Customer Reviews

Night Huntress (Sisters of the Moon)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I wanted to like Night Huntress a lot more than I did. To me Yasmine Galenorn created a series that was a perfect blend of Urban and High Fantasy. The series revolves around three (not quite human) sisters, placed here from OW (a traditional High Fantasy land) who are on a quest to find and protect 9 seals that united by the evil Shadow Wing will allow the barriers between OW, Earth and the underworld inhabited by demons and the like, to fall and cause armageddon. I used to play Dungeons and Dragons and, like many others, tried to find a way of playing my D&D characters in a modern day setting. The Sisters of the Moon series was the story I didn't have the imagination to tell.

So I am extremely disappointed that I find myself less and less enthralled by the books. There are a number of reasons. For starters I think that YG made a mistake when she cast the novels in first person. There is so much action that we don't get to see because the narrator isn't present at the encounter that it gets frustrating. Action instead of exposition. Show instead tell. Anyone writer or reader can tell you that's one of the rules of storytelling, but the format is forcing more and more exposition because the sisters can't be everywhere at one time.

SPOILERS

However I think that the series really fails when it comes to the romantic relationships. There seems to be a rule in UF series that the butt kicking heroine must be entangled with multiple men at one time; and that the men can't be good for her. So Delilah, who has been having a relationship with Chase, a full blooded human (FBH) who runs the Fey-FBH CSI task force turns from a pretty decent guy to a cad. And, we find out, he's been a cad to women for his whole life. Delilah, hurt, turns to Zach, a werepuma who is absolutely perfect for her. He understands her changeling side, is crazy about her, and is gorgeous to boot. But when Chase gets himself kidnapped and everyone goes off to rescue him Delilah decides that she *loves* Chase. In one of the sickliest scenes in UF today, her dagger comes to life because of her ability to love true. Chase is rescued. And in the end Chase and Delilah try to give their relationship another shot-while Zach recovers from having his back broken saving Chase's life.

As an end note, it's hard to root for a relationship on paper, where in reality I'd tell the couple to break up and get therapy

I had trouble rating this one. For sheer enjoyment I'd give it a four out of five; it's really fun, with plenty of wacky characters and wild ideas. However, I do have a couple of stylistic niggles.

First, combat felt a wee bit too much like a D&D session to me. Things were over-described a lot (such as where each exit was in a room). Even though the characters acknowledge early on in one major raid on a demon-infested house that their opponents probably have preternatural hearing AND already know they're there, they stand around in the hallway debating and planning strategy endlessly.

Second, if I'm going to read erotic romance novels then I'm willing to set aside a certain amount of my normal sensitivity to overwrought description. That only goes so far, however, and a line that describes a lover's... ahem... as "a white-hot match that reached into my center to ignite my flame" just makes me snicker.

Finally, I found I couldn't buy into the love plot, which is tough on a romance (although since Chase, Delilah's boyfriend, isn't around for much of the book, it isn't as bad as you'd think). I realize the author seems to want to make some sort of point about not giving up on troubled relationships with imperfect people, but Chase comes across as enough of a jackass, and the author just doesn't make me believe in some sort of all-overcoming love between the two of them, that I seriously found myself cheering on Zach, the competition for Delilah's affections. Maybe this is one of those things I would have been able to get on board with if I'd read the previous books.

I realize that after spending so much space on what I didn't like, I've probably made it sound as though I didn't enjoy Night Huntress. However, that isn't the case. There's plenty of action, suspense, and wacky human-fae politics to keep things jumping, and I loved reading about all of that. Consider my rating a 3.5---higher if my stylistic issues don't bother you.

I want to preface this review by saying I have read all the previous 'Sister of Moon' books, and am quite a fan of urban fantasy. I am currently following several series in the genre, including the Mercy Thompson (my favorite!), Kate Daniels (2nd fave), Rachel Morgan, Women of the Otherworld and a few others. Now that my credentials are established...

Out of all the UF series that I have read and stuck with, I would have to say that Sister of the Moon is the very weakest of the lot, and Night Huntress is a weak entry for the series. It seems to be on a decline, after a bump upwards with Darkling.

This book centers on Delilah, the werecat/panther/Death Maiden (if that doesn't make sense to you, that should prove that this isn't really a stand-alone novel and the whole series should be read to understand the concepts). There is a continuous plot running throughout all the books, but honestly I have to say it is getting really muddled, and from one book to the next I don't feel the flow is creating any sense of escalating tension.

The writing is mediocre at best, and I just feel Ms. Galenorn is losing the audience. That's sad to me, because I actually really do enjoy the three main heroines (many supporting characters are flat fillers, though) and am still interested in them enough to see what happens to them. Hopefully the next entry will be a step up, as the previous Menolly-centered book was my favorite of the series.

(One side note: Why the heck is Delilah (w/ her sisters' support) so keen on being with Chase? I have 0 sympathy after learning more about him and, especially with Zach being darn near perfect, the Chase dilemna seems just bizarre.)

