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| Renee, Nadja, and Ivy |
This past week, I ventured out with two other military spouses who are published authors - check out our trip at this link. During our drive to Ka'ena Point, we chatted about Lara Adrian's DARKER AFTER MIDNIGHT. In fact, Nadja reviewed it for me and here it is:
DARKER AFTER MIDNIGHT by Lara Adrian
Midnight Breed Series, book 10
I really liked and enjoyed this book, but I didn’t love it. Clearly
Lara Adrian is doing something right, though: DARKER AFTER MIDNIGHT is book 10 in
her popular series after all. I understand that the book was meant to be the
last in the series, but Adrian was contracted for two more, which may begin a
new arc with the younger characters or next generation.
If you like tall warrior-vampires who wear black and live in
secret compounds, then this book, and series, is for you. If you’re into
vampires shuttered away during daylight hours who protect the fragile peace
between humans and the predators who’d like to nibble on them, then you’ll
enjoy Adrian’s books.
I did.
The issues I had with this book partly stem from the fact
that I haven’t read the nine books preceding DARKER AFTER MIDNIGHT. It’s tough
to write the tenth book in a series about a tight group of people without
having a new reader trip over unknown characters left and right. Keeping the
warriors and their mates straight almost required post-it notes (especially
since they seemed to travel in packs and rarely step out in ones or twos). I
was far more interested in the two protagonists, Sterling Chase and Tavia
Fairchild, than their friends and family, but I understand that fans of the
series want to reconnect with “their” characters.
The two characters that did stand out to me were Rio,
because he was physically flawed (no small feat when surrounded by all these
awesome males) and Gideon, the geek (I can’t help it, I’m attracted to a man’s
mind). I’d love to read Gideon’s story, but I’m afraid he’ll switch into
warrior mode and then just become one of the many.
Now there’s a fresh take on vampires I’d love to see
developed into a new series: the geek who rescues his damsel from behind a
keyboard. Naturally he’ll be tall and handsome, but I’d really rather not have
him wear black or combat boots.
One thing that didn’t work for me was the Bloodlust.
Throughout the book Chase struggles with his addiction to blood. Bloodlust to a
vampire appears to be what binge-eating is to a human. Afraid he won’t be able
to stop feeding (and thus killing the blood donor), Chase choses to starve
himself instead. This didn’t work for me at all. The willpower versus appetite
struggle is a classic, of course; as is the vampire’s fear that he’ll hurt an
innocent. This classic trope is sliding into cliché territory. As the majority
of dieters know, the easiest way to avoid binging is to have regular snacks.
When Tavia finally convinces Chase that he needs blood, he
immediately beats himself up for not stopping after a few swallows. Come on,
buddy, you’ve been shot (repeatedly) and knifed and starved and bled, of
course, you’re thirsty.
Chase wasn’t the first to almost succumb to Bloodlust, which
made me wonder why these guys didn’t have a system to deal with the occasional
overwhelming need/want for blood. If you don’t trust yourself to stop feeding
before killing the donor, bring a buddy who’ll stop you in time. You’ve been
around for a few hundred years, and you know how important it is to not leave
corpses in your wake, but you haven’t secured a regular source of food yet?
I had no issues with Dragos, the villain. He was the
standard megalomaniac out to rule the world. I skipped a few of his pages.
Since DARKER AFTER MIDNIGHT is the climactic book in the series, Dragos finally
met his match, i.e. he was ashed. The ending worked for me, but I have a
feeling regular readers and long-time fans of the series would have liked to
see a grander end to Dragos. It was too quick, too easy, too over and done
with.
All in all, I did enjoy this book. The writing was flawless.
Lara Adrian knows what she’s doing, no doubt about it. It’s difficult to dock
her points for world building events that were set in motion many years ago in
book 1 of the series when vampire angst over feedings wasn’t cliché yet.
Mahalo, Nadja, for your review! I am giving away another copy of Book 1, KISS OF MIDNIGHT, to one randomly selected commenters. To enter the giveaway,
1. Leave a comment about series - are you willing to jump into the middle of one? Or do you read the backlist first before reading the newest release?
