Customer Reviews

Gideon (The Nightwalkers, Book 2)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

The oldest of the old, Gideon has taken his place on the Demon Council. Making the never ending battle between the Demons and the necromancers his own, Gideon is overwhelmed and surprised at how close the hostilities threaten the very existence of someone near and dear to him, a person that Gideon has spent centuries trying to resist; Magdelegna.

Magdelegna has been restless since her near fatal Summoning months past. At odds with her life and unsure of her place in the world, she allows Gideon, a Body Demon healer to scan her. What he finds changes both their lives. Though her future is hazy and unclear, Legna is very sure of one thing; the unbridled emotion she has always felt for Gideon is not something she is willing to ignore any longer.

When the conflict between the Demons and their would-be executioners occurs closer than Gideon and Legna ever thought possible, it will take every ounce of power and strength they have to overcome the vile stench of betrayal and evil that surrounds them.

From my initial introduction to Gideon in THE NIGHTWALKERS: JACOB, the first book of this series, I was instantly intrigued with this particular Demon. I found it very enlightening when Gideon, having voluntarily exiled himself eight years prior, came above-ground when called by Legna. I felt the instant connection between these two characters in the first installment, and reading GIDEON, I'm glad my intuition didn't fail me. Additionally, I was absorbed by the emotions and passions of GIDEON. Though I found his intelligence charismatic, it was his love for Legna that drew me the most. He tried to bury it deep and deny its existence, but it was readily apparent during the times they spent together. Legna's attraction to Gideon was a bit closer to the surface. He made her heart pound and her breathing erratic. Just as it should be.

GIDEON, releasing on May 27, 2007, is the second book of The Nightwalkers series that began with JACOB. Weaving a brilliant world of supernatural beings, smooth steamy sensuality and heart-wrenching emotions, Ms. Frank has produced a delightfully engrossing series that has completely captivated me. Ms. Frank's ability to bring to life these fine and honorable Demons - characters usually reviled in most books - leaves me on the edge of my seat and anticipating future installments with bated breath. Lucky for me the next book of this series, ELIJAH, is set for release in December. I plan to be the first in line to get my copy!

Gideon lost control once, and paid dearly for it at the hands of the Enforcer. He is determined to never allow it to happen again. But that is easier said than done when he continuously crosses paths with the beautiful and confusing Mind Demon, Magdelegna. As the oldest living Demon, Gideon has seen and done much, but nothing can prepare him for Legna, although she is barely more than a child by Demon standards. Self-control should come naturally to the Body Demon, yet he is confounded time and again by the maddening moods of the empathic Legna even while he is irresistibly drawn to her.

Legna hasn't forgiven Gideon for that fateful night so long ago. It lives in her memories like it was yesterday, stoking the fires of her temper whenever she sees the frustrating Gideon. Can the man really be so clueless that he doesn't realize how he hurt her before? Worse, with each encounter Legna comes to realize that Gideon is her destined mate. Mate or not, Legna refuses to tie herself to a man who cannot give her all of himself, body and soul.

An attack on a friend throws the two together, forcing them to confront their growing bond. But is it strong enough to withstand the secrets Gideon still harbors? When faced with the truth of his past, can Legna understand, forgive, and love him regardless? Can Gideon forgive himself?

The day I received a beautiful ARC of Jacquelyn Frank's sequel to Jacob: The Nightwalkers in the mail, I considered myself to be one of the luckiest reviewers around. Reading Gideon: The Nightwalkers only reinforced that feeling! With only two published books to date, this author is wedged firmly at the top of both my auto-buy list and my must-be-read-first list!

Legna (Magdelegna) captured our hearts with her role in the first novel, and I was happy to see her return in the second book. Her warmth, grace, and charm were already evident in Jacob, but the depth of her personality is in full force in Gideon. As peacemaker to the two Fire Demons who are her older siblings, she maintains a calm and empathic understanding of all creatures. She is more than confused when the irritating Gideon manages to spark her ire at every turn and flees his presence whenever possible, trying to maintain her equilibrium.

Gideon does not quite understand why everything he says or does with Legna seems to be wrong. Nothing the lovely Mind Demon does in response to him makes much sense to the logical Gideon. The attraction he feels to a woman who is little more than Fledgling compared to himself makes even less sense, but it is there, nonetheless, and growing stronger with each passing day. Witnessing his confusion when dealing with Legna is an absolute delight! Legna is just what the doctor (or Body Demon, in this case) ordered for the staid Gideon. Knocking him off kilter and forcing him to confront his own feelings, Legna attempts to break through his reserved exterior to touch both his heart and soul.

