Customer Reviews

Nightwalker (Dark Days, Book 1)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(23)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Centuries ago, the Naturi nearly destroyed Mira in their attempt to control her and her unusual gifts. Not many Nightwalkers are endowed with powers such as Mira's abilities with fire, an element deadly to other Nightwalkers.

Only a Triad of powerful vampires saved Mira, as well as both the human and Nightwalker races. Sealing the Naturi where they could do no harm was effective, but also temporary - at least if the Naturi who managed to escape that fate can do anything about it.

The Naturi have already broken the Triad and now it is up to Mira to protect the remaining two and find a new third before it is too late. And the only one she can trust to help is her worst enemy - the vampire hunter Danaus!

NIGHTWALKER kicks off the first book in Jocelynn Drake's DARK DAYS saga with a bang! This newcomer to the publishing arena has crafted a rich and powerful world with characters that are as real as imagination can get, and likeable despite their foibles. Well, except for those nasty Naturi, of course.

The Naturi are the major villains of this story. So far, there are just no redeeming qualities about this hateful and destructive race, which is perfect for their role in this battle. With all of the other characters we meet, however, there is a touch of good and evil in each person, no matter if they are human or Nightwalker.

And then there is Danaus. No one really knows what he is, and he isn't talking. Yes, he is a vampire slayer, but this man has more secrets than anyone can guess, and he keeps fairly closemouthed about them. Still, he says what needs to be said, and certainly gets the job done.

Mira is absolutely a kick-butt heroine. Vampire she may be, but she is a woman of honor who takes her responsibilities as guardian to those weaker than herself very seriously. She can kill without blinking an eye, but only those who deserve it. She is strong, yet with her world closing in on her and her worst nightmare determined to recapture her, she needs someone to rely on. Strangely enough, she finds that person in Danaus, the most unlikely of places.

It is interesting to watch the evolution of Mira's and Danaus' convictions concerning each other as they spend time in close proximity, fighting at each other's sides against a greater evil than either can handle alone. They discover that neither is quite what they expected and their preconceived notions begin to waver in the face of the truths they witness in each other. Consequently, they form a grudging mutual respect and eventually there is even a bit of old fashioned chemistry...

If you are looking for a good piece of paranormal fiction, then you should give NIGHTWALKER a try. If you are looking for romance, this is not the book. That said, even though there really isn't any romance in this first story, Mira does have chemistry with a couple of men in her life, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a relationship with one of them develop in a later story. In fact, the book feels much like Laurell K. Hamilton's first ANITA BLAKE, VAMPIRE HUNTER book in that respect. There was no romance in those earlier ANITA BLAKE books, but there were definitely potential love interests and later editions in that series explore those relationships, as I hope will happen in sequels to NIGHTWALKER.

I do have to say that the pacing of NIGHTWALKER was a bit slower than I would have liked. Although it didn't ruin the story, it did detract a bit from my enjoyment of it. For something that feels more like an action-oriented paranormal, the barrage of history, some of which seems superfluous to the plot, bogged that action down.

Also, there were a lot of repetitive words and phrases throughout the novel. In particular, the heroine constantly referred to her bodyguards as her `angels', or variations of that word. Most often she called them her `Guardian Angel' or `my Angel'. It was not unusual to see Mira reference the bodyguards with some form of the word angel many times in a very small section of text, and on one page, she referred to the same bodyguard as `my angel' three times. While I appreciated that the men who protect her during her day sleep were special to her, the repetitive endearment became tedious after a while. It would have been less so for me if the author had substituted an alternate endearment or used the bodyguard's names more often.

Those two disappointments are what made me rate this book a four instead of a five. I really liked the plot, loved the characters, but these issues did keep me from totally loving the book.

That said, it is a very enjoyable read, and I have very high hopes for the next book. For an author's debut novel, I think that Jocelynn Drake has done admirably well and I hope to see more soon from this imaginative author. I certainly cannot wait to see what happens next with Mira and her companions!

**Courtesy of Wild on Books**

On one side are the evil Naturi, evil elves with an elemental aspect (wind, earth, light, water, etc) who command the powers of nature (and control animals including were-creatures). They represent the sun, their blood poisons vampires, and they view both nightwalkers and humanity as parasites upon the Earth. They sacrifice children for magic power, and are always written as arrogant, stupid, sadistic caricatures.