Night Huntress / 978-0-425-22546-2

The fifth in the Sisters of the Moon series, "Night Huntress" places us once again in the point of view of middle sister Delilah, as she struggles to sort out her relationship issues in the face of an oncoming potential apocalypse.

Like the previous novel, "Night Huntress" contains a large dose of "middle-of-the-series" syndrome, as at least as much time (if not more) is spent dissecting Delilah's love life as if spent on the search for the spirit seals. This is tempered, however, by Delilah being a more sympathetic and realistic character to sink into, and the problems with her lovers (infidelity and love-vs-lust issues) are more complex and less quickly solved than her sister Camille's one-trick-pony solution to all her relationship problems.

Bravely, Galenorn shakes things up a bit by making the search for the spirit seal the focus of the first half of the book, instead of the second, with the actual climax combining both a demonic showdown and some relationship drama all mixed in together. This choice breathes some fresh life into a series that otherwise seemed destined to follow the same format verbatim: Introduction, Relationship Drama, Spirit Seal, Repeat. The new format also serves to characterize the sisters as distinctly proactive forces, no longer just reacting to the demonic activity as supernatural firefighters.

This freshness is somewhat undermined, however, in the constant struggle to move things forward for long time fans without leaving new readers behind. Of course, all authors want to be able to snag new readers at any point in the series, but "Night Huntress" crams in massive back-exposition and repetitive re-angst of all the difficulties that have gone before. Long-time readers of the series will no doubt become frustrated with the repetition - there's only so many ways to repeat the backstory of the previous four books, the childhood history exposition, and all the relationship drama that has gone before - and large swaths of the book feel like you're turning the pages to get to the actual *new* material.

Overall, though, "Night Huntress" is a solid addition to the series, and even better than the previous entry (which also suffered from "middle-of-the-series" syndrome), and if you've stuck with it this far, I'm fairly confident you won't be disappointed. Chase-shippers may be disappointed with the character development (derailment?) that occurs for him in this novel, and the resolution may stick a little as a bit of a Family Unfriendly Aesop, but the overall plot is excellent and will keep you coming back for more.

~ Ana Mardoll

The D'Artigo sisters are back for the fifth time with werecat Delilah to tell the story. With four previous stories there's a lot of background that has lead us up to this latest adventure. In short the three sisters have come to Earth from their home in Otherworld, have become Earth's protectors from the demons of the Sub-Realms and made some interesting friends and enemies along the way. Delilah was marked by the Autumn Lord in Changeling. Becoming his only living Death Maiden she has gained the ability to shapeshift not just into her little tabbycat form but into the form of a panther. But having a new form isn't really a gift it's part of her new job. Sending Delilah on a special mission he lets her know he has plans for her, one in particular she may not be sure she is ready for.

Meanwhile, Karvanak, the nasty demon the sisters have faced before, has kidnapped Chase (Delilah's full blooded human boyfriend) to use as a hostage. He wants the fourth Spirit Seal in exchange but there's no way in hell the sisters are willing to risk their homes for the life of one man. It's up to them to find a way to rescue Chase, protect the fourth Seal and destroy Karvanak before the tables get turned.

Bah! I really was hoping for another story I would love as I had the last two. Unfortunately, Night Huntress just fell short in several ways. For one, the storyline direction that the author took with Chase and Delilah's relationship felt unnecessarily random. For fans who have liked their relationship this change may be a disappointment. Once again the author had her characters doing a lot of conflict-meets-instant-solution type plotting which left me frustrated because I enjoy seeing characters struggle to come up with a good plan or needing some outside power to guide them to the right solution. There was a lot of talking when it wasn't suited to the scene and over-description to the point of beating dead horses at times. When there's too much "what should we do?" going on in the middle of a fight it bogs the action down.

While those things definitely frustrated me there were many good parts of the book as well. Carefully sprinkled throughout are important little additions to the story that serve to help the many different sub/side stories move forward. Finding out what's happening with the civil war in OW and hints about Menolly's vampire group strengthen to plot of the series. The list of secondary characters in this series has gotten a bit overloaded (in my opinion) but again some of those serve important purposes.

Night Huntress is definitely not my favorite of the series so far but it was by no means awful.

The D'Artigo Sisters are back as the fight against Shadow Wing rages on. This time it's Delilah, the half-human, half-Fae werecat who has more on her plate than even she can stomach. And she loves to eat!

The maniacal demon who got his grimy fingers on the third Spirit Seal is back and it's up to the girls and their allies to find the fourth Spirit Seal before Karvanak can. As if that weren't enough, Delilah's dealing with issues of her own when it seems her world spins out of control.

Can she continue to put her trust in Chase? Or should she end her relationship with her FBH (full-blood-human) boyfriend? Would she be better off in a relationship with someone like Zachary Lyonnesse- a werepuma who would understand her more fully?

