Black Dawn Night World [Paperback]

L. J. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Series: Night World | Publication Date: November 1, 1997

When young vampire prince Delos falls in love with his captive slave Maggie Neely, he frees her and demands that she join him in his life of dark pleasure. Maggie can hardly resist the handsome prince. But did he kill her brother? Maggie won't give up until she learns the truth--even if it means destroying Delos and his secret land. If he doesn't destroy her first.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

L.J. Smith is the bestselling author of the Night World and The Vampire Diaries series, and has written over twenty-five books for young adults. She lives in the Bay Area of California where she enjoys reading, hiking, and traveling. Her favorite place is a cabin in Point Reyes National Park. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Simon Pulse (November 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671014765
• ISBN-13: 978-0671014766
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (63 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,283,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Let's see, I've known that I wanted to be a writer since I was about six, when a teacher praised a horrible poem I'd written. I wrote my first book in high school, finishing it in my first year of college. Then I became a special ed teacher before I was able to become a writer full-time. That's about it!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Castles, Prophesies and a Night World Prince, April 11, 2002

By 

R. M. Fisher "Raye" (New Zealand = Middle Earth!) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Black Dawn Night World (Paperback)

The Night World is all around us - a secret society of creatures of darkness. There are only two rules to the Night World - 1) Don't let a human find out about the Night World, 2) Never fall in love with one of them.

MAGGIE NEELY - a young girl trying to find her brother Miles when she is kidnapped by his girlfriend and made a slave in a Night World kingdom cut off from the rest of the world. Escaping with three other slaves into the wilderness, she is chased by two bloodthirsty shapeshifters, mets a Night World Prince, is identified as the Deliverer - liberator of the slaves, and uncovers a conspiracy in the castle Black Dawn.

DELOS REDFERN - the second discovered Wild Power, with a powerful blue magic in his blood which will one day be needed to safe the world. He struggles to find out who he can trust and which side to be on - his great, great grandfather Hunter who is speaking his language (the survival of the fittest, kill or be killed) or the human Maggie who tries to teach him that ALL human beings are worth something, and all have the right to live.

SYLVIA WEALD - a spellcaster excluded from the witch circles because she does not bear the 'Hearth-Woman' name. She has grown bitter and joined forces with Hunter Redfern, against her former sisters, and uses her magic as she pleases. When she decided to bring her boyfriend Miles into the Night World she unintentially got Maggie involved, and is the reason Maggie is in the Dark Kingdom in the first place.

JEANNE McCARTNEY - a slave who escaped but was re-captured and tortured. When she makes her next bid for freedom she comes across Maggie, whom she has never seen the likes of before. She desparatly wants to escape, and knows her best chance is to abandon the others, but something compels her to help out...and keep helping out until she finds herself about to be hunted down by a mob of Night People.

HUNTER REDFERN - the powerful vampire lord who has only recently discovered the kingdom of his great, great grandson and is eager for himself to exercise his dominance over the young prince, close down the kingdom, kill the slaves, and prepare for the coming apocalypse.

ARADIA - the Maiden of all the Witches who was travelling to the Dark Kingdom as a diplomat, attempting to sway Delos to join Circle Daybreak. But when she is found and kidnapped by Sylvia, she is quickly transported to the kingdom in the back of a slave cart instead. Destined to face Hunter, she escapes with the help of Maggie who thinks she is merely a human girl called 'Cady'. However, she becomes very ill, and the human healer-slaves aren't that keen on helping a witch.

MILES NEELY - Maggie's brother and the object of her search. Sylvia claims he was killed while mountain climbing, but Maggie isn't convinced. But then where is he? No one in the Dark Kingdom seem to have seen him.

P.J. PENOBSCOT - a nine year old girl who was captured by slave traders on Halloween when trick-or-treating with her friend Aaron, and thrown together with Maggie, Jeanne and Cady.

GAVIN and BERN - Sylvia's lackeys, slave-traders and shapeshifters, they hunt the escaped girls through the Dark Kingdom. But one of them may just have a clue as to what's happened to Miles.

