Customer Reviews

In the Blood

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wow, this installment was fantastic! Heather and Dante reconnect and their bond is stronger than ever! There was a lot going on but everything tied into each other nicely. Turns out, Dante's childhood programming and abuse go all the way to the top. Many people have seen the dvd footage of how Dante "unmade" Joanna Moore in the last book. Several people are now pursuing him for their own devious needs. In the middle of all this, The FBI has decided to capture and study Heather for proof of the healing Dante had performed on her, without using his Nightkind blood. Slowly Dante's fragile mental state is unraveling and he is quickly reaching his breaking point. Heather seems to be the one constant that can calm and focus him. We finally get to meet Annie, Heather's troubled sister. We also learn more about Heather's parents and the death of her mom. The Fallen have captured Lucien and are aware that there is a new Maker on earth. Their goal for the Maker seems to be similar to the humans; captivity, use and torture. Dante's mental wall of pain and confusion seems to be crumbling and he is learning more about his past and those who were party to his programming. I won't go into too much more detail, but suffice it to say, Dante finally get's a chance to wield some revenge. Adrian did a nice job of weaving the different sides of the story into each other. I highly recommend this book and series. I also look forward to the next book Beneath the Skin.

I also recommend:
Nightwalker (Dark Days, Book 1)
Dead Reign
At Grave's End (Night Huntress, Book 3)
Staked (Void City, Book 1)
Magic to the Bone

Even though I love the main characters, this book wasn't nearly as well written as the first and the character development was a little shabby.

For one, I thought there were too many different character point of views that weren't really needed. Plus, a lot of the characters introduced weren't offered any sort of explanation and I got a little confused at times with the way the author kept switching from first, last and whole names. It was quite annoying.

I also didn't like the way the book didn't really solve any of the main issues. It felt like the dreaded middle book a lot of trilogies have. None of the questions about Wallace's mother were answered and left us with the huge cliff hanger regarding Lucien and the other fallen.

I find it almost disrespectful when an author leaves so many loose ties. As long as the writing is good and the story line interesting, I will keep reading. I don't need to be strung along and that's how I feel when I think about this book.

That being said, I will definitely give the next book a shot and hopefully won't be too disappointed.

Heather was determined to keep her nose down and act like she didn't know anything she shouldn't, but the bureau didn't buy it and she was placed at the top of the hit list along with Dante. When Dante comes to Seattle on tour and the two meet, things get a little hairy as they constantly get targeted. An unlikely suspect also is plotting to get a hold of Dante for their own agenda, perhaps the worst one yet. It's becoming harder and hard to discern friend from foe, and Dante and Heather must stick together if they are going to have any chance at survival


I knew that Heather and Dante wouldn't be able to stay away from each other for very long. The attraction between them is incredible, and whether either one of them realizes it or not, they both are falling head over heels in love. It amuses me how blind they both are, but I think in the end they will wind up together. It's is just going to take some determination on their part to stick together in spite of everyone else seeming to plot against them.


It was pretty hard to keep track of who was who, and whose side each person was on, especially with the constant shifting of perspectives. There were so many different angles going on that at some point I just resolved myself to assume everyone but a very select few are out to get them. It was a little easier that way because they all seemed to have their own secret objectives and reasons for wanting Dante and/or Heather. By the end of the book it was a little bit more clear who was who, but even then it was still a little confusing.


All in all I enjoyed the book, even more so once I stopped trying to remember what each opposing person's agenda was. Hopefully things will become a little more clear in the next book as the factions against the two of them show themselves. I also hope the point of view will not switch around quite as much, as that will really lessen a lot of the confusion as well. I really love the main characters, and I hope to see more of them together in the next book.

Actually 3.5 stars. I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I'm a bit tired of French vampires, (can't we have Italian or Russian ones?) but I liked Dante and he was certainly a tortured enough hero. I liked the world building and the spin on the Elohim and Yahweh. And I really liked Dante, brutally trained to be psychotic, and struggling to be decent. Heather, the FBI agent tracking down the CCK serial killer, who crosses paths with Dante, was also a bit deeper and more interesting than most heroines. All in all a satisfying book, with lots of twists and turns (though Heather flying all on her lonesome to the mad woman's work place was a bit like the heroine going alone into the basement, but it all worked out ok in the end...) and I immediately looked for the sequel. A bit of sex/romance but the thriller/world building aspect was given more time and attention.