On the other side are vampires, who eat humans (but that gets downplayed). They represent the moon. Mira, the Firestarter, is the vampire who is in charge of the battle plans. Mira is written as a 'good' vampire heroine. Her character sketch is really deep (much history) near the end of the novel.

On the other, other side is Danaus the vampire hunter. He fought with the Roman legions, is older than 600ish Mira, and this is never explained. His organization is quite extensive and works to protect humanity from supernatural threats, and reminded me of the Watcher's Council from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It's the librarians cleaning their glasses like Giles, I swear.

What everyone agrees on is the naturi are the enemy and must be eradicated. Mira and Danaus stop attempting to kill each other, and vampire political games where vamp killeth vamp for foolish pride also cease. Naturi die, probably a hundred by the end of the book, and I have to wonder where the heck are all of them coming from? The vampires thought they hunted them to extinction 500+ years ago.

Anyway, multiple plot twists, changing locations, and life and undeath action. Very little analysis or intelligent forethought. Battles are reactive. While entertaining, it's about par for the urban fantasy genre, including deep vampire conspiracy and hidden supernatural power struggles.

Drake isn't as good as Kim Harrison, Jim Butcher, Illona Andrews, Rachel Caine, or Simon Green, but she's better than Vicki Peterson and Gerry Bartlett. About the same level as Karen Chance. If you like secretive urban fantasy that's heavy on action and lighter on romance, you'll like this.

Nightwalker, the first Dark Days series novel, is the debut of author Jocelynn Drake. With acknowledgements to Kim Harrison and Rachel Vincent it should be no surprise that this book falls into the vein of such juicy paranormal fantasy fare of Harrison's Hollows series and Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake.

The dark days are coming and Mira is the kick-butt heroine taking on the world. A vampire enforcer, the guardian of her U.S. domain, she is the one the nightwalkers call the Fire Starter. Blessed with the gift of controlling fire before she was turned she retains this ability and won't hesitate to use it to protect the secret that is the world of the nightwalkers. When a hunter called Danaus comes into her territory seeking her she's quick to seek him out for a confrontation.

Danaus brings with him news of the naturi, an elfin race that wish to wipe both nightwalkers and humans from the face of the earth. Five centuries ago the naturi were locked away on another plane of existence by the vampires and those left behind are trying to break the seal that binds them. Mira and Danaus must join forces if they are going to save the world from destruction at the hands of the naturi. Their adventure takes them to Egypt and Britain, meeting up with members of Themis (the group Danaus is part of) and the Coven (the vampire heirarchy). With lots of action and suspense expect to be sucked into the world of the nightwalkers and dragged along for a bumpy ride!

While Drake makes some annoying first time author mistakes (ie. repetitive comments) she has done a great job of reviving the tough-as-nails heroine. Mira is no wilting flower or gushing romance-stricken maiden. She can dish out a butt-kicking and take one in return. While she has obvious attractions and sensuality she puts her duties first. If you're looking for a paranormal romance this isn't it. I felt the story dragged a little at times and far too many side characters were introduced and then never mentioned again. But overall I loved Mira because she is what Anita Blake once was and Rachel Morgan might have been. If you're a fan of either series you will most likely enjoy this one enough to be interested in further installments--I sure am!

I saw Jocelynn Drake's new book everywhere - and I avoided it. I have to be honest. We're having a glut of vampire/vampire hunter books out in the reading market and I really didn't think I could handle one more series (and they're always a series). So I passed it by. Again and again.

But I have to admit, that cover haunted me and finally broke down my resistance. I was in Salt Lake City on a four-hour layover after I'd finished my current novel on the plane and wasn't in the mood to hold the hardcover I'd brought along as my spare. I walked into the bookstore looking for something that might catch my eye - and there was that cover again.

I picked up the book and started reading. The beginning isn't anything special, and I felt like I was reading a book I'd already read before for a time. Then Drake started bringing in the history of her magical races. Not only that, but her heroine is 600 years old and has evidently lived a turbulent life filled with love, betrayal, pain, and bliss. She's got a lot of baggage, but she's handling it well overall.

