't have a lot of that. I haven't been able to start "Dayhunter" and it's killing me.
If you like Patricia Briggs "Mercy Thompson" or her "Alpha/Omega" series, you'll probably enjoy this series as well. I think Briggs is better, but Drake still delivers an engaging, fresh and entertaining story.
I'm glad I did. I was surprised at how much I actually enjoyed it. So much so that I was ready to go pick up "Dayhunter" (book #2) and pay retail...something I never do. I didn't buy it retail but I did go pick it up as soon as I had a coupon.(gotta love Borders rewards!)
Mira is not your typical lead female. She is an admitted killer and she is perfectly OK with it. She might not do it all the time, and she might only make justified kills but she doesn't apologize for the enjoyment of it. She accepts her responsibilities, but on her terms and she knows she has enemies because of it. She's happy in her ordered world and wants to stay there. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end and they do so with a smack in the face.
Then there is Danous, the male lead. He's hard, sexy and something of the silent type. He's also a little narrow minded but his confusion when he's shown that things aren't necessarily as he's been told is almost amusing, before he hides it. He and Mira don't like each other but they do have chemistry and are thrown together as reluctant allies. At one point, Mira makes a humorous observation (paraphrased) "I was spending so much time imagining how I was going to strip the skin from his bones I forgot how sexy he really is." The books has similar moments of humor that lighten the otherwise dark storyline.
Drake has crafted a world with it's own unique characteristics and twists. This is not a romance although there is the chemistry between the leads and Mira is a sexual creature. The biggest flaw I saw in the story was that sometimes it just bogged itself down in details and I found myself rushing through this to get to the next confrontation or dialogue. It kept me interested despite the slow moments and forced me to find time to read--and lately I don't have a lot of that. I haven't been able to start "Dayhunter" and it's killing me.
If you like Patricia Briggs "Mercy Thompson" or her "Alpha/Omega" series, you'll probably enjoy this series as well. I think Briggs is better, but Drake still delivers an engaging, fresh and entertaining story.
Helpful Score: 5
Jocelynn Drake really takes her place with the big girls on this one,I would definatly say watch out Laurell K. Hamilton, Kim Harrison, and Kelly Armstrong! she is entering the feild with a vengence. This book was incredibly well written. insanly action packed, to the point were i dont think you can add anymore action to it. I definatly cant wait to read more in the series, and more from Jocelynn Drake! This book definatly gets two thumbs up!
Helpful Score: 4
Mira is unique among her fellow vampire Nightwalkers, because she has the ability to control the element of fire. The Naturi, are an ancient race, and are an enemy of humans and vampires that have come back to finish what they started centuries ago, which is making the human and vampire races extinct. Danaus, a vampire-hunter, shows up in Mira's sector in an attempt to get her help in stopping the Naturi. The first time Mira went up against the Naturi is a memory that has been locked away inside her head. Will finding out the truth of what really happened in that battle crush everything Mira has believed for centuries? Or will it make her stronger in her attempt at ridding the world of the Naturi. Although Mira and Danaus would like nothing more than to see each other dead, they put their differences aside long enough to work together (though not always very trusting of each other) at finally putting an end the evil race of the Naturi.
I loved the world created in this new addition to the Urban Fantasy genre. There was a lot of vampire lore that is new to the UF world, and it made for an exciting story. Mira is of course the tough leading lady, but we see that she does have a heart. She uses her strength, brains, and sex appeal to make her point and get what she wants. Danaus is very mysterious, and I loved every bit of him. He's strong and has a very bad view of the nightwalkers. Watching him get to know Mira, and her shatter everything he's ever known or thought about the nightwalkers is gripping. He seems thrown, but also like he enjoys the feelings he receives when around Mira. There were a lot of characters in this book, some that were brought up and then were not heard from again. Which can get confusing, but maybe they will appear in the sequel. Some scenes I think were too drawn out, and could have been cut back. All in all, this was a great debut novel, and I think Jocelynn Drake has an entertaining series in the making.
I loved the world created in this new addition to the Urban Fantasy genre. There was a lot of vampire lore that is new to the UF world, and it made for an exciting story. Mira is of course the tough leading lady, but we see that she does have a heart. She uses her strength, brains, and sex appeal to make her point and get what she wants. Danaus is very mysterious, and I loved every bit of him. He's strong and has a very bad view of the nightwalkers. Watching him get to know Mira, and her shatter everything he's ever known or thought about the nightwalkers is gripping. He seems thrown, but also like he enjoys the feelings he receives when around Mira. There were a lot of characters in this book, some that were brought up and then were not heard from again. Which can get confusing, but maybe they will appear in the sequel. Some scenes I think were too drawn out, and could have been cut back. All in all, this was a great debut novel, and I think Jocelynn Drake has an entertaining series in the making.
Helpful Score: 4
If Anne Rice wrote urban fantasy with a female protagonist and was less hung up on religion, Nightwalker could have been written by her at her best. I really enjoyed reading this book. It's a very dark, swift-moving, and interesting tale that is lush with imagery, passion and, above all, great characterization. It evoked for me all that is good about vampires as literary characters while keeping itself miles above the recent avalanche of cheesy soap opera takes inspired by Twilight and The Vampire Diaries. I haven't been this intrigued with a vampiric world since Buffy and Angel went off the air. I absolutely can't wait to dive into more of this series!
By only gripe with this book is that the editing got sloppy about midway through. Many misspelled words or a missing 'of' or 'a' here and there sometimes detracted from the momentum of the story line. But it is so good, I forgive it almost any errors I can detect.
By only gripe with this book is that the editing got sloppy about midway through. Many misspelled words or a missing 'of' or 'a' here and there sometimes detracted from the momentum of the story line. But it is so good, I forgive it almost any errors I can detect.