In Gideon, we also see the return of Isabella and Jacob, who starred in the first novel. Although supporting characters, their story figures prominently in the second story, granting readers a look at their lives together. Indeed, the picture of Jacob as a happily mated male offering advice to Gideon regarding Legna is more than entertaining!

While the prominent story is the relationship between Gideon and Legna, there is plenty of action and angst as well. There are still evil Necromancers afoot, leaving the Nightwalker community shaken and on the defense.

Each Nightwalkers release leaves me aching for the next. Jacquelyn Frank deftly sets the stage for the next story in each book, whetting our appetites for more while still leaving us feeling happily fulfilled by each book. If you haven't yet read this wonderful series, I'd recommend you run to your nearest bookstore ASAP and pick up the first book, Jacob: The Nightwalkers to prepare for the May release of this new edition, Gideon: The Nightwalkers!

Series Order:
Jacob (The Nightwalkers, Book 1)
Gideon (The Nightwalkers, Book 2)
Elijah (The Nightwalkers, Book 3)

"Gideon" is the second offering in Jacquelyn Frank's Nightwalker series. I loved "Jacob", but I found this book to be even better. The Nightwalker world is captivating with its fresh twist on the paranormal. As with "Jacob", this paranormal novel is not as "dark" as many others in the genre are, which I find refreshing. The characters are enlightened, charming, and powerful.

Gideon and Legna have always been drawn to each other, but Gideon...concerned with his lack of control while in the throes of madness that the full moon causes during Beltane and Samhein, resisted his feelings for her and rejected her. He ended up disgracing himself with a human due to the moon madness after rebuffing Legna, and had lived in a self-imposed exhile for years. The events in "Jacob" brought him back to the world of the demons, and back to face his fate with Magdalegna...the one who was truly meant for him.

For those who were fascinated by Kane and Corrine, we get to see more of them in this book...as well as more of Jacob and Bella - but you will not be lost if you didn't read "Jacob". But I definitely recommend reading "Jacob" when you can.

The antagonists in the series are beginning to become more clear...but Ms. Frank doesn't just throw them out at you. We find out a bit more from one book to the next, and "Gideon" definitely answered some questions I had lingering after "Jacob".

The new characters and races that were introduced in this book are compelling and intriguing, and I can't wait to see more of them in future books. The continued development of the Nightwalker world is fascinating, and I look forward to the new twists and turns that are bound to be coming in future tales.

"Gideon" should definitely be on your to be read list.

Some writers improve after working out weaknesses in their debut novel. Lara Adrian comes to mind. Her books now are full of surprises, action, great characters and good writing. The debut book was choppy, but she improved with each installment.
Jac Frank is getting worse in this second in her series, The Nightwalkers.
1. Nothing happens that you don't already know from the first book JACOB until page 63 when GIDEON finally shows up in the heroine's bedroom uninvited. The first 62 pages are endlessly boring narrative or conversations that just repeat what happened in the previous book. Total length of the book is 357 pages. Over 20% of the book is spent rehashing her debut novel JACOB.
2. After GIDEON shows up, the characters engage in inane dialogue about a previous encounter ten years earlier where they had passionately and lustfully groped each other for no reason other than they were two hot immortals who had saved themselves for their "imprintable" one. At the height of their sizzling, GIDEON pushes her away like a silent film star and shouts, "This is madness! You are a child! I am stronger than this! I will not give into this ridiculous impulse of madness! I refuse!" (pg.75) A 1,000 year old immortal healer with a towering body of masculine strength talking like a badly written Rudolph Valentino or a character in a Victorian play?
3. When Magdalena and GIDEON finally give into their feelings for each other and engage in lovemaking (p.93), the author interrupts the building passion with paragraphs of explanation and terminology of demonology and turn off the steam. "Romance Junkies" read for the steamy love scenes and Frank thinks it is a time for the reader to be subjected to a lecture on history, biology and physiology. HUH?
4. The first love scene between Magdalena and GIDEON ends with GIDEON putting her to sleep. Yep, to sleep is what both talk themselves into after pages of sizzling foreplay. Their climax is her "teleporting" him home to his bedroom. He puts her to sleep. This is when the reader does too.
The world that Frank created for the Nightwalkers had so much potential. Her terrible writing, awful grammar gaffes and her made up words are just huge barriers to the reader's enjoyment of the stories and her characters. I had already bought ELIJAH, DAMIEN, they will go away to the recycle bin unread.