Would she ever know the truth about whether she had a twin and when she finds out what the Autumn Lord truly wants from her, it hits her like a ton of brick to realize she is bound to him not only as his Death Maiden, but he also has something special in mind for her. There's no turning back and it's a price she must pay in full eventually, whether she wants to or not.

But when Karvanak kidnaps Chase, in order to blackmail the girls for the fourth Spirit Seal and his former associate, Vanzir, the dream chaser-- Delilah must find a way to save Chase without ruining their chances of saving both worlds. Not only does she learn to unleash her panther side, but she also learns a little bit about the power of love.

Just as with each book before this one, I was glued to the page, anticipating what would happen next, holding my breath during the tough battles and sobbing through some of the most emotional scenes I've encountered in quite some time. Yasmine Galenorn has a magical way with words and storytelling and quite frankly swept me away in this newest release in the Otherworld Series. My heart ached for all that Delilah discovers throughout this book, not just about others, but about herself. Truly brilliant and now my favorite in the series.

I highly recommend Night Huntress- I recommend the entire series.

I really enjoy the Delilah books in this series - perhaps because I feel she is just written better than either of the other sisters. I love reading about her position as a Death Maiden and about the ways she grows because of her additional forms and what they mean for her and those around her. I really enjoy her interactions with the Autumn Lord, and with all the other people around her.

I DO however have some huge problems with this book. One centers around her relationship with her boyfriend and all the bad things he has done to her, and to other women in the past - if you read you'll find out, and if you don't read, it won't really matter will it? I'm not going to spoil it anyway. The other is the fight scenes - which is just a general problem with Galenorn's books anyway (at least the ones I've read) - any action has to have some kind of talk or thinking about happening before the action. I remember one of the other books had some huge fight coming up and then there everyone was, waiting 2 days to do anything - one of the sisters was even buying lingerie! She should have been preparing for a fight and getting right on down to it (along with her sisters). That flaw is still present in this book, the 5th in the series, even if it is not near as bad as in the first. At least I can say, with heartfelt relief, that the books are improving. The books take so much from the Anita Blake and Merry Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton, I truly worried that they were going to become the mass of problems that made me stop reading Hamilton's books. One problem with all the books is that the person who is the main focus of the book some how becomes the leader for that book, and then a follower in the next. It feels like they're all told from the same person's point of view, with some changes to make it look like multiple people - and it's only partially successful for me. Good thing I can pretty much ignore it, once I get into the book.

All in all, I did enjoy the book a lot while I was reading it, but found there to be several problems that did still bother me. I love the world Galenorn is building, but I still see problems with her writing and character formation. I absolutely hate two of the characters now, one I hate because of some events that happened in this book, and the other because of events that will happen in the next (based on the excerpt of Demon Mistress in the back of the book). These events also seem like changes that are uncharacteristic of the characters she had related to the reader in the earlier books, and so that kind of thing feels like it is forced, and perhaps just a plot device. I like more natural character evolution.

I purchased this book and the other 2 that completed the series this last January for my boyfriend who collects such books and he was totally thrilled to add them to the bookshelves after having read them all. I know that when I look again on this site to find later series books that I will purchase them from Amazon.

~Sisters of the Moon~

~Night Huntress~

~book 5~

~We're the D'Artigo sisters: sexy, savvy operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. But being half-human, half-Fae means our supernatural talents always go haywire at the wrong time. My sister Camille is a wicked-good witch who attracts men like honey attracts flies. Menolly's a vampire who's still getting the hang of being undead. And me? I'm Delilah, a werecat who's been marked by the Autumn Lord as one of his Death Maidens. And wouldn't you know it, Karvanak-the demon general who stole the third spirit seal-is back. And this time, he's out for blood...The Hags of Fate enjoy seeing me squirm. First, my boyfriend, Chase, mutters another woman's name in his sleep. Then I discover the Autumn Lord has a very special plan for me. But things go from bad to deadly when Karvanak-the Raksasa-returns. In order to get his greedy hands on both the fourth spirit seal and his former associate, Vanzir, he kidnaps Chase. Now we have to find a way to rescue the man I love without risking the safety of both Otherworld and Earth.~

I Like Seeing all the characters Developing, we learned More about Delilah and her feelings about chase.

she finds out she had a twin Sister,the Autumn Lord wants her to have his child, she's not to sure what to think about that. Camille is married to Smoky & Morio now that seems to be working out So far, she finds out on their trip to Otherworld for the plant the Autumn Lord told her to get that Trillian wasn't captured by trolls but on Some Secret mission. I like Menolly She Doesn't take any Crap! from anyone. Oh...Maggie is starting to talk and has tried to walk some lol

can't wait to see what happens next in Demon Mistress #6

I love getting books from Amazone New or used. I was looking for a series a few Months ago to read. I love Erotic,Bewitching,Vampire Books with a bit of magic and passion in them. I came across this series by Yasmine Galenorn {AN Other World Novels}Best series I've ever read and I read alot..