Until the Naturi arrived and proved to be more than Mira could easily handle (even with her fireball throwing abilities), I wasn't impressed. Then Drake started weaving in the mythologies of the Naturi, Nightwalkers, and the Bori, and the enmity they have had with each other for thousands of years. I wasn't truly hooked at that point, but I was impressed.

Danaus, the vampire hunter who should have been Mira's mortal enemy, instead finds his fate interwoven with hers - and that of the Nightwalkers, in a way that he (and this reader at least!) couldn't see coming. He's a total alpha male, but at first Mira seemed to physically manhandle him. Then he revealed some of his own secrets and the tables drastically shifted for Mira and me because I was caught just as off-guard as she was.

Drake is being canny about her secrets in this book (and yep, it's the first of a series known as DARK DAYS -- although the stories mostly take place at night) and doles them out like crumbs. This is going to work for her for a while, because I'll be picking the books up to assuage my curiosity about what's really going on and where all these people truly come from.

NIGHTWALKER is written in an elegant style. The prose is easy to read and a pleasure to read. Drake does a good job of describing the people and the surroundings so that I felt like I'd stepped into those shadowed alleys, riotous vampire bars, and dusty tombs as well. The travel parts of the novel regarding the trip to Egypt were especially well written and I look forward to more of the same in later volumes. Mira has lived a long life and I would love to learn more about how she feels walking through lands she hasn't seen in potentially hundreds of years. Drake has set her heroine up with past lives and past enemies that can prove to be interesting, as well as the ongoing war that's just shaping up.

After I got about fifty pages into the book, there was simply no putting it down. I blazed through the story and had a great time. Readers wary of vampire and vampire hunter novels are encouraged to pick this one up and give it a go. There's a lot here to sink your teeth into.

I picked this and her other book up in the bookstore based on the blurbs on the back. I regret it! All I could keep thinking was that the entire race of Drake's vampires was horrible and should be destroyed. It was hard to root for the heroine when her race wasn't worth saving. The book numerous times showed and talked about the torture and cruelty of vampires. That they would create more, those they called "chum", just for the fun of torturing them in every way possible before killing them. Why would anyone think this race was worth saving? I love vampire books, but hated both of these. I kept hoping I would like them, but they are going into the trash. They aren't even worth donating or giving away. Don't waste your time on these unless you enjoy rooting for sadists with no redeeming qualities.

You're much better off reading Jeaniene Frost's series. You can actually like the different species and just dislike individuals - even with the flesh eating ghouls.

I really wanted to like this book - the world the author creates is interesting and coherent - but the book felt flat to me. I think because the characters were one-dimensional. Mira seemed sort of silly sometimes, getting high on pushing other people around, talking about how sexy she is. And she didn't have a good sense of humor. Also, the author kept repeating explanations, hitting the reader over the head with things we'd already heard and understood. It was irritating and really slowed down the book. I was looking forward to finding a new UF series, but I won't read the second book.

This novel centers on a female vampire, famous for her fighting abilities and ambivalence toward anyone less powerful than herself. The book opens when she confronts a surprisingly powerful vampire-hunter. In her opinion, any vampire not powerful enough to protect itself deserves what it gets. After a flamboyant "introductory" fight, the vampire hunter seeks an unusual alliance to address the greater threat of a third race that seeks to kill all humans and vampires, alike. The setting is modern day, with other races living "hidden" among us.

The main lead has great confidence in her abilities, particularly fighting abilities, combined with a fun sense of play and humor. If you enjoy an extremely powerful female lead, look no farther. She has a playful confidence that is appealing, and the character development opportunities at the end of the book are promising for an intersting sequel.

My problem is that her constant death threats toward the vampire-hunter get old, very fast ... and they never seemed to stop. Enough already! Killing and murder have no negative connotations for her. Similarly, she cares not when vampires are killed, and seems equally uncaring about murdering humans, whom she assumedly kills for food - if this is not the case, then the author should have said so sooner rather than coyly avoiding any clear statements. Her selfish ego and continual lack of morals were a huge turn-off.

