Customer Reviews

Edge of Twilight

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

In the previous Twilight book, Embrace the Twilight, we saw Jameson and Angelica's daughter Amber as an eighteen-year-old. This, the direct sequel to that book and which ties up the loose threads which Shayne left dangling, sees her in her early twenties. She's still not-quite-human, not-quite-vampire, but changed in strange ways since her kidnap and torture by Frank Stiles, the remaining DPI agent and vampire hunter.

But Stiles' quest has now changed: he wants immortality, and he believes that Amber - or more specifically her blood - can give it to him.

Then Amber discovers that Will Stone - one of the loose ends from Embrace the Twilight: Will is Sarafina's partner, but he's mortal and cannot even become a vampire, so what future does their relationship have? - has cancer and doesn't have long to live. The vampires work out that Stiles has managed to create some sort of formula, using Amber's blood, which seems to be able to cheat death, at least temporarily: is it possible that this could help Will? But for that they need to find Stiles and get the formula from him. Not easy.

Amber, on her way to be with Will and Sarafina, runs into a wild-looking vampire - literally. She knocks him down with her car. Edge, a 50-something-year-old vampire, has been tracking Amber because she, he knows, can lead him to Stiles - and he has his own reasons for wanting to meet Stiles again. Years earlier, Stiles brutally murdered Edge's companions, several teenage vampires, and Edge wants revenge.

He's sworn never to love again. He believes that he isn't capable of it - and that he can simply use anyone he needs to without a shred of remorse. And so he plans to use Amber - and, if necessary, he will seduce her to gain her trust and compliance.

But it's never as simple as that, as Edge discovers once he and Amber have made love...

There are lots of other threads in this book, such as Edge's `creator' - who abandoned him at the instant of his creation - being Dominic O'Roarke; Dominic arriving and meeting Dante for the first time since their separation a couple of hundred years ago; the question of Will's illness, and so on. We also meet characters from most of Shayne's other books, a principal exception being Damien, unfortunately.

Can Stiles be found? Will he give up his secret formula? Can he finally be killed and will he stay dead? Does Will live? And can a vampire ever make a woman pregnant? Read the book and find out!

One little niggle: at one point, Amber reflects that part of the reason why she's so strong is that the blood of several vampires, including some very old ones (Rhiannon in particular) is in her veins, as a result of their blood combining to make Jameson a vampire. But Amber was conceived months before Jameson was transformed, so this simply can't be the case.

wmr-uk

Can you say magnificent? Well you certainly can't say anything negative about this novel because "Edge of Twilight" is certainly beyond compare.

"Edge of Twilight" is one of most entertaining novels Maggie Shayne has written to date and in my opinion it is simply the best of the "Twilight" series and I should know as I've read every last one of them.

This second installment of Amber Lily's life "the Child of Promise", the child born to two vampires who is born not a vampire but not a mortal either has it all, from drama to humor, from love to hate, from mistrust to trust. Once you begin this adventure into the "Twilight" you will find can't stop reading until you've just reached the last page and still find yourself wanting more.

Amber Lily has supernatural powers like no other and she's still discovering new things that she can achieve. To date she can't be killed by any known methods and that is something our old friend Frank Stiles former "DPI" secret government agent wants to obtain for himself. Frank Stiles hates all vampires and attempts to destroy them by any means possible but he craves the one thing they have "immortality" and once again he's after the "Child of Promise" but what he doesn't know is that he is also being hunted by "Child of Promise" for the same reasons.

Amber Lily is on a mission to find a cure for a friend who has been diagnosed with cancer and along the way she meets the man of her dreams, I mean literally the man of her dreams. Can she trust him? No. But Amber Lily follows her heart not her head and by doing so she ends up with the love of lifetime.

And, although Edge has his own agenda (revenge), upon his first sighting of Amber Lily his quest changes along the way and becomes twofold, love/family or revenge/a lifetime of loneliness. Which will he choose? You might be surprised but read this novel as it is certainly bound to go down in history as one of the greatest vampire love stories of all time.

I admit I enjoyed this book for the most part. Particularly the hero, Edge. I enjoyed the character since I first saw him years ago when he went by the name Spike (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer). The similairities between Edge and Spike are amazing, bleach blonde hair, razor sharp cheekbones, a resemblance to Billy Idol with a bad boy persona hiding a loving, passionate vamp. There were also some similarities between the heroine, Amber and another well known, not quite normal girl with a hankering for undead hotties, Buffy. So while I would still recommend this book to anyone looking for a fun, vampire romance, there are better stories using these characters in some of the Buffy fanfic sights. For Free. Better yet, check out The Buffy DVDs, there you can see Spike all his hot, snarky, undead glory.

First let me suggest that you read the rest of the Wings of the Night series before tackling this book. You'll appreciate the characters more and understand the plot better. I just loved this book. Not only was it exciting and sensual, it tied up most of the loose ends that had been hanging on from prior books and it brought all the characters back together like a great reunion. I loved Edge, thought Amber was terrific and her family one of the best vampire groups, neck and neck with Christine Feehan's Dark series. Best of all Maggie Shayne has left us with the possibility that this series may continue and that we will get another chance to reunite with this unusual vampire family.

I have read many series that deal with vampires and the twilight series is simply not my favorite of series. Not even close. I find it somewhat irritating when the vampires strut around saying how they will tear the enemies apart or "eat" them and on the next page, they are captured very very easily. Yet, they don't learn their lesson! As soon as they get free, they are once again rough and tough. It is like they aren't aware of their own limitations. You would think I wouldn't give the series a chance...but I have read all of them so far up to this book.