In New Orleans, vampire rock star Dante Baptiste used his music to save the life of FBI agent Heather Wallace (see A RUSH OF WINGS). However soon afterward, the Nightkind rocker learns a shocker about his origins. Besides being a True Blood born vampire, his father is Lucien a fallen angel.

Lucien DeNoir realizes his Fallen brethren probably heard the song played by his son and his band when he saved the Fed; and like him they also realize a new creawdwr was born. His theory proves right as the Fallen ones meet in Gehenna, believing their savior has arrived. Lucien knows who the Fallen believe the savior is and is willing to die to keep that person safe from his peers.

In Seattle, Dante and his band the Inferno are performing. Heather, who realizes her beloved FBI is corrupt and evil, is also in town. In the meantime a deep covert government agency wants to kill Dante and Heather as part of their plan to eliminate anyone associated with Project Bad Seed while someone else plans to use the rocker with his feet in two realms as an expendable pawn for avenging a seemingly eternal affront.

IN THE BLOOD continues the saga of Dante and Heather and though they have left the south for the northwest, the atmosphere remains dark and gloomy. Betrayal is the norm as the lead pair learns no one has your back because everyone has an agenda whether they are Fallen, Nightkind, Feds, or others. With multiple layers involving various support groups focused mostly on the brooding Dante, he and Heather struggles to survive in Adrian Phoenix's extremely complex well written urban fantasy world.

Harriet Klausner

True Blood Nightkind Dante Baptiste is not just a rock star, born vampire. He's the progeny of a vampire mother and a Fallen angel father. Beset with debilitating seizures and headaches, he aches to know his origins and the truth behind his seemingly unreachable pain. Dante's past is shrouded in secrets, even from his own memories. In his youth, he was part of a malevolent, government experiment called Bad Seed. Now, he's been selected for elimination, as has Heather, his friend, ally, and lover.

Heather Wallace is an FBI agent whose eyes have been opened to the world around her--to the existence and presence of immortal beings, to the corruption within the Bureau and to the frailty of the mind. Pushed away from Dante in the past, she can't help but be drawn back to the darkly intense, seductively passionate vampire when he arrives on her home turf during Dante's band Inferno's concert tour.

Ever vigilant, Dante and Heather battle the forces around them, those mortal and those supernatural. Not only do they fight for their lives from Shadow Branch assassins, but they fight to avoid becoming ensnared in plots to use the brilliant light that shines forth from the darkness within Dante's very soul.

Adrian Phoenix's second novel, In The Blood picks up where A Rush Of Wings left off, chronicling the journeys of Heather Wallace and Dante Baptiste. An absolutely amazing read, this series, with its non-stop action, richly complex characters and multi-dimensional world-building, is fast becoming one of my favorites of all time.

Heather is a heroine any woman would choose to emulate. She's intelligent, street smart and passionate, without appearing two-dimensional. Darkly mysterious, fiercely loyal and seductively magnetic, Dante is hero to root for from the very first page. With roller coaster action scenes and enemies at every turn, In The Blood is a gut-wrenching thrill ride sure to engross even the most discerning reader. But be warned: don't read this series unless you're prepared to read them all. They're rather addicting!

Courtesy of Fallen Angel Reviews ([...])

FBI Agent Heather Wallace knew that the events in D.C. hadn't been a victory for the home team. Not fully, anyway. She returned to Seattle, leaving Dante in New Orleans, both to give herself time to come to terms with the massive paradigm shift she went through when her hunt for the serial killer known as CCK dropped her into a dark world of vampires, fallen angels, mad scientists, and government conspiracy, and to try to protect Dante as much as she could through controlling the information the Bureau had on him. Okay, and to try to do some damage control on her career, too. But the Powers That Be aren't nearly done with Heather yet, and her superiors give her an ultimatum that lets her know just how precarious her position...and her life...really is.