This being only the 2nd book from this author she has truly done a wonderful job with Gideon. I won't summarise the plot as others have already done so. Jacquelyn Frank is definitely entrenched in my top 5 paranormal romance authors. If you're into Christine Feehans Dark series then this book is def a MUST!! It is quite a thick book yet had me engrossed throughout. I just had to read it all in 1 sitting. The plot is very satisfying and ends with a strong lead onto the next book Elijah - i'm already filled with anticipation for it's coming (due out end of this year). This one is a keeper.

I am so excited by Ms. Frank's Nightwalker series. Her take on the paranormal universe is fresh and really sucks you in. I loved "Jacob" and loved "Gideon," as well. I don't agree with the complaints. There was plenty of buildup in the relationship between Gideon and Legna, but the dynamic was different than in "Jacob" because they are both demons and on more equal footing than Jacob and Bella were (well, before Bella came into her power). I am a huge fan of the concept of bonding/mating/soul mates and Ms. Frank does a great job incorporating that into her series, without it being a total cop-out. I was thrilled to spend more time in her universe and meet more of her special characters. I am eagerly awaiting "Elijah" and can't wait for whatever else she has in store for us.

This book reminds me of a Weird Al Yankovic song called "Close but No Cigar". The lyric goes:
"Except she was always using the word "infer"
When she obviously meant "imply"
And I know some guys would put up with that kind of thing
But frankly, I can't imagine why "

Gideon is FILLED with malapropisms. Does Zebra Romance not use editors? Here is an actual sentence from this book:

"...she is not allowed to have visitors or arouse herself from her bed." Arouse herself? She's not to masturbate? Since he was talking about someone ill who needed bed rest, I'm thinking he meant she was not to rouse herself.

Another:"...so courageous as to risk the unfeasible without any concern for herself..." What? Unfeasible? Even if unfeasible was an actual word, which it isn't, the character is trying to describe a courageous and dangerous feat - any variation on the word "feasible" hardly evokes strong emotion.

These two sentences were found within five pages of each other. It is extremely jarring to be constantly removed from the story when you stumble over misused words and terrible dialogue.

And then there is the writing. I would say there is a distinct (or as Jaccqelyn Frank would say "distinctive") lack of style. Or perhaps I should say the "style" of this book is to tell the story in essay form with such a high level overview that I'm starting to become light headed from lack of oxygen. Creative writing 101: show don't tell.

I think Gideon has the basic elements of a good story. I wish I would have read one.

For the first 40 pages of the book it seems all the author did was rehash the book "Jacob"...giving background info to the nth degree. She also made the character Bella a lot more sarcastic than I thought she was in the 1st book.

I didn't get much further than 40 pages into the book (maybe to page 55?) - it was just soooooo boring. I found myself re-reading some of the paragraphs because I didn't remember reading them.

I really wanted to be able to finish this book because after "Jacob", I really wanted to know the story of Legna and Gideon...but boring myself to tears wasn't worth it, so I quit reading it.

I'm just glad that I got this book from the library and didn't spend any money on it. I'm also not even going to try to read the rest of the series (afraid it's going to be boring and a big waste of my time, too).

I cannot in all honesty recommend this book.

First let me say that I really like Jacquelyn Frank's work. I was totally engrossed in both Jacob and Elijah to the point that I couldn't stop reading until I was finished.

Gideon is a MUCH slower read. There is a little action scattered through the book and a great battle at the end that saved the book from being a total loss.

I hate to say it but the plot line for Gideon was just too slow. The book is well written and the love developing between Gideon and Legna is unique, but it was a struggle to get through because NOTHING WAS HAPPENING!!!!!!

Anyway...if you're going to read the series you need to read this one because it explains alot of what's happening in book 3, so I would just tough it out.

I'm hoping that Damien will be as awesome a read as book's 1 and 3, considering that I've already pre-ordered it!

Gideon and Legna appeared to be an interesting match in Jacob, the first book. However, NOTHING happened in this book. This book is akin to reading a grocery list of ingredients for a meal you are never presented with for eating.
Frank's verbosity just kills the romance and suspension, leaving you skipping and skimming pages while thinking "get to the point already.