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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Forgettable Final Book In Series, January 7, 2009
I was very much looking forward to reading Robin's story in Stay the Night. I was also sad to hear that this was the last book in the series and I was curious as to how it would all end.
Robin of Locksley has been stealing from the rich for the last 700 years. With the help of his Darkyn powers, he can charm just about anyone into handing over anything. The FBI dubbed him The Magician for his most recent larcenous exploits involving the theft of priceless works of art.
Chris Renshaw is a special agent for the FBI. She was recently transferred to the Chicago office amid a scandal involving her partner's firing and subsequent suicide. Chris knows that the Magician is somehow involved and is more determined than ever to bring this thief to justice. She leads the operation to find him and goes undercover as an arts dealer.
The Feds decide to exhibit The Maiden's Book of Hours, an ancient manuscript that Robin has been coveting for hundreds of years. Unbeknownst to him, someone else wants that book even more and will stop at nothing to get it. When the book is stolen and humans and Darkyn lives are held hostage, Chris and Robin go to Rome to recover the book.
Like all the Darkyn novels, Stay the Night is told in multiple points of view. Besides Chris and Robin, the book shifts to at least 10 other characters including the series protagonists- Alex and Michael Cyprien. On the one hand, it's nice to see a hero and heroine get a continuing story that goes beyond their HEA . I like Alex and Cyprien and enjoy reading about their romance and seeing their relationship grow in each book. But on the other hand, the romance between the so called main hero and heroine in most of the other books has been underdeveloped and flat- especially when compared to Alex and Cyprian's relationship. This book is no different.
Viehl tries to sets up some relationship conflict by pairing Robin- the ultimate thief- with an upstanding law abiding federal agent. Chris blames Robin for her partner's death. She is also frequently upset with him and his ability to charm random bystanders into handing over whatever he wants. But besides some mild protestations, she never forces the issue and her ethical code and any possible conflict therewith eventually just takes a back seat to the rest of the action.
There are also some annoying scene changes just when things start to get good. Rather than creating any suspense, I grew frustrated with the numerous shifts in point of view. It happened again and again thereby stopping the action each time it starts picks up. Other readers certainly may have no problem with this and instead consider it to be skillful plotting, but basically it made me want to throw the book against the wall.
I did enjoy the story more towards the end. We find out the significance of The Maiden's Book of Hours and the true purpose for which the villain intends it to be used. It's purpose is intriguing and made for some tense moments when we discover just how far a certain character will go to exact his or her revenge. Ultimately, though, it wasn't enough to make me love this novel. I was definitely expecting more especially in light of it being the final book in your series.
Stay the Night is not exactly the novel I was hoping it would be. Viehl did create several very interesting moments towards the end and while I enjoyed the ongoing story with Alex and Michael and appreciated the rich and solid world that the author created and continued to develop here, this book's weakest links were the underdeveloped Chris and Robin and their tepid romance.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not really the end..., January 16, 2009
Since previous reviewers have done such a great job summarizing the plot I will stick to my own impressions of the book: an excellent and engrossing story.
I loved Robin's easy-going character. My personal preference is for characters who don't wear all their tortured pain on their sleeves for the world to see. Whereas Michael hides his steel under soft-spoken diplomacy, and Lucan hides his good heart under ruthless depravity, Robin hides his inner self under a flippant and flirtatious attitude. An attitude that the heroine, of course, can see right through. I also enjoyed the continuation of Alex and Michael's story - the fact that their story weaves through the entire series is one of my favorite aspects. Although probably not meant to be funny, Alex's completely awful bedside manner keeps me laughing at odd moments through the dark and creepy series.
Dark and creepy is another thing that makes me love these books so much (although Robin's book "felt" a lot less creepy than normal to me). Viehl definitely leans closer to the "horror" aspect of vampires than most paranormal romance authors. A lot of the violence is implied or threatened (or happens in dreams). At the end of the books the villain is just as likely to get sealed behind a wall for all eternity as he/she is to get killed off by the hero/heroine. Creeeepy. I find it refreshing, but it is definitely not for everyone.