And those are just the PTBs she knows. There are others. Darker. More dangerous. And they're the ones that don't want to control Heather...they want to control Dante. They want Heather dead.

Dante's band is on tour, heading to Seattle. Despite his worsening health and shattered psyche, the nightkind goth rocker is intent on safeguarding Heather. Suffering seizures, riddled with pain and barely holding on, he's heavily self medicating as his friends and fellow band members keep a wary eye on him. No sooner does he reconnect with Heather than their world is once again rocked with intrigue and danger. Dark shadow agencies are out to kill them, freaks of nature are out to kidnap them, and more than one very powerful supernatural force is searching, endlessly searching for him.

A flawed and broken Dante and world-weary Heather are once again at the center of a storm powerful enough to scour the earth...or unmake it.

The dark saga of True Blood nightkind and Fallen creawdwr Dante Baptiste and the FBI agent who loves him, Heather Wallace, continues in this second installment of The Maker's Song series. Slightly less gory and disturbing than its predecessor, In the Blood is just as complex and layered, grim and disturbing as the first, but it doesn't have quite the same level of sick, sadistic trauma that E brought along with him in A Rush of Wings. Oh, it definitely has some, as Dante's past is just about as sadistic and twisted as it gets, but fortunately the glimpses readers are afforded of Dante's childhood come in fractured, brutal little pieces that are easier for me to deal with than E's over-the-top sexual sadist butchery. At least in part.

There's no shortage of story here, but in that regard this book slightly edges out the first, because while there are plenty of layers to the plot, much complexity to the characters, and a plethora of conflicting agendas attacking from every side with each party of bad guys working dangerous and quick-changing angles, there's a slightly neater trail through that wild, ravaging forest than existed in A Rush of Wings. This book isn't quite as chaotic, didn't get quite so heavy laden with over-telling, and offered up a few moments of hope that the first book totally lacked.

There sure are a lot of different faces of corruption and evil in this series, though. If the Bureau and the SB aren't enough, there's the morally bankrupt Dr. Wells, who definitely won't be winning any Father of the Year awards in this millennium, and don't even get me started on the Elohim, who have just as many agendas and grimy graspers of power as you would expect any group of Fallen angels to have. Poor Dante really is the quintessential superstar - everyone on this planet and beyond want a piece of him, no matter how thoroughly it will destroy him. His story is tragic, heartbreaking, nauseating, and just plain sad.

In fact, that's starting to be one of the drawbacks of this series for me. Two books in and so much horror has been heaped onto Dante's plate, so much agony, misery, and treachery, that it's more than a little depressing. You can't like him as a character without wanting him to triumph in this, and honestly, I'm just not seeing enough glimpses of hope and happiness, tremulous as they may be, on this spiral into the hellish infernos of Phoenix's imagination.

I thoroughly respect Phoenix's talents. She's created such a flawed and broken protagonist and I can't help but root for him. Heather didn't do much for me in the first book, but in this one I really started to enjoy her spirit and appreciate her dedication to Dante - I just hope that dedication doesn't wane and that he doesn't have to suffer one more loss in his painfully short but horrifying life. He keeps pushing her away, but so obviously needs her. Wants so desperately to keep her safe, and knows that he's her biggest threat. It's all so Shakespearean.

I'm becoming quite fond of the llygad Von, who we met in the first book but really took on a distinct personality of his own in this one, and Cortini shows a lot of promise for a cold blooded executioner. They are both welcome additions to the story and added some nice depth to the good guy column...though as has been quite clear since the beginning of the series, "good" is relative. I was disappointed in Lucien's storyline, though. I can't seem to warm up to the Elohim contingent as story conflict fodder, and find their agendas and mythology often seem discordant when paired with the governmental and medical meddlers. I wish that planar aspect of the baddies had been dealt with first before the dark Aingeals had their part to play. And if wishes were fishes...

