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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
More Mayan Magic. Dawnkeepers immerses us back in Andersen's incredibly detailed Nightkeeper world, January 9, 2009
Well I certainly got my money's worth with Dawnkeepers, Jessica Andersen's second installment in her Nightkeeper Mayan 2012 end of the world series. With 455 pages (of small print too) this one kept me out of mischief for a good long time.
The romantic leads in Dawnkeepers are Alexis, who was raised on Nightkeeper lore and who embraces her destiny and all the promises of prestige and power that come with it, and Nate, who grew up with no family, not belonging anywhere or to anyone and who has no intention of giving up his freedom and submitting to the notion of destiny. Alexis and Nate hooked up last book during the heightened sensual needs that resulted from their Nightkeeper initiation ceremony, but despite a mystic connection between them - Nate is in Alexis' dreams and Alexis is the spitting image of a video game character Nate created years before meeting her - Nate has rejected Alexis because he won't accept that the gods have chosen her as his mate.
Though there is a romance here, it is not as much the focus of the story as the one between Nightkeeper King Strike and his former Police detective mate Leah in the first book. Nate and Alexis' thread is but one of several, we also follow: the half-blood eighteen year old Rabbit as he begins to discover more facets of his power, Strike's seeress sister Anna as she is pulled from the normal life she desperately wants back into the Nightkeeper fray, and Anna's graduate assistant Lucius who is tainted by the evil magic born of his unquenchable curiosity and need to prove that Nightkeepers are not just legends.
I have to admit that I was actually glad the story wasn't just about Nate and Alexis, they are both pretty annoying for the first third of the book. At the start, Nate is a real jerk and Alexis is very needy and focused on the superficial trappings. Thankfully both of the pair actually do some real growing up in the course of the story - Alexis learns to stand on her own and gains her own power, and Nate learns how to be part of something bigger than himself - so despite some poignant moments when all seems lost, everything works out the way it should for the pair.
There was plenty going on in this book beyond Nate and Alexis quest for a happily ever after. More pieces of the end of time prophecy come into play in the form of magic artifacts that the Nightkeepers are desperately trying to obtain, though they are foiled at every step by a new enemy, powerful magi belonging to a legendary evil offshoot of the Nightkeepers. So overall I still enjoyed the story even with a few little side nits that bothered me: Strike's whole bug up his you-know-where about humans knowing about the Nightkeeper home base Skywatch when - hello- the enemies know the location, and Anna's keeping secrets and lying to her husband - a betrayal not on the same order as his affair - both irked me a bit for some reason. But nothing major enough to keep this from being an interesting read. And as in the previous book, Andersen uses her ponderous amounts of research - you have to check out the references on her website to believe how much - to bring elaborate detail to every aspect of the story, from settings to history to rituals to the creatures that the Nighkeepers must battle to keep doomsday from coming even sooner than prophesized.
I am so looking forward to more of Rabbit and I'm hoping that poor Lucius - both possessed and enslaved - catches a break when the series continues with Skykeepers (Final Prophecy, Book 3) in June.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dawnkeepers-A Joyfully Recommended Title!!, January 26, 2009
Nate Blackhawk doesn't believe in prophecy or destiny. Only believing in the tangible, he is having a hard time grasping the fact that he is in charge of helping save the entire human race from evil once the Mayan clock counts down. A computer programmer and games designer, Nate grew up alone without anyone to teach him the legend of the Nightkeepers and the task which they have been given. He is also having a hard time keeping Alexis Gray at arm's length. While he desires her, he knows that their passion for each other is not the result of destiny but hormones. Nate soon learns differently.
Alexis Gray has grown up learning about the Mayan prophecy and the role she is to play in the end of times. Believing in the Nightkeepers, Alexis desires to be one of the best fighters they have. She was born to this destiny and nothing is going to stand in her way of fulfilling the prophecy handed to her. Not even Nate Blackhawk, no matter how much she desires him.
Loving every single word of this highly intelligent and action filled world, I settled in for a nice long read. At 455 pages, Dawnkeepers is not a quick read, but it is an amazing one. When Alexis and Nate first got together in Nightkeepers, I knew these two enigmatic characters were meant for each other. Nate fights his attraction every step of the way - just like a man - and Alexis is leery but unable to deny what her heart feels. Add in the new status given to her by the gods and Nate was putty in her hands. Their primitive passion and lust filled escapades were hot yet tender.
A strong follow-up to Nightkeepers, Dawnkeepers kept me glued to the pages of this magnificent book. Terrific world building skills aside, Jessica Andersen is just a fabulous story teller. She makes me feel as if I am right there. I joyfully recommend Dawnkeepers! Lovers of paranormal romance and urban fantasy will adore this book! I know I did!
Talia
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dawnkeepers, January 7, 2009
I enjoyed the first book in the series Nightkeepers. Jessica Andersen does a wonderful job at creating a brand new series that has not been done. These Magi aren't like your typical vampire/werewolf/paranormal genre. Instead Andersen creates a new world, one that was foretold to end on 2012 just three years from now.
Her characters are unforgettable. A bad mouthed king who doesn't want the title, his mate a half Godkeeper full blooded human who he was supposed to sacrifice, a Nightkeeper who is in-love with his own pixel perfect video game goddess (though when the real version steps into his life he turns tail and runs) and a lost girl who is only looking to prove she does belong as well as fill her mothers shoes.
These characters are far from perfect and absolutely brilliant in their interactions. Nate Blackhawk and Alexis were destined to be mates, the readers see this from the first book, however Nate doesn't believe in fate and destiny while Alexis is fighting tooth and nail to make hers a reality. Somehow Alexis is chosen to be a Godkeeper to the Mayan goddess of rainbows and fertility. Which begs the question of how rainbows will fight the Makols and alter-Nightkeepers (who are very powerful but very evil)
As the Nightkeepers race against time to find artifacts containing the Mayan starscript, Alexis is trying to take her mother's place as an advisor to a king. A king who's subjects' are basically fighting blind, with hole filled knowledge. The characters grow in this book and the ending is elusive yet perfect for the series. I can't wait to read more from her. Definitely not your typical sci-fi paranormal author.
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