Nightwalker delivers an unfinished story that ultimately turned me off from the rest of the series. There should be a disclaimer that says $7.99 for half a book. It may even be $7.99 for a third of a book considering there are three "books" in the series. I expect at least a partial ending when I finish a book. Not every loose end has to be tied in a pretty bow, but Nightwalker's ending felt more like an intermission. Either a single story is being stretched out over three books (or more) or all the loose ends will be hastily mended together for the final book.

The Nightwalker ending feels like the result of lazy writing, greedy publishers, or both.

There are elements the editor should have caught before it went to print. First is the constant use of the phrase "I shoved my hand through my hair" or some variation. Sometimes it appears page after page with almost no alteration of the original phrase. The other issue I had was the constant verbal or internal thoughts of Mira planning to kill one of the other characters. Repeating it over and over, especially in the beginning, gets really old and the words stop meaning anything. I could have done without the over-the-top effort to describe how incredibly sexy the main character, Mira, thought she was.

I appreciated the dark nature of the characters. Turning the long assumed good and bad on its head was an interesting twist. While some of the characters were flat, generally the ones that counted showed some signs of having more depth, something that should have been explored more. Overall Nightwalker was an interesting concept that was ruined by almost no conclusion and some poor editing.

The urban fantasy genera has exploded in the past few years. This has lead to some simply superb novels, but has also meant wading through some more mediocre reading material. I can honestly say that I picked up this book to fill the time between publish-dates of some of the more well known authors (LK Hamilton, Jim Butcher, Kim Harrison, Patricia Briggs, Lillith Saintcrow).
I picked it up, and couldn't put it down.
Good plot summaries are in other reviews, so I won't repeat it here.
What I will say is that this is an EXCELLENT debut novel and it puts a new and exciting face on a subject matter that has been written about over and over (ie-vampires and slayers.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a quality urban-fantasy. I hope you write fast Ms. Drake because you are now on my list of must-reads.

This is the story of Mira, a vampire with a twist. She can control fire--deadly to all vampires--and she can call it up at will. Mira, the Fire Starter, was born with the fire talent and retained it after being remade into a vampire by her powerful vampire "handlers". She has escaped her makers and settled in Savannah where she has cut out her own territory as an enforcer to her kind and otherworldly creatures. She has never killed a human being.

Mira cares deeply about those to whom she is responsible and she defends them all. Yes, she is a killing machine, but one with honor and standards and a great sense of responsibility.

Into her domain comes Danaus, a mysterious stranger with mysterious powers--a vampire hunter who wishes to strike a bargain with her. The world is about to be overrun by deadly fae known as "naturi", elementals who control earth, weather, water, animals, and fire. Mira is the only thing standing in the way of their re-entrance into the natural world. In an epic struggle centuries ago, she, along with her makers, locked the naturi back into their world and sealed off the gateway between the two worlds. Mira still carries physical and emotional scars from the battle.

Mira and Danaus form an unlikely alliance, knowing that they will ultimately both try to kill each other. They travel to Egypt, to London, to Venice, where the author, with a skilled palette of words, paints a reality that you can feel and breathe.

Oh, for a book where the characters actually get to know each other before engaging in mindless sex! The relationship between Danaus and Mira develops slowly and builds and builds, as Danaus's lifelong illusions about vampires are annihilated one by one through his interactions with Mira. And Mira's distrust of the hunter lessens as she comes to understand his sense of honor and code of ethics. The writer lets the reader know that sparks are flying, but you don't know if the characters realize it. This is so much more appealing.

Some critics have castigated this book for its slowness of pace, Mira's emotional detachment, the repeated threats of Danaus and Mira to kill each other and their failure to jump in bed with each other. If you're a junkie waiting for your next quick fix, this won't be your cup of tea. If you're looking for well crafted, well developed, complex characters, an intricate plot with a myriad of subplots, and prose that takes your breath away, this is your book. It is dark and rich, like the best of wines. And the death threats between the main characters become a sort of affectionate running gag.

If there is a fault with this book, it lies in the editing. Frequently, an incorrect(but similarly spelled) word is used which can jar you right out of the story, but it is easy to fall right back into it.

This book and its characters will stay with you for a long time. I loved it. I ran right out and purchased the next two books in the series because I couldn't wait to see what happens.

It is keeper that I will read again and again.