Adrian Phoenix has created a terrifying world with this series, a world on the brink of annihilation, when the big picture gets closely examined, and she's not above putting her main characters through debilitating misery. I have to be honest...that scares me. I have no idea if there will be a happy ending in this series, or even how I would define "happy" after two books of bleak hopelessness and a well told, if heartbreaking story. Because the series is so unique and the path so winding as I've read to this point, I'm really wondering how this is all going to turn out, but I'm almost afraid to read it and see. I said in my review of the first book that I like dark tales, and I do. But I'm starting to realize just how much I need at least a little lightness mixed in with it, and I favor an ultimate happy ending. I just don't know if I'm going to get that here. It may be a while before I pick up the next book in the series, though I do intend on doing so. And frankly, I'm not sure I'm comfortable with what that says about me...on any level.

~*~*~*~
Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.

The Story
Dante and his band are off on a west coast tour. Dante's headaches and seizures are getting worse. Lucien knows why, and tries to help Dante, but D is so hurt over Lucien withholding he is his dad he refuses. Dante is a true blood vampire and fallen angel child. He is a maker, an angelic creator. The place where the angels reside is dying due to lack of a maker, they catch Lucien and torture him in hopes of finding Dante. Von is by Dante's side protecting him throughout the book, concerned at Lucien's absence. Heather is running into walls at her work, being threatened to give up Dante as well. There are malicious people at work again, part of the mysterious Shadow Branch and part of Project Bad Seed. Heather and Dante reunite and are inseparable in their quest to find the truth and protect eachother.

Thoughts
I thought this one was just as good as the first, although the mystery/intrigue/malicious players are all stepped up in this second addition. The end is open ended leaving me craving the third in the series. The pace is fast. The plots are weaved together quite well. There are several players POV's- Heathers, Von, Dante, Lucien, FBI, SB and Bad seed people. There were enough of my characters of interest - Heather, von, Lucien and dante to keep me interested and stuck. There is enough positive to counter act the negative for me. I can't stand when books are all negative. Now that the angels are closer to Dante.... I can't see how this plot is goin to work out favorably for Dante, but we'll see. This is a well written urban fantasy book. I can't get enough of Dante and Heather, they are fascinating to me.

I think I'm going to be very brief in this review because the story, the characters and the plot can be described in just three words: Amazing, terrific and brilliant. Are you still reading this review? Don't! Just buy the series and sit tight in your comfortable sofa. You won't regret it!

A quest as seductive as his kiss, as uncontrollable as his thirst, as
unforgiving as his determination to protect one mortal woman at any cost . . .
Vampire. Rock star. Begotten son of a fallen angel. Dante Baptiste continues
to search for the truth about his past. When his band Inferno comes to
Seattle on tour, FBI Special Agent Heather Wallace is drawn back to the
beautiful, dangerous nightkind. But new enemies lurk in the shadows, closer
than Heather and Dante think . . . and even deadlier than they fear.
Shady government forces have pledged to eliminate all loose ends from
Project Bad Seed--and Heather and Dante are at the top of the list.
Elsewhere, the Fallen gather in Gehenna, intent on finding their long-awaited
savior. And a damaged and desperate adversary, with powers as strange
and perilous as Dante's own, plots to use Dante as a pawn in a violent
scheme for revenge. Only one of these lethal forces holds the key that could
finally unlock the secret of Dante's birth and the truth of his existence . . . or
destroy him completely.
Heather is trying to find her mother's killer , and take care of her sister who is bipolar like their mother was. Then Dante comes back to her, Drawn back to her, unable to stay away. Once they meet back up the trouble starts with everyone who is looking for Dante coming for them all at once they have to stick together to make it out of this alive .
I am totally falling in love with Dante he is just soo powerful sexy, tortured and downright dangerous.. I loved this one, soo much action. Von is great he has such a big heart and loves Dante soo much and is willing to lay down his life for him. Annie is spoiled and self centered and stupid I have not found much love for her yet. Heather is so strong and stubborn. She is not willing to let anyone get Dante and if they do she will be right there to save him. She is his rock and they both are falling hard for each other.