THE SLAVES: LAUNDRESS, SOAKER, FOLDER, FALCONER, CURRIER, OLD MENDER, SWEEPER, CHAMBER-POT EMPTIER - live their barren lives with as much dignity as they can muster, till the day 'The Deliverer' comes - one who is clothed in flowers, shod in blue and scarlet and speaks of freedom. But is Maggie in her pyjama top and mismatched socks really their saviour?

Black Dawn: Good Points
-a strong, well-developed heroine in Maggie
-multiple, detailed plot lines on varying scales
-an array of interesting, unique characters

Black Dawn: Bad Points
-the time-travelling dream doesn't quite make sense
-the whole concept of a castle in the mountains is a bit unbelievable
-the first few chapters are quite rushed, and the sequence of chapters on Sylvia's apartment, Maggie's dream and her waking up in the slave cart leave us as confused and disorientated as Maggie was.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting book, January 22, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Black Dawn Night World (Paperback)

~for those of you that do not know what this book is about here it is: this girl maggie's brother dissapears, his girl friend reports his death and maggie has suspisions about this strange girl. the night of her brother's reported death she follows this girl home to find out what really happend to her brother. next thing she wakes up and finds herself in this cart being halled to this dark kingdom, she meete 3 girls who are in the cart and with them she tries to escape. one of these girls is an escaped slave and tells her of the horors of the dark kingdom and that it is ruled by the strange, and deadly delos. this book to me was the best one of the night world series. it was so interresting like all her other books. i was 0nly one third into the book when i just couldn't stop reading it. i read it from about 2-12 am (I am such a slow reder).my favorite part in this book was on page 90, it was so funny and sweet to.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Lot, April 7, 2002

By 

R. M. Fisher "Raye" (New Zealand = Middle Earth!) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Black Dawn Night World (Paperback)

In my opinion, this is the best book in the Night World series and it's all because of a detailed, layered plot, and Maggie Neely. L.J. Smith finally gives us a heroine who is brave and heroic, but also a *real* person. All her other heroines are grouped into three catagories - the tough girls (Rashel, Jez and Keller) who don't really have much personality and are magically cured of their pessimissim at the end of the books; the wise, docile, tree-hugging girls (Hannah, Mary-Lynette and Thea) who are the standard damsels in distress, and the downright irritating girls (Poppy and Gillian) who flounce around without any idea of what their doing. But Maggie is a successful break-away from these stero-types, simply because she is a mix of all three - she is strong, determined and willing to put up a good fight (thus her nickname Steely Neely), kind and compassionate, as we see when she refuses to abandon 'Cady' but still is realistically unsure and scared when it comes to some of the decisions she has to make. All this makes her a realistic and enjoyable heroine, someone to relate to, as well as someone to admire.
The second thing that makes this the best book is the number of sub-plots and characters that are ultimately all linked. Within the Night World there is a kingdom in the mountains called the Dark Kingdom where Night People reside, served by human slaves, and relatively un-touched by the outside world. They are so un-touched that they are all still living in a castle known as Black Dawn, and have their own monarchy (L.J. obviously wanted to go medievial). But this kingdom is soon to be over-run by many different characters, each with their own adjendas. Delos the Prince, is the second Wild Power, and struggling to know who he can trust, and what he should use his power for. Hunter Redfern has just found the kingdom, and eagar to exercise dominance over his great grandson in a subtle but cruel mind-game. Jeanne McCartney and P.J. Penobscot are two young slaves, desparate to escape captivity, and Aradia, the Maiden of all the Witches is on a diplomatic mission to the kingdom when disaster strikes. Maggie herself, is brought to the kingdom against her will by her brother's girlfriend, Sylvia Weald who claims her brother Miles is dead. Maggie doesn't believe her, and is desparately searching for him, but before she can get far, she is kidnapped by the Night People. All of these plotlines are weaved up, along with the elements of political upheaval in the Night World when the witches leave the Joint Council, a prophesy concerning Maggie as the Deliverer of the slaves, and the impending battle between the forces of good and evil.
Black Dawn leaves the rest of the Night World books in the dust, so make sure you read this one!