Also a little different in Viehl's novels are the Happily Ever After (HEA). HEA is hard work for Viehl's characters. Even after all these books we are not sure if Michael and Alex are going to make it. Are they going to be a love story? Or a tragedy? For me their love story is more powerful in that it keeps getting challenged and reaffirmed. Every time it is reaffirmed I remember, oh, wow, yeah. They love each other. And always have. And always will. Again, it's something I enjoyed, but it is not for everyone!
I wasn't actually aware that this was the "end" of the series until after I finished the book. Like one of the reviewers I found the end to be... not anticlimactic, but definitely a touch melancholy (Alex's final scene). The whole 'curling her hand around emptiness' was too strong a metaphor to easily shrug off. However, the it was also exciting as a loose end to be tied up in future books -- not to mention the loose end in Guy's final scene! I was looking forward to the next book... only to find that this was the end!
But not really. In the back of the book is a teaser for Viehl's new series on the Kyndred set in the same "universe" (to coin a sci-fi term) as the Darkyn. I am quite sure we'll be seeing cameos of many of our favorites... especially John. And on her blog Viehl declared her intensions to continue to write ebook novellas about the Darkyn, which should add an interesting dimension to both the Darkyn series and the new Kyndred series.
If you do like the Viehl's stories I highly recommend her sci-fi series, starting with "Stardoc."
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
7th and final Darkyn Novel, but don't fret it's not really the end., January 14, 2009
I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the Stay the Night. I liked Robin, we met the infamous charming thief of Robin Hood fame two books ago in Evermore: A Novel of the Darkyn (Signet Eclipse). Robin's love interest Chris is the perfect torture for him, a woman who is totally immune to his Kyn power of charm. As an FBI agent out to catch the Magician, as Robin the thief is known to the art world, Chris is also the nemesis to Robin's thieving self to boot. I liked that Robin had to work to win Chris' heart despite the obvious chemistry - it was amusing to watch his affront when he wakens after their initial joining and discovers that He is the one who has been used. It was also entertaining watching him try to get through Chris' disbelief to convince her of the existence of the Darkyn. Actually I still liked the second half of the book but in the end the romance with Robin and Chris feels less finished than usual - I wasn't sure whether Robin was going to be spending the rest of his 'new life' in prison. The resolution of the centuries long conflict between Robin and Notingham (Guy) in this thread was a nice touch though.
As usual the romance shares the story with Alex and Michael's(the leading pair from when If Angels Burn: A Novel of the Darkyn (Signet Eclipse))continuing saga. I know some readers don't care for Alex but I have always liked her snarky forthrightness in dealing with all of the medieval macho Darkyn men. Alex's intelligence and ability to put things together is part of why I've always had a fascination for this series even when they occasionally were a bit dark for my tastes. And here, Viehl totally caught me up in Alex's frustration at being back in ruthless Darkyn King Richard's sphere of influence, he is despicable as always. But it was worth the frustration to watch the Alex neutralize yet again the threat Richard presents and to see her deal head on with a ghost from her past by confronting Korvel the Darkyn who would still bind Alex against her will if he could.
Stay the Night, is less dark than most of Vielh's Darkyn novels. There is less violence in this one with the evil Brethren working their torturous plots off screen - we only see the survivors and their hideous injuries. Normally the violence is what makes me qualify my recommendations of Viehl's Darkyn books, even though I find Viehl's writing extremely interesting. But this time my heads up to would-be readers is for sensuality instead of violence - though there is a reason why we need to know that Phillipe, Michael's seneschal, prefers men to women - the explicit scene in which Phillipe 'crosses swords' with another Darkyn, means that this still is not the book for everyone.
Since Stay the Night is the `last' Darkyn novel, Viehl ties up some threads with Alex, her search for 'the cure' and the secret behind the Brethryn's experiments on orphans. But Viehl leave other threads hanging and unravels a few more for John and Guy, but the Darkyn are supposedly done so Viehl is stringing us along to the start of a new connected series. There is an except in the back of Stay the Night for the Kyndred, who are up next with Shadowlight coming November of 2009.
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