I will say this much to the author...The books have steadily become more entertaining and enjoyable, even though the vampires are still acting rough and tough. (Get over it already!) Shayne did a wonderful job on this book. Better story lines in regards to the character Amber Lily and Willem in the previous book. I will look forward to finding out what will be happening with JW and Bridget. I would recommend anyone to read this book. Just read Embrace the Twilight first. I wouldn't recommend any of the others. Don't even worry about not reading about Amber Lily's parents. Those two books will catch you up to where you need to be. The other books are mediocre at best.

Amber Lily is a truly unique person; the first child of a two vampires ever born. Though apparently human, she is something more. She is the key to immortality for mere mortals, or so believes Frank Stiles. Because Stiles wants Amber Lily, Edge, a vampire, is also drawn to her. Stiles killed his closest friends; but when Edge meets Amber, he knows that she is more than just the enemy of his enemy. Almost magical is the passion between them, and it has unexpected results that make Amber Lily an even greater prize.

Stiles does manage to capture the young woman, but not for long. When she escapes, he becomes a target himself. What human can hope to stand against the arrayed power of all the vampires in the Twilight Universe?

**** As the series takes a new direction, this volume starts off a little slow, but rapidly picks up speed. The vampire legend has dimensions added to it that logically arise from past volumes. Familiarity with the past books in the series will be extremely helpful, but the fast paced action is not dependent upon knowledge of them. A heart warming finish wraps things up nicely. ****
Amanda Killgore

I love Maggie Shayne's Twilight series with her honorable heroes. However, it was a lot of fun to have the sarcastic, irreverent, unabashedly self-interested, unapologetically lusty Edge thrown into the mix. Edge's personality clashes with Amber Lily's extended and powerful family, who hate him on sight, and it made for a certain amount of fun.

Edge's lack of resemblance to Maggie Shayne's other characters may be because he is strongly influenced by Joss Whedon's Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. You could think of it as Twilight Series/Buffy crossover fanfiction. I strongly recommend that people check out Spike as well.

I gave it four stars instead five because, well, the writing is rather atrocious. But if you can laugh off the campy plot turns, like babies talking to their parents from the womb as their teenage selves, the sexual tension and vampire romance is perfectly good, especially for people who like bad boy, biting, pregnancy, and deflowerment stories. It's a keeper for me, some of my favorite Spike fanfiction. :)

In 1959, Edge being the oldest and most experienced of the Gang of Five serves as a surrogate farther to his four fledglings. The youngest returns home to tell them how she drank blood from some stud that peed in his pants before she took his Rolex and wallet. Edge leaves to locate one of his children who failed to return home. When he comes back alone, he finds his four vampire children dead and the watch missing. Edge vows to kill Frank Stiles, the man who peed in his pants.

Forty years later Edge still hunts down Frank though he previously killed this hated human. He learns that Frank comes back to life due to something involving the "Child of Promise" that Frank once held prisoner. Edge believes that this "Child", the only known half human and half vampire in existence can lead him to Frank. When the legendary "child" Amber Lily travels to assist a human friend dying from cancer, she runs into Edge. As they become acquainted they fall in love though she knows he is using her. Neither understands that their agendas match, as she needs Frank who used his experiments on her to learn how to cheat death.

EDGE OF TWILIGHT is an engaging vampire romance starring two exceptional protagonists. The support cast is a delight as each one wants to keep Amber safe in a cocoon and none including the heroine trusts Edge. Though the timeline seems inexplicable as to why Edge failed to kill Frank in the first three decades plus after the fledgling murders occurred and before he kidnapped Amber, fans will appreciate this engrossing supernatural romantic suspense.

Harriet Klausner

Edge is a vampire who lost it all when young mortal Frank Stiles (a reoccuring villian in the series) walked into his life and kills his vampiric family. For the last 40 years Edge has been seeking revenge for their deaths...killed him a few times too...only he just doesn't stay dead.

He learns that Frank Stiles has interest in a young woman named Amber Lilly Bryant. The rumored Child of Promise. He is determined to find this woman and use her as bait to draw Stiles out. And he would feel good about his plan too, if he wasn't being drawn to her like a siren...

I am a fan so I really dug this book. For true understanding and enjoyment, however, I think you need to start at the beginning of the series...it's worth it and it makes this read so much better because you are intimately aquainted with the supporting characters.

I liked Edge although it was hard not to envision "Spike" from the Buffy series. He doesn't do it for me so I kept telling myself "Ryan Phillipe" and "Billy Idol"...that helped some. Amber Lilly is a reoccuring character from other stories as an infant then as a young woman. She is the daughter of a vampire and a mortal...her parents story is worth reading as well (At Twilight).

Why not 5 stars? Well parts were very sitcom TV showish and I like my books to be a bit more darker and introspective.

Almost every woman is attracted to the bad-boy image. Edge personifies that bad-boy, take-it-or-leave-it attitude. Very sexy. Edge wasn't always bad. When he was newly formed he was the leader of a gang of abandoned newly-formed vampires, mostly kids (one was transformed at only 12). They all turn to Edge for guidance. One night, one of the gang does not return, so Edge goes out to find him. When he returns empty handed, it is to find all the fledglings brutally murdered. He cuts down the bodies, cleans them, and burns their home. Then pledges to revenge his love ones no matter what, no matter how ruthless he has to become.

The person he hunts is Stiles. He had already captured him twice before and killed him, only to watch Stiles walk away from death. Obviously Stiles has found a way to beat death. After treateningly questioning several of Stiles old co-workers, assistances, etc., he discovers that Amber Lily is the key. Stiles obviously found a way to eternal life after experiments done on Amber Lily. Therefore, if he finds a way to destroy Amber Lily, then he will have a way to destroy Stiles.

Of course, he wasn't expecting her to be so innocent or attractive.