2. This giveaway is open to all readers.
3. Comments are open through Saturday, February 4, 10 pm in Hawaii. I'll post the winner on Friday, Feburary 5.
Mahalo,
Kim in Hawaii
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| Makaha Cave - home of the shapeshifting shark |
previous i'm prefer read as per backlist first but now i don't mind to jump into middle ;)
ReplyDeleteallhoha Kim. I haven't read Any of Lara books before but for me jump in the middle of good book would still be fine as long as the story is very interesting . Cheers n happy weekend to you aretha_zhen@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteSometimes I read one in the middle but it bothers me when things are said and I know there is a story there. So I try to read from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI've already read this first book in the series and loved it. If the first book is good I'll likely go and read more books in the series but if I find a book and it happens to be in the middle of the series I will read it and if it's good I'll go and read the series from the beginning because sometimes the books in the middle make more sense after reading the first books. I love this series and still have to read the one your friend reviewed.
ReplyDeleteI will jump into the middle since most authors make their stories so that you can easily do that.
ReplyDeleteHi! I love the sound of this series. Ive been wanting to read it. Its on my wishlist. I usually start at the beginning of a series if i have it. Or i read them in the order i buy them. Though, im good about skipping around the series to the ones that sound really good and then going back. lol Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou don't need to enter me in this because I have all of Lara's books. BUT I will tell you, you will get 99% more out of this book by reading the series. I agree, Lara does an amazing job in all her books. The first one I read of her series was Rio's book, actually, and never felt lost. I then went back and bought all the others!
ReplyDeleteBUT the whole series builds and it's gorgeous world building. Seeing Chase and what he'd gone through, then seeing this book was wonderful closure. Hope you pick up the others, it's a fantastic series. :)
I prefer to start a series from the beginning. However, if a book really looks good I will read a book in the middle and if I like it I will go back and get the earlier books.
ReplyDeleteI really prefer starting at the beginning and sometimes wait until I get them all before starting. But that gets hard to do sometimes and it seems that there are more and more series and I just can't keep up anymore. So I'm more inclined to jump in more than I use to.
ReplyDeletecatslady
I do prefer starting a series at the beginning but I have read some books after the first and they were great. But I have also read some that I really needed info from the previous books to understand who was who. I have noticed some series can be read alone while some really need to be read from the beginning. I would love to win "Kiss of Midnight" and begin this series. Thanks for the opportunity to enter.
ReplyDeletemisskallie2000 at yahoo dot com
I prefer to start a series at the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI don't like jumping into the middle of a series, but if I do, I generally buy the backlist. I'm a bit more careful about starting a new series these days because I don't have the money I used to have.
ReplyDeleteI don't like jumping in the middle. I have to read in order. It's a must!
ReplyDeleteI always start with the first book in a series and read them in order.
ReplyDeleteI start with whatever book in the series sounds most interesting to me, so I usually end up starting the series in the middle.
ReplyDeleteI'll jump into the middle of a series if a current series book interests me. If I like it enough, I'll go back and read the whole series from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I haven't read any of this series yet.When it comes to series books I prefer to start with the beginning books. This way I'm familiar with the characters involved . But I have started a few series with the middle. Mostly because I didn't realize they were part of a series. I definitely am going to put this series on my TRL.
ReplyDeleteCarol L
Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com
I try not to start a series in the middle. I do my best to go back to the beginning. I have started a series out of order before and was disappointed because of it. I do generally enjoy series though.
ReplyDeletegeishasmom73 AT yahoo DOT com
I think it depends on which series it is because for some book series, all books in it can be read as stand-alone's so I have no problem with just picking up a book in the middle of its series while for others, it maybe crucial to read from book 1 and I'll try to start at the very beginning.
ReplyDeleteI HAVE to read a series in order. I think it's the law - somewhere. If possible I like to wait until I have the complete series & then read them right through.
